Dear Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and city councillors,

I find news about resistance to a municipal broadband study (“Council demands municipal broadband action while citizens cite ‘disrespect’ by city manager,” Feb. 26, 2020) extremely discouraging.

I’m not qualified to speak to all the underlying issues. But I do know this: It is hard to imagine a less acceptable situation (vis-a-vis broadband) than the one we have now in this city, where Comcast holds a monopoly.

Moreover, it is hard to concoct a benign narrative explaining why the city manager has acted in the way the article describes.

Finally, it would be hard for anyone to justify (to my satisfaction) wanting to renew the city manager’s contract, and it would be unthinkable for me to vote to reelect any council member who supports doing so, or who fails to support meaningful progress towards genuine broadband competition and/or quality municipal broadband.

Eric Connally, Elm Street