CHICAGO PUTS CITYWIDE WIFI SYSTEM OUT FOR BID

Today's Sun-Times:

After more than a year of study that included City Council hearings, the Daley administration finally issued a "request for proposals" that invites technology companies to describe how they would build an $18.5 million wireless Internet access system that would extend into Chicago's poorest communities.

... Determined to bridge the digital divide, Mayor Daley also demanded that Chicago's private-sector partner make a "financial commitment" to "digital inclusion programs." They include affordable computers and software programs and computer training aimed at the estimated 22 percent of all households that remain without a connection to the Internet and its boundless possibilities...

Responses are due back in four months, and Daley has asked former chief of staff Julia Stasch to chair an advisory panel to evaluate competitors for the 10-year contract. Once a winner is chosen, the system is expected to take roughly 18 months to install.

"We'll be the first major city to move ahead in [bridging] this digital divide. No other city has done that in America," Daley said.

At a news conference at Al Raby School, the mayor argued that the "21st century economy" demands universal access to computer technology. "China, India and Japan know that the way to grow their economy is to invest in technology, and we have to keep pace. . . . The United States has some of the most advanced computer technology in the world. The problem is, not everyone has access to it. In technology, as in too many other areas of our society, there's a wide gap between the haves and have-nots," the mayor said.

Chief Information Officer Hardik Bhatt said the city's goal is to create an alternative broadband service that competes with cable, DSL and cell phone-based wireless service and, therefore, drives down costs. In exchange for paying Chicago a sizeable monthly fee and, possibly, a share of revenues, a technology company or group would install, maintain and upgrade roughly 7,500 small antennae on streetlight poles every one and a half to two blocks, at a cost of roughly $18.5 million. If additional antennae are needed, City Hall could provide that, too.

At least one Chicago blogger is enthusiastic. Incidentally, Philadelphia City Council approved that city's proposed Earthlink system a few weeks back.

You think it might be time for Cleveland to get a plan?

ZELLER: OHIO JOBS AND PAYCHECKS

An email this morning from George Zeller at the Center for Community Solutions:

I do not recall if I sent you notice about our report on job and paycheck earnings losses in Ohio counties during the 2000s recession. If not, I make up for that lapse here. The report is found on our web site at:

Link.

Astonishingly, the annual aggregate paycheck losses in Ohio from the lost jobs were $2.5 billion. The loss in northeast Ohio alone was $2.6 billion. This seems impossible, but it is true. There are two causes for this implausible situation. First, the recession hit northeast Ohio very hard, relative to most other parts of Ohio. Second, of those who did not lose their jobs, the average earnings of a job increased during the recession. Thus, paychecks grew among those workers who were still working, particularly outside northeast Ohio, but even within northeast Ohio to an extent. So there are two groups of workers in Ohio. The ones who were laid off saw their incomes plunge to zero. The ones who got a raise above inflation said, "What recession?"

Meanwhile, Ohio also broke the record once again earlier this week. We have now gone an all-time record 122 consecutive months with Ohio's job growth below the national average. That is two months into our second decade of this record-breaking streak. We also have a report that documents this discouraging and astonishing streak.

Link.

Thank you, George.

(Incidentally, CCS has a blog... lots of stuff on state budget issues and TEL.)

DEAR DR. SANDERS

This is a message to incoming Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders. If someody out there knows him, please pass it along.

Dear Dr. Sanders:

Welcome to Cleveland. Congratulations on your new job and your very respectable contract deal. I'm sure you have a pretty good idea how hard it's going to be to earn that $350,000 compensation package.

The Plain Dealer headline this morning says: "Sanders begins reaching out to community". The story refers to your visit to an East Side school, your conversation with a parent leader as well as students and teachers, and this:

Building credibility by reaching out to citizens was a theme Sanders revisited through the day.

It's key to involving people who say they want the schools to improve, he said. A combination of religious leaders, elected officials and parents needs to work together with the schools, Sanders said.

The syntax of that passage is a bit difficult, but here's what I hope it means. I hope it means that you know that "reaching out to citizens" -- all Cleveland citizens -- is a crucial part of establishing your credibility as the schools' chief public representative. And I hope it means you expect religious leaders, elected officials, and parents to help you "reach out to citizens" -- all citizens -- because after all, you're just one guy and you need the help. Like, with introductions. Lists. Invitations to meetings and church services. That kind of help.

That's what I hope. What I fear is that you, like Barbara Byrd-Bennett and others before you, have the idea that "religious leaders, elected officials, and parents" (and "business leaders" who I assume are also on your outreach list) are the community. I'm afraid that you may think that meeting and schmoozing with a few ministers, some friendly politicians and other professional civic leaders, and the minority of parents who come to school events is the same thing as "reaching out to citizens."

That would be a big, big mistake -- the same mistake that cost Byrd-Bennett two levy defeats.

