Seattle officials might finally be ready to start crunching numbers and nailing down specifics of a long-mulled, but slow moving, proposal to build a citywide broadband network. But they might yet need to build a case before the city council to justify such a network. The idea has been studied by the city council, a task force, and the mayor’s information technology office since 2004. Having estimated last year that it would cost $500 million to build and connect all of Seattle to a fiber broadband network, the city is now looking to invite private companies to do that work—perhaps with taxpayer help.

The mayor is asking the city council to free up

$180,000 he says his information technology office will use to invite companies to bid on the sweeping and stillundefined job.

Questions

1. How much money (if any) will taxpayers contribute in subsidies or access to public facilities?

2. Should the city start with a small-scale pilot project, as it did with Wi-Fi, before deciding about a citywide wireless network?

3. Is such a network even a feasible, cost-effective idea?