Pride goeth before default?

I've gotta say, as someone with absolutely no skin in the fight (4.00 / 1)

and very little knowledge of the back-story, the Reboot concept sounds like an effort at stewardship by the local business community that one would think would be welcome right now.

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by: Sue Prent @ Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 02:11:27 AM UTC

I like that term "effort at stewardship" (4.00 / 1)

Sue, I like what you said.  I have to admit I do have a vested interest.  I am a BT customer.  I love its service, and I want BT to succeed.  Many Burlingtonians, who have not changed from Comcast to BT, think Comcast is service is equivalent but it is not.  I can tell you that Comcast was much more expensive for less service before BT came on the scene, but then Comcast drastically lowered prices in order to keep customers from switching to BT.  

My Comcast and prior Adelphia service were mediocre at best, while my BT high-speed internet is great.  There are some slight changes I would make if I could - little tweaks, like how phone service voice mail operates for example.  I believe such changes would occur if BT once again focused on communicating with customers like it did when it started would once again if it got back to the business of creating and expanding outstanding service as a public utility.

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by: Maggie Gundersen @ Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 03:13:07 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

while those two boneheads in the NNE (4.00 / 1)

and several others who choose to draw a political stamp on all BT, most of the people who really care about business development in the city or the growth of the existing job engines, know that a viable and growth optioned high speed network is the backbone of that growth potential.   I dont see Dealer.com hanging around if BT fails and Comcast takes over or drives it into the ground....  the DOT Com being the operative idea here...

BT has been a breath of fresh air in terms of quality service,  who cares about value, it just works...  consistently...

So to bite on the offer of salvation from people with access to money and the skills to actually MARKET a quality product based on smoething other than walk-ins????  Genius

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by: hoopmeister @ Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 03:11:56 AM UTC

Ditto (0.00 / 0)

a viable and growth optioned high speed network is the backbone of that growth potential.   I dont see Dealer.com hanging around if BT fails and Comcast takes over or drives it into the ground....  the DOT Com being the operative idea here...

Beware the Everyday Brutality of the Averted Gaze

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by: mataliandy @ Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 04:35:43 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

When is a public utility private? (4.00 / 1)

I've got no investment here, either, just a question or six: if this consortium of private businessmen takes over BT, does the city ever get it back as a utility? Is it still considered a public utility -- and should it be? How would that kind of management structure compare with another city-owned utility, like, say, Burlington Electric? And do the members of the gang of 9 have skin in the game -- as in, are they investing? Are they paying off the debt to the city? So then who exactly would own BT?

I ask because it seems to me that the reason anyone outside of Burlington even cares about what happens to BT is that many of us would like to see telecom services -- phone, entertainment, broadband --  treated like a public utility and not a bottomless well of sky-high fees for crappy service. Not to mention the "last mile" problem of broadband access in rural areas that will likely only ever be addressed by a truly public utility. If they can't manage that in  the densely populated neighborhoods of  the state's largest city, then there's not much hope for us poor suckers out in the boonies stuck with Comcast and Fairpoint.

NanuqFC
In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying. ~ Bertrand Russell  

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by: NanuqFC @ Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 03:36:09 AM UTC

What triggered all this was ... (4.00 / 1)

A crisis caused by the private sector, the economic meltdown.  

The PSB jumped in, and smacked BT hard.  But, the private sector entities they regulate,  FairPoint and VT Yankee have been coddled in spite of anything they do.  

FairPoints many transgressions have been forgiven by the PSB to the tune of 9 million.  

Vt Yankee's transgression have been ignored by the PSB.  It was the legislature's task force that has held VT Yankee's feet to the fire, while the PSB has tried to roll over and play dead.  

The built in bias in our system is being ignored.  

When something is done for the common weal, it is held to standards no other entity is expected to follow.  

When something is done for profit, it is allowed to replace all standards with PR.  

We can govern ourselves better than they govern us!

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by: govt4all @ Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 01:55:12 AM UTC

Huh ... remember Moody's? (4.00 / 1)

That's the Moody's mentioned in this BFP story:

The $17 million issue in the audit became unavoidable this week when Moody's Investors Service downgraded the city's credit rating two steps, from Aa3 ("high grade") to A2 ("upper medium grade"). Moody's said the slash in the credit rating was due to the city's use of the $17 million "to finance the expansion of the city's struggling telecommunications enterprise."

Remember? Remember that Moody's was busy giving AAA ratings to the trash financial elements that came to be known as mortgage backed financial instruments backed by those credit default swaps that turned out to be government backed insurance by another name? Remember that? Remember bailing out the uber wealthy and Wall Street because, in part, companies like Moody's were making tons of profits off marking things as being AAA bonds?

So now they're down on the City of Burlington. Who'd a thunked it.

govt4all, you are so correct in the double and impossible to live up to standard being applied to BT, but on the other hand Kiss has done everything in his power to make the whole effort an unpopular morass.

The answer is called openness ... transparency if you like; followed by not trying to hide what has been done.

It's over at http://ramabahama.net ... only it's still under construction (but so is the rest of my life)

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by: Rama Schneider @ Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 11:51:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

We are living in Mammon's temple, and his priests are ruling us ..... (3.00 / 1)

That's where Kiss & Co. go wrong.  Kiss & Co. may realize they are in a crooked game, and that the overwhelming advantage goes to those who rig the deck, but they blundered on, hoping things would somehow work out OK in the end.  

In that way, we have been a lot like "pie in the sky by and by" christians. Our instincts tell us that something isn't right, but in the absence of a clear vision, it's so much easier to keep smiling for the cameras, hoping and praying for miracles, while the dealer wins hand after hand.  

When we don't realize that we are dealing with problem relationships, we end up just being mad at ourselves and at the victims, because they and we were stupid enough to put our money on the line.

We should be much angrier at the dealers for winning our money by dealing off the bottom of the deck. We should be even angrier, because the dealers are still trying to get away with it.  

Remember, the plan is for us to continue to feed and care for the families of the victims, while we respectfully pay off the gambling debts the dealers say we owe, because we had a hand in their crooked game.  

We need to shout that the game is crooked, and that debt incurred in that game must be distributed fairly, with the crooks taking on the lions' share.  

We must also stop sanctioning the game, as long as some have the power to rig the deck.

The lack of integrity and transparency will endure, as long as Mammon is the state religion established by the courts, and endorsed by elected officials.  

We can govern ourselves better than they govern us!

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by: govt4all @ Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 16:38:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]