"The community" is a slippery phrase, which is why slippery speakers like it so much, I guess. But "citizens" means something. Citizens get to vote. If I'm 18 years old and a Cleveland (or Bratenahl) resident, I get to make decisions about "my" public school system. Not the decision about who will run it, of course; I gave that up a few years ago. But I get to vote on the tax rate -- which is to say, on whether the system's unelected leadership will be allowed to succeed.

Dr. Sanders, you're coming from a city whose School Board is still elected by its citizens, who've also passed two levies in the last year and a half. In Toledo, there's still a voting connection between the board members who hired you, approved your budgets, and put your tax increases on the ballot, and the voters who had to say "yes" to those increases. I'm sure it isn't perfect; for all I know, you might be taking this job to get away from working for that elected board (though they seem to like you pretty well). But I hope you're prepared for something completely different... because in Cleveland, baby, you're going to be on your own.

In Cleveland, nobody knows the school board members. Don't get me wrong, they're mostly great people, but their personal footprints in the community are inconsequential. They don't get paid, they have no significant staff support, and they have real day jobs consuming their time. Politically, they have nothing much to give you.

The mayor is supposed to be your superior in the political chain of command. Of course you know this isn't true legally -- he has zero day-to-day authority over you or the board -- but if he's a willing partner, he does have real political resources to contribute. Plus, next year he gets to fill a majority of board seats. So if I were you, I'd do everything possible to make that partnership work for both of you.

But no matter what Frank Jackson does for you, the political leadership of the Cleveland Municipal School District -- the symbol, the spokesman, the responsible party, the power guy, the personal target of public good will or ill-will -- is now Eugene Sanders. Like it or not, that's the way the system is built.

So you are entering into a relationship with the citizens of Cleveland. Not just with public school families, who are probably less than a third of Cleveland households -- a low-voting third. Not just with the public schools' supporters and self-styled education advocates, who tend -- like the CMSD's teachers -- to live in the suburbs. Not just with intermediaries like Council Members or ministers, who have their own constituency problems to worry about before they get to yours.

All these "stakeholders" (horrible word!) put together can barely connect with 40% of Cleveland's citizens, as they demonstrated pretty conclusively last August. You, Dr. Sanders, need to reach out to the other 60%. Personally.

And here's the dirty little secret they probably didn't mention in your interviews: There's no system in place for you to do it. The old system, the political network created by electing a School Board, is long gone. The people of Cleveland haven't voted for our public education leaders in over a decade. Byrd-Bennett made no attempt to communicate with citizens who were neither school "stakeholders" nor Important People (in the downtown sense of the term). The Board apparently believes that holding some of its meetings in school auditoriums is a serious public engagement strategy.

So as I said, you're on your own. If you want a way to re-engage Cleveland's citizenry with its public education system, you're going to have to invent it. Of course you can ask all those elected officials, religious leaders, parents and teachers to help. But don't rely on them to tell you how, because they don't have a clue. That's why we're in the shape we're in.

I don't really have a clue either, but I do have a modest proposal: For the next year, set aside ten working hours per week. Ask every Cleveland resident or church leader you meet to organize a short get-together -- in a home, a restaurant or church basement but not in a school -- with ten other city residents who aren't involved in the schools. Assign a staff to schedule three or four such meetings every week, scattered around the city. Keep them low-key, informal and personal. Introduce yourself and answer questions, of course, but mostly ask questions and listen. Find out for yourself how ordinary, disconnected citizens see the CMSD -- the education, the politics, the finances, what they support and what they hate. Get a personal feel for what you're dealing with.

I'll organize one any time you're ready. I can be reached at bilcal@juno.com.

Meanwhile, welcome, good luck and watch where you step.

IT'S FOLEY AFTER ALL

Mike Foley will be the new State Representative from Ohio District 14. The certified Democratic primary results, released Saturday, show him finally edging Bill Ritter 4290-4112. Since this is an open seat (vacated by Dale Miller), he will presumably take office in the near future.

Mike, an attorney, took a leave from his longtime job as director of the Cleveland Tenants Organization to campaign. As noted here earlier, he's the second CTO leader to win public office in the last seven months; CTO board president and former staffer Phyllis Cleveland is Frank Jackson's successor as City Council representative for Ward 5. It will be interesting to see the effect of having a couple of genuine consumer housing experts in City Hall and the Statehouse.

Mike's narrow victory is a West Side boost for Jackson, with whom he's close. It's also a vindication for District 13 Rep. Michael Skindell, a principal Foley campaign adviser, and a sharp critic of Ohio Democratic Party Chair Chris Redfern's performance when he was Minority Leader. It's my understanding that Redfern worked to prevent Foley's selection to fill Miller's vacant seat back in March, despite the support of Miller and the new Minority Leader, Joyce Beatty. As a result, the caucus deadlocked between Foley and Erin Sullivan Lally (who then placed a distant third in the primary vote) and the seat remained vacant... until now. Chalk one up for the New Guard.

