On Tuesday, May 12, Longmeadow will vote to strengthen our town’s finances and give residents stronger, cheaper internet options by approving a measure to bring municipal fiber to Longmeadow. I am writing to urge my fellow residents to support this measure, and to be wary of the well-funded, industry-backed campaign that is trying to convince Longmeadow voters to oppose municipal fiber.
When the town first voted to kickstart its Municipal Fiber Task Force a few years ago, I was amazed to see how many town residents spoke passionately in favor of municipal fiber. Many residents of Longmeadow work from home or run small businesses in town, and they rely on strong and consistent internet access. Yet one after another, residents told stories of the high prices they have paid to national providers, only to get internet speeds well below what was promised.
Like other towns across the country, our dependence on the internet to do our work and manage our lives also made us dependent on a handful of big businesses who often take us for granted. That means high prices and low quality service. Just last year, Comcast Xfinity increased its prices, slashed its discounts for customers using autopay, and shifted much of its customer service to AI-powered bots.
On May 12, we have a chance to take matters into our own hands and invest in our town’s future. By making internet a Longmeadow public utility, we can run it in a way that meets the needs of town residents, not corporate shareholders. The service we’d partner with, South Hadley’s Fiberspring, has a track record of fast and reliable service with few outages. If you do have a problem, you’d be able to talk to a person down the road, not a chatbot.
It’s not surprising that the companies who stand to lose from this change are putting their money behind stopping municipal fiber. They’ve picked an innocuous name — “Mass Priorities” — and they’re sending representatives door-to-door with all kinds of claims about the downsides of town-controlled fiber. If you meet them or see their mailers, take a close look at who’s funding them: a Minnesota-based company that fights on behalf of credit card companies, big pharma, and national internet service providers.
Municipal fiber won’t just improve our internet options: it provides an opportunity to invest in the rest of our town, too. The initial monthly charges to customers will cover the cost of providing service and the town’s start-up costs. Down the road, as construction costs are paid off, we can decrease customer monthly costs or use revenue to pay for other community projects. Instead of generating profits for big businesses, we can profit a little ourselves.
Julie Margetta Morgan
Longmeadow
