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Or have homeowner associations own the last mile. Give them he ability to switch their entire local network from provider to provider to get better service and
by stretchwithme 12y ago
Or have homeowner associations own the last mile. Give them he ability to switch their entire local network from provider to provider to get better service and/or lower prices.
That sort of model could be used for all sorts of utilities.
Collective ownership is not a bad thing when its very, very local. Especially when individuals have a direct, immediate say in who's acting on their behalf.
- nitrogen 12y agoPeople don't even trust their HOAs to tell them when and where to store their trash cans. Maybe a better type of entity exists that is less susceptible to petty, hyper-local personality politics.
- warfangle 12y ago>susceptible to petty, hyper-local personality politics Well, that puts most small local municipal governments out of the running too.
- nitrogen 12y agoMost likely, yes, but once in a while you have a solid group of like-minded, motivated people that can come together and produce the municipal broadband success stories we read about. I'm sure there are a few rare, decent HOAs out there, too.
- stretchwithme 12y agoI don't know about that. Our trash cans are in the trash room here. But I'm sure some of these arrangements are more disorderly than others. In any case, most HOAs and municipalities are fixed. They typically don't expand or contract based on people removing their property from the arrangement. If people could vote with their feet, these entities would have to be responsive. When people were nomadic, they lived together in groups and did many things collectively. And if the arrangement became oppressive, they left. That was a natural check on corruption. We need the same ability, even though we are no longer nomadic.