TEMPLATE HELL: If there's a Blogger hacker out there who can figure out what I've done to my template to make the font attributes of my title disappear (i.e. why "Callahan's Cleveland Diary" is no longer in headline type), I'd be grateful for your advice. I feel so small.

UPDATE, 5/20: IT FIXED ITSELF

Saturday morning, and my title's back, all by itself. Like Orpheus returning from the Template Underworld. Welcome back.

(Or... did George do it?)

VALUE AD-ED

Over on the sidebar there's an ad blinking away at you. It's for an online survey by the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance, which is paying to run it here and on seventeen other Ohio blogs that are part of the new Meet The Bloggers Ad Network. As the network's name suggests, we're all doing it (and inviting other bloggers to join us) in order to raise money to pay for transcripts and other costs of Meet The Bloggers.

I really, really want you to click on that ad. Here's why:

MTB started nine months ago as a way to get the candidates for Mayor of Cleveland to talk about issues that several of us felt were just not getting aired in the local MSM. The first interview, with Robert Triozzi, took place on August 3. By the time the October primary rolled around we had succeeded in interviewing all seven candidates. Since then, we've managed to post sessions with most of the Democrats and several Republicans running for statewide office, a lot of Congressional candidates (especially in the 13th, where MTB developed an Akron-Lorain wing that covered the crowded primary like a blanket ), the new chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, the new President of Cleveland City Council, and lots of other public figures. We even hosted podcast debates between the Democratic candidates for Governor and the Democratic candidates for Attorney General.

All of these interviews are posted as unedited podcasts at the MTB website; some are also posted as transcripts. If you've been following them, you know that the sound quality of the podcasts has improved dramatically; that's the result of George Nemeth's personal investments in recording equipment. The transcripts have been occasional because each one of those takes an investment, too. The more of this we do, and the better we do it, the more it costs.

Hence, the MTB Ad Network Hence, the ad blinking over there on the sidebar... and the steady stream of ads that I hope will succeed it.

Last week the lead editorial in Crain's Cleveland Business (subscriber only) advised readers who want to know more about Ted Strickland's policy outlook to check out his Meet The Bloggers sessions. That's a great tribute, from an unexpected direction, to the value of this unique blogospheric enterprise.

If you think it's valuable, too, then here's what you can do to help: Drag your mouse over to that blinking box on the sidebar, click through and take the GCMA survey. It's short, it's simple, and it will help the MTB Ad Network give our first advertiser their money's worth.

TIM ISN"T GOING TO WRITE ABOUT THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE.

Let him tell you why.

AT&T NEGOTIATING "LIGHTSPEED" AGREEMENTS WITH COLUMBUS SUBURBS

In Washington, AT&T is telling Congressmen that it just can't roll out its super fast Internet and IP TV service, Project Lightspeed, if it has to go through a bunch of pesky local governments for clearance to extend its fiber optic network in public rights of way. That's the whole argument behind the House Energy and Commerce Committee's national franchising bill, now awaiting a vote by the full House.

Well, then, what's going on in Grove City?

The PD's Henry Gomez reports that AT&T is already rolling out Lightspeed in Ohio -- by negotiating agreements with local governments, starting with the southwest Columbus suburb of Grove City.

Henry's article doesn't have much detail about the Grove City agreement, but here's an article about a similar negotiation in Worthington:

The city will need to create a new Master Video Services Agreement to allow the project to move forward, according to Dunn. A new agreement would give providers the option of choosing to be regulated as a cable television company or as a video services provider using Internet protocol. City regulations will remain the same under each option, retaining franchise fees and services to schools.

The city's goal is to complete negotiations with AT&T by June 1 and place it on the council agenda by June 5, according to Dunn.

Now doesn't that sound like an amicable, efficient way to do business? Why would AT&T want to go around nice city governments like Grove City and Worthington to get national franchises from the FCC?

Oh, maybe this is why. Some cities in Illinois remember how SBC muscled them on a municipal fiber plan a little while ago, and want to take a few months to figure out what they're being asked to approve. Obviously AT&T can't put up with that. Call a lawyer! Call a Congressman!

STRICKLAND AND THE CITIES

Frank Jackson, Michael Coleman and Don Plusquellic are eventually going to endorse Ted Strickland for governor. He knows it. They know it. Ken Blackwell knows it.

Stephanie Tubbs-Jones is going to endorse Strickland too. And hug him in public, and take him on the tour of East Side Cleveland churches. They, and all (or maybe most) of the ministers of those churches, know it.

So what's the meaning of the approach/avoidance dance that all these smart, businesslike people are currently performing?

