I try to avoid making myself part of the story, but I’ll note that Piedmont Publius got a fair amount of mention in what has been described as the best article yet on Greensboro’s efforts to land Google broadband.
I’ve praised the Rhino’s Paul Clark for his coverage of Guilford County Schools, and the fact that he addresses with some skepticism my view that Greensboro should be somewhat wary of Google’s possible ulterior motives shows that I’m adding to the conversation and debate. It’s good to see your arguments used as the basis for another writer’s argument.
That said, tell me if Clark doesn’t misread me here:
Some of the speculation over Greensboro’s application for the Google fiber trial has centered on potential city incentives – with the Piedmont Publius blog at the John Locke Foundation fretting that Greensboro will go the way of Wilson, North Carolina, which spent $28 million on a municipal fiber network that it can’t pay off with the network’s revenues.
This makes no sense in the context of Google, although the reflexive fear is understandable in an area with a less-than-stellar record of getting a bang for its buck when it comes to incentives. Google has a $170 billion market cap and $24 billion in cash on hand, and is looking to spend a large chunk of money on a fiber trial that is equal parts market-creation effort, regulatory lever and public relations showcase. Whatever its criteria for picking a city, it has little incentive to nickel and dime that city for a few million in cash contributions and tax breaks, taking the luster off the PR victory.
While I’m certainly wary of Greensboro offering up incentives, holding up the City of Wilson’s potential money-loser of a broadband service was in response to the N&R editorial asking “whether Greensboro could push for high-speed broadband even without Google,” just as Wilson had done. In that context, economic incentives don’t come into play.
I agree that when it’s all said and done, this is “a long shot for Greensboro – but hey, someone has to win.”
