At our Nov. 12 fall special Town Meeting, Longmeadow residents will have the chance to vote on two articles to bring fast, reliable, affordable, town-owned fiber internet to our community. One article will be the second of two necessary votes to create a Municipal Light Plant, which will allow the town to build and own its own fiber network. The first vote passed at our May annual Town Meeting with 96.5% of the vote. The second article will be to provide funding for the initial steps of the project.
Over the last year, I’ve had the honor of serving as chair of the Municipal Fiber Task Force. The Task Force is comprised of nine town residents who are experts in IT, business and cyber security. We’ve spent countless hours researching, meeting with vendors, local officials, and conducting site visits. After this rigorous process, we came to two conclusions: 1) Longmeadow should provide town-owed fiber internet to its residents 2) Longmeadow should partner with Fiberspring, a division of South Hadley’s Electric and Light Department, to serve as the project manager and internet provider.
As each day passes, we rely more and more on the internet for everything from work, school, telehealth, entertainment, and public safety. With Longmeadow Fiber, we have the chance to make a generational investment so that Longmeadow can control its own destiny. The best run communities think strategically and plan for the future, they don’t go from crisis to crisis or year to year. We can follow in the footsteps of our neighbors in East Longmeadow, West Springfield, Chicopee, Southwick, South Hadley, Westfield and others to guarantee that our internet infrastructure will be future-proof and that Western Mass. won’t fall behind Eastern Mass. in this regard. We can offer faster internet for less money.
In a town where our only source of revenue is primarily property taxes, this project creates a valuable opportunity. Instead of sending our money to a giant corporation, our monthly internet bill would go back into our town. We could use this revenue to fund projects we otherwise would not be able to, or we could use it to drive down our monthly internet bills once enough residents sign on. The choice would be ours and having that option is important when our fiscal reality is so tight.
Fiberspring completed its buildout of South Hadley this summer, coming in under budget and ahead of schedule. Although just completed months ago, Fiberspring has already achieved a 50% subscription rate town-wide. Only a 40% subscription rate is needed for the project to be financially self-sufficient, and every community in Western Mass. that’s offered town-owned fiber has hit the minimum threshold, and most have far exceeded it and generated significant revenue. The numbers and data are clear: in community after community in Western Mass., residents want a faster, more reliable, cheaper internet option while also reinvesting in their community. On Nov. 12, Longmeadow can move into this better future.
Vineeth Hemavathi
Longmeadow