Strickland meets today with United Pastors in Mission, the most important network of activist African-American clergy in Cleveland. He was at the Urban League in Columbus yesterday, and held a public reconciliation with Dayton mayor Rhine McLin last week. He's making a serious effort to deal with the personal animosities created by some of his allies at the Ohio Democratic Party meeting that elected Chris Redfern party chair in December, as well as the more basic suspicion that his campaign takes African-American support for granted.

But while African-American and urban are related categories in Ohio politics, they aren't the same category. Akron's Don Plusquellic is an extremely white guy governing a city that's only one-third Black, so what's he doing on the "holdout mayors" list if race is the main issue? A bare majority (52% or so) of Cleveland residents are Black, but the same isn't true of Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo or Youngstown -- let alone Lorain, Canton, or Mansfield. All these places are aging urban centers with urban core problems -- and European-American voting majorities. And that's just the central cities; most of their inner-ring suburbs (including major population centers like Parma, Lakewood, Hamilton, Kettering, Warren, etc.) are even whiter.

Is the Democratic candidate for governor speaking to all these urban voters, who may or may not be Black? More particularly, is he speaking to the people -- mostly Democrats -- who've been elected to govern them?

Strickland has been promising his "urban agenda" for months now. Where is it? Just two weeks ago he reportedly told Youngstown mayor Jay Williams that "he would like to shape that agenda by discussions with Ohio’s mayors." That's pretty much the same thing he was saying in February.

So maybe this was a toss-off, a distraction. Maybe a final draft of "Turnaround Ohio's Cities" is already circulating. I sure hope so, because the continued silence is getting uncomfortable. The Strickland campaign had no such trouble figuring out its agenda for coal miners and farmers. Why is the "urban agenda" so hard?

I have a guess about this. I think the problem is that Strickland knows what the unhappy mayors want to hear, and he doesn't want to talk about it.

I think Strickland believes that his basic campaign platform -- early childhood education, college education for all, "good jobs" through entrepreneurship and energy development -- already speaks to the cities' main long-term needs. I think he believes these commitments (maybe with a little repackaging, a few targeting gimmicks) are an urban agenda.

But Jackson, Coleman, Plusqellic et al. see things quite differently. They recognize the dubious value of grand promises about jobs and education, coming from a prospective governor who'll share the Statehouse with a hostile General Assembly that's just itching to embarrass him. They know that none of those promises, even if they come true in a limited way, are likely to help them to govern their own cities. They believe -- correctly, in my opinion -- that much of the governance crisis facing Ohio municipalities is "made in Columbus". They want to hear Strickland say that he understands this is true, and that if he becomes governor they can expect the never-ending Statehouse incursions against municipal budgets and home rule powers to abate.

Strickland, unfortunately, doesn't seem to want to say any such thing.... which only feeds the problem.

Columbus' Coleman was explicit about it in this Other Paper interview:

Already miffed at a Statehouse that he believes takes away cities' home-rule rights while adding guns to their streets, Coleman said he's afraid a Gov. Strickland could continue Ohio's anti-city policies. Until the candidate reassures him otherwise, he said he's withholding his support.

I'm guessing that Strickland could make his "mayor problem" go away with one statement -- in a speech, a press release, even a blog entry. It would go something like this:

The mayors, managers and council members of Ohio cities have some of the hardest jobs in politics. State government should seek to support and empower our local communities, not hobble and micromanage them -- especially when we do so in violation of our own Constitution.

As governor, I will restore respect for local self-government to the Statehouse. Specifically:

1) I will veto any legislation that comes before me to further limit the home rule powers of cities and villages. This includes legislative restrictions on municipal employee residency requirements, consumer protection ordinances, municipal utilities and networks, and constitutionally permissible gun control measures. If there is any doubt in my mind about the potential impact of a bill on home rule, I will routinely consult the Ohio Municipal League and mayors before signing it.

2) To show that I'm serious about point 1, I intend to cast my Congressional vote against the COPE Act when it reaches the House floor, unless it's amended to restore substantial municipal franchising powers, as well as to assure communities' right to deploy their own networks as they see fit.

3) I can't honestly promise to increase state government's general financial support for cities. But I do promise that my budgets will include increases in the Local Government Fund at least equal to the inflation rate or the overall percentage increase in the General Fund, whichever is higher. In addition, I'll convene a working group of city and village officials early in my first term to look at ways the state can give municipalities more options for raising local revenue, as well as more help in controlling costs.

I bet that would do it.

The nice thing about this "urban agenda" is that it would sound just as good to the people struggling to govern Portsmouth, Steubenville, Springfield and Findlay as to their more visible colleagues in Cleveland, Akron and Columbus. It's got a big, opinion-leading, bipartisan constituency all across the state. (The Plain Dealer, which to its credit has made the defense of municipal home rule an editorial-page priority, would turn cartwheels in support.)

And it wouldn't cost the state a nickel.

It's the smart thing to do... and more important, the right thing. Strickland needs to get over his reluctance and do it now.

QUID PRO QUO?

Dana Blankenhorn asks a really, really interesting question in connection with today's big news.

Meanwhile, Valdis is interviewed by Defense Tech about the NSA's approach to social network analysis. He's not impressed. (via BFD)

MY BLOG, SHE'S NOT ROLLING SO GOOD

Does anyone have a clue what the following error message means when I try to ping for an update at blogrolling?

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FOLEY MAY SEEK RECOUNT IN OHIO HOUSE 14

From an email I just got from Mike Foley's campaign:

Ok, here's what I know at the moment about my election for State Rep in the 14th District. The Board of Elections finished the precinct counts last Thursday, and I was up by 10 votes. They began counting the absentee ballots and did a preliminary count last night. When that was done, I was down by 115 total votes.

I checked in with the BOE today. There are still 262 absentee ballots not counted, plus some military and provisional ballots.

At this point it seems unlikely that I will prevail, however I am going to push the BOE to make sure they counted all of the votes correctly. To this point they have not inspired a lot of confidence. I'm probably wrong, but my gut tells me that there is just something not right in the counting of the absentees. I really worked those hard and felt like I would prevail once they were counted. I was shocked and still pretty numb about losing those ballots by 125 so far.

The magic number for an automatic recount is .5 difference between the top vote getter and the second place finisher. I'm hoping the number gets down that low once the rest of the absentees are counted, but even if they aren't, I will seriously look at asking for a recount on my own.

WORM TURNS AGAIN IN FINAL OHIO HOUSE 14 RESULTS

Five full days after the polls closed, the Cuyahoga Board of Elections finally released the full unofficial results ftom Tuesday's primary, with absentee ballots included. They're not posted at the BOE website and I can't find them on any of the TV news sites, so all I know is what I just heard broadcast on Channel 5. And the only race they mentioned (because it was the only one really in doubt):

Bill Ritter the Democratic primary winner in Ohio House District 14, edging out Mike Foley by something like a hundred votes.

So Tim and I were wrong about the absentee ballots. Barring a recount (and I have no clue whether there's any reason for Foley to consider asking for one, other than the tiny margin), Ritter will take over Dale Miller's old seat and run for a full term in November against Republican William McGivirn.

Since over 10,000 votes were cast in the Democratic primary, compared to 1,915 for the McGivirn (who was unopposed), Ritter's chances in November seem, um, pretty good.

THE LOOOONG COUNT: The last polls closed Tuesday at 9:30 pm. The final unofficial count was released to the news media this evening at about the same time.

Five days. One hundred and twenty hours. Each day since Wednesday the press has been told to expect results the following day, and each day the BOE has failed to deliver. The PD this morning (written last evening) told us:

County elections Director Michael Vu said the board planned to release the results this morning. "This has been a long and arduous election, but we did the right thing," Vu said.

But "this morning" somehow turned into "just in time for the late news tonight"... even though the hand count of absentee ballots, supposedly the reason for the repeated delays, was finished on Friday.

I went by the BOE building at 7:30 tonight. The front door was locked, but there were a dozen cars in the lot. I asked the guard at the employee entrance if there was any word on the results. He told me to call tomorrow, they were still "doing things" upstairs.

What exactly were they doing?

WORM TURNS IN 14TH DISTRICT... MAYBE

After two days of well-publicized cruel and unusual waiting, all of Ohio House 14's precincts were reported counted last night, and Mike Foley finally found himself with a lead over Bill Ritter.

3,583 to 3,573. Ten votes.

With the absentee votes not included.

I'm with Tim, I think this means Mike wins. Pretty soon now, I hope (the BOE has been saying that the absentee count should be done this afternoon.)

If so, the Cleveland Tenants Organization suddenly becomes the hot new place to start a political career, with Foley in the Statehouse and another former staffer and board member, Phyllis Cleveland, just elected to City Council. A Foley win also helps solidify Frank Jackson's new West Side base; Mike is the mayor's close friend and ally.

FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS FOR SHERROD AND TED

Sherrod Brown's statement explaining his "yes" vote on the COPE Act in the Energy and Commerce Committee is similar to Ted Strickland's, with two interesting additions: Sherrod acknowledges explicitly that the point is to "make it easier for phone companies to enter the cable television market" (i.e. this bill is all about AT&T), and he plays the "good jobs" card:

Increased competition will play an important role in job creation. New infrastructure and services and the workers to maintain those services will be needed when competition gets off the ground. Ohio needs jobs, and these are good ones.

I won't repeat my response to Strickland -- you can read it here, and it all applies. But Jill asks an excellent question for both Congressmen/candidates. Which leads me to a few more follow-up questions:

1) Can you explain why eliminating the local franchising role (including all local oversight of cable rates, consumer practices, service availability, etc.) is a necessary precondition to the competition you (and everyone else) wants?

2) Can you explain why you think the FCC is an appropriate body to have ultimate jurisdiction over all these day-to-day issues?

3) Understanding that AT&T is a unionized company, so their entry in the video market against non-union Time-Warner and Comcast will increase organized labor's presence in the market -- which you and I would agree is a good thing and will probably make the jobs "better" -- what evidence do you have that this whole maneuver will "create" new jobs in Ohio? What jobs? How many?

4) Does it bother you at all that you're helping to strip local communities of a source of bargaining power for digital inclusion, media access and economic development? Do you feel any obligation to compensate Ohio cities and villages -- as well as community-based organizations -- for this loss, and if so, do you have any proposals to do so?

5) Are you going to vote for this bill on the floor in its present form, with none of the changes you say you support?

SHERROD BROWN STATEMENT ON HIS "COPE ACT" SUPPORT

In response to my April 27 email, I received the following statement late this afternoon from Congressman Sherrod Brown (via an email from staffer Phil deVellis):

The Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006 would make it easier for phone companies to enter the cable television market. The legislation as it stands now is not yet perfect, but it should help reduce high cable rates, help create jobs, and improve public safety. On that basis, I voted in favor of its passage.

Cable prices have risen astronomically in recent years and most Ohio residents do not have a choice of cable provider. This bill would foster a competitive environment and give consumers the choices they deserve. Increased competition will play an important role in job creation. New infrastructure and services and the workers to maintain those services will be needed when competition gets off the ground. Ohio needs jobs, and these are good ones.

The COPE Act would also ensure Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) customers have life-saving access to enhanced 9-1-1 services. Whenever someone picks up the phone and dials 9-1-1, there should be someone on the other end of the line qualified to answer that call. This legislation would ensure VoIP customers can safely dial 9-1-1 in an emergency.

I supported several amendments to improve the legislation, including net neutrality. Establishing a net neutrality policy would protect the Internet's role as a home to innovation and ingenuity. Unfortunately, net neutrality and other consumer protection amendments did not pass. I will work with my colleagues as the legislative process continues to include these amendments in the final bill.

THE COPE ACT: SO YOU THINK IT CAN'T GET WORSE?

While the COPE Act, now known as HR 5252, crawls relentlessly toward a floor vote by the full U.S. House of Representatives, over in the Senate a key player is getting ready to make it even worse.

Harold Feld at wetmachine dissects the net neutrality and community broadband provisions of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens' Communications, Consumer Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006. Stevens is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and his bill is meant to be the main vehicle for dealing with the COPE Act issues -- national video-Internet franchising, Community Right to Network, etc. -- in the upper house.

Harold says the Stevens bill, which covers a lot of territory, includes some good stuff in other areas. CNet says the bill is so broad that it likely means no major telecom legislation will actually get passed by both houses this Summer. (Of course, that's what all the "knowledgeable sources" were saying just six weeks ago about the House Energy and Committee's chance of agreeing on a bill.)

Harold doesn't discuss the Stevens bill's provisions on the local vs. national video-Internet franchising issue. Apparently Stevens wants to leave the franchise approval process in the hands of local governments, but require them to use FCC application forms and act on any proposed new franchise within 30 days. My first impression is that its impact on local authority and negotiating leverage won't be all that different from the COPE Act -- in effect, it may just amount to letting city councils hold the FCC's rubber stamp -- but I can't find any real analysis yet, so let's reserve judgment.*

(In case you've been wondering, I still haven't heard a word from Sherrod Brown about his "yes" vote on the COPE Act.)

*Update: My first impression seems to have been correct... see this article in today's National Journal Technology Daily, courtesy of saveaccess.org.

New Senate telecommunications legislation would take away the ability of local governments to reject video franchises -- effectively granting the former regional Bell operating companies the same expedited entry into video services as proposed in a competing House bill...

Commerce ranking member Daniel Inouye, R-Hawaii, reluctantly co-sponsored the legislation but voiced many reservations...

Notwithstanding dramatic differences in how they are drafted, both bills address video franchising in a way likely to benefit Bell companies. Most significantly, neither bill would require new video entrants to offer service in all parts of their regions, according to Senate Commerce Committee aides.

The call for such "buildout" language has been at the center of the franchising tussle between the Bells on the one hand and the cable industry and local governments on the other.

Inouye and Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., had drafted principles that urged a continuation of the local franchise process but on an expedited basis. The cable industry endorsed those principles.

Under existing local franchise agreements, cities traditionally have imposed some sort of requirement that video providers offer services to all residents.

Stevens' bill, S. 2686, appears to preserve local franchise authorities' role in cable television licensing, albeit in a streamlined franchising process.

But, although local governments may negotiate for a requirement that Bells offer services to everyone, the Bell applicants are free to reject them under the Senate bill. If an application were not approved within 30 days by the locality, permission to offer video is granted under the terms of a "standard franchise agreement form."

That generic form would be provided by the FCC, and there is no mention of any buildout requirement on the standardized form.

"We set national standards if they don't come out with an agreement" on the local level, a Senate Commerce Committee aide said. "We were trying to be responsive to the Inouye-Burns principles, which called for local franchising. They may not see it that way."

The aide added, "There are other people on the Republican side who didn't think we should do it at all, but we tried to lean toward what Sen. Inouye said he was more comfortable on -- local franchising."

Under both the Senate and House bills, Bell companies would have to pay the same franchise fees as current cable operators and provide the same access to public, educational and governmental television channels.

Well, that clears that up.

Here's Angela's take on the Stevens bill.

ANGELA TO ADVISE ABOUT .ORGS

Congratulations to newly hatched Ohio blogger Angela Stuber, one of two just-named North American representatives to the .Org Advisory Council of the Public Interest Registry, which oversees the .org domain for the Internet Society. Here's the PIR press release.

In real life Angela is Executive Director of the Ohio Community Computing Network and board president of the national Community Technology Centers Network... both of which are, of course, .orgs.

THE MORNING AFTER -- CLEVELAND LEGISLATIVE RACES UP IN THE AIR

At this moment (8:43 am) the BOE website is showing 1,131 precincts counted out of 1,435, which leaves a fifth of the county's polling places in some unexplained kind of limbo. The count hasn't changed since 7:36, so maybe the machines have done everything they can do and we're down to the precincts that need partial hand counts. Of course all the 17,000 absentee ballots are going to be hand-counted because the optical scanners can't be trusted.

What a mess.

There are still a hundred precincts uncounted in Ohio Senate 21, but it looks like Shirley Smith (currently State Representative, District 10) has a comfortable lead over Annie Key (State Representative, District 11). The races for the seats they're leaving are much closer. In Ohio House 10, with 30 of 104 precincts still out, Nelson Cintron has an 18-vote lead over Bill Newsome and a 57-vote lead over Eugene Miller. In Ohio House 11, Key's aide Sandra Williams has a slightly more comfortable 253-vote edge over T.J. Dow, but 17 out of 84 precincts are missing.

Meanwhile, in Ohio House 14, with 18 out of 87 precincts uncounted, John Marshall teacher Bill Ritter leads Cleveland Tenants Organization director Mike Foley by only 139 votes. (This is the vacancy created by Dale Miller's appointment to the Senate, so the winner gets seated immediately.)

While these are nominally primary races, the winners will face weak or token GOP opponents in November, so for all practical purposes we're waiting to see who's going to represent most of the city in Columbus next year...

which makes it all the more frustrating that our BOE can't count our freaking votes.

2:00 PM UPDATE: They're up to 1,284 precincts counted. That means 151 still haven't been. It looks like Sandra Williams in District 11 has her win, but I'd say 10 (Cintron vs. Newsome) and 14 (Ritter vs. Foley) are still up for grabs.

Anthony Fossaceca has a first person account of the Garden Valley debacle at BFD. The problem that held up the statewide vote count for two hours? Three-prong plugs.

2:45 PM UPDATE: 1,341 precincts counted, not including absentees. The race in Ohio House 10 is now between Eugene Miller (912 votes) and Bill Newsome (861 votes), with Nelson Cintron falling to a weak third place. In Ohio House 14, Ritter leads Foley by 84 votes with eight precincts (and the absentees) to go.

12:01 AM ON THE DAY AFTER ELECTION DAY

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, according to its website, has counted only 583 precincts out of 1,435... just 40% of the vote. All over the county, bleary-eyed candidates and supporters are sitting in half-deserted halls and bars, desperately waiting for the numbers to move.

12:30 am: No change. For the last hour. Have they just stopped counting and sent everyone home?

Nope, guess not... at 12:32 the number jumped to 614. That's 31 precincts counted in the last hour. Only 821 to go... plus the absentees.

12:53 am: 665 precincts counted -- still less than half. Among the races that are too close and undercounted to call as we near 1:00 am... the 21st Ohio Senate District (Shirley Smith vs. Annie Key -- 139 out of 323 precincts counted), and the 10th, 11th and 14th Ohio House Districts.

I live in the 21st Senate and 10th House Districts. Nevertheless, I'm going to bed.

WTF IS GOING ON AT THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS?

It's 11:12 pm, most of the polls have been closed for three and a half hours, the counting was supposed to start more than an hour and a half ago... and according to its website the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has only managed to count 576 of its 1,435 precincts.

Boy, this computerized voting sure is efficient.

Update: 11:32 pm 583 precincts counted

Update: 11:55 pm Still 583 precincts counted at five minutes to midnight!

COPE ACT VOTE STALLED BY NET NEUTRALITY FUROR

From the the National Journal's "Insider Update":

House Telecom Bill Delayed Over 'Net Neutrality' Issue

By Drew Clark

(Monday, May 1) After initially being scheduled for consideration by the full House later this week, legislation to grant the former regional Bell operating companies quick entry into the pay television market was pulled from the the week's floor schedule Monday by the Republican leadership.

The House Judiciary Committee has sought a referral of the telecom bill that cleared the Energy and Commerce panel last week, particularly for its "network neutrality" language -- and the delay is likely to work to the Judiciary panel's advantage. Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., have drafted their own version of net neutrality legislation, which they are expected to release this week...

Congressional and industry sources said Republican leaders are worried that voting against a network neutrality amendment -- designed to keep dominant Bell and cable companies from charging competitors more to transmit high-speed Internet content -- could be a political liability. Some technology companies and public interest groups want FCC-enforceable regulations barring Bell and cable companies from undermining net neutrality...

"We are trying to explain that a vote for a telecom bill that does not address the issue of network neutrality in any way is a very difficult vote politically, closer to the election, for Republicans," said former Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn., who was hired by technology companies to lobby his former colleagues on the subject.

"There is huge grassroots constituency for the net neutrality position: all sorts of Internet users," said Weber. "It is a big and powerful constituency, but it is not necessarily an organized constituency. I would not like to cast a vote that can be portrayed by bloggers and others as a vote against the Internet."

(When you click through to the article be sure to check out the banner ad at the top of the page from "Broadband Everywhere", the cable industry lobby.)

And... Jeff Chester explains why you're not seeing coverage of this fight on television.

WHO STOLE ALL THE KUCINICH YARD SIGNS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD?

I haven't written much about the primary recently, but I need to say by way of introduction that I live in Congressional District 10 and I support the re-election of Dennis Kucinich. Strongly. My main reasons were well summarized by Dick Feagler yesterday; also, I spent an MTB hour interviewing Barbara Ferris and came away deeply unimpressed. That's my opinion, you may or may not share it. Dennis is going to win tomorrow in any event. But that's not the point of this post.

Saturday I drove through my neighborhood (Archwood Avenue and the nearby stretch of Denison) and saw lots of yellow Dennis! yard signs. Dozens of them. It seemed like there was a sign in every fourth or fifth yard.

Feeling a bit left out, I drove over to the Kucinich campaign office and picked up a sign. Sunday afternoon, I went out in the front yard to plant it. Something seemed strange. I looked across the street, where there were four yellow signs the day before -- all gone now. I peered down the street. Not a single spot of yellow as far as I could see. I got in the car to drive to the supermarket -- up to 38th and Archwood, over to Denison, down Denison to Fulton, across the bridge and down Fulton to Ridge. All the Kucinich! signs from the day before had vanished.

This was weird. I suddenly seemed to be the only guy for blocks and blocks with a yellow yard sign. Had I missed a memo from the campaign -- "Bring back our yard signs, we need them in Rocky River"? Was there some horrible scandal story about my candidate in the Sunday PD?

Or -- hardest to believe -- did someone from the other side go out in the middle of the night and steal all those signs?

Well, I just got home from another trip to Dennis' campaign office. No, there was no official recall. Nobody asked Kucinich's supporters to take their signs down. And there was no scandal reported Sunday morning.

Which pretty much leaves Explanation Number Three: Some time Saturday night or Sunday morning, somebody apparently went out and stole the Dennis! signs from hundreds of Cleveland front yards. That's theft, of course...not to mention trespassing.

It seems very likely that this was an organized effort. Organized by the Ferris campaign? By some political supporter, with or without her knowledge? By a bunch of College Republicans trying to earn their Dirty Tricks Merit Badges? By the Plain Dealer editorial board? (Okay, that's a joke.)

I don't have a clue. But I'd sure like to know. I'd sure like to publish the answer.

So if anybody reading this knows where those signs went, please send me an email.

It won't change the outcome of the 10th District primary tomorrow -- but it might tell us a lot about who we can trust in future elections.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS OPPOSE COPE ACT

A press release from the National League of Cities:

The telecom reform bill, as it now stands, will, in effect, silence the voices of consumers and local governments. If enacted, consumers will be at the mercy of telecommunication giants and the federal government when faced with concerns about their television and advanced Internet services. This measure leaves the door wide open for service providers to pick and choose which neighborhoods get premium services and which get no service at all.

Joining the NLC in its statement: the US Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, Government Finance Officers Association, the Intermunicipal Lawyers Association, TeleCommUnity, and the National Conference of Black Mayors.

Three more days to tell your Congressman what you think!

Update: I hear from folks working Capitol Hill that the COPE Act isn't on the House calendar for the week, which means it probably isn't going to come to a vote on Thursday. But it will be soon... very soon.

(Thanks to the Benton Foundation's "Headlines" email list for the heads-up.)

UPDATE: TALKING POINTS

Fresh from meetings with staffers in Sen. Dewine and Voinovich's offices, Angela Stuber outlines her talking points on the COPE Act.