Letters to the Editor: Choose a future with city-owned broadband
Choose a future with city-owned broadband
On or before Aug. 2, we Hollanders have a choice to make about our future, and that of our children. We will decide if we want to have an equitable city-owned high-speed fiber network for all or do we leave this critical infrastructure to the whims of a profit-motivated company.
Today, we take access to the Internet as a given. However, in 1994 that was not the case. That is when a small group of community-minded volunteers got together and formed MacNet, a nonprofit Internet access provider. With a grant from the Holland/Zeeland Foundation and technical support from Hope College Computer Science Department and Herrick Library, 16 dial-up modems were installed at the library. During the first month, there were 300 subscribers to MacNet. Within a few months, there were 3,000 subscribers. Speeds increased from 1,200 to 2,400, to 5,600 and now Internet speeds are measured in billions of characters per second.
The point of this history lesson is that Holland for a long time had a community-owned “free-net” that was publicly owned and operated. Some of the benefits of a community-owned broadband high-speed fiber network are that:
The cost is controlled locally and not subject to periodic rate hikes.
Support services are local and not outsourced to an offshore call center saving you time when prompt service is needed. Designed with the future in mind, Holland City Fiber will be easily upgraded as technology continues to advance by updating the equipment endpoints of the fiber. For examples of 23 successful community-owned broadband fiber networks, visit allconnect.com/blog/cities-with-cheap-high-speed-internet.
I am voting "yes" on Aug. 2 for a reliable, affordable, equitable, community-owned and operative Holland City Fiber.
Dean Whittaker
Holland
DeBoer a good fit to represent Holland
Like many people, I grew up in West Michigan. Winter-water wonderland. It is still Pure Michigan. There is a lot of Michigan outdoors to enjoy. Especially for me are water-related activities. Coming home in 2007 after 35 years in the military, it was time for community give-back.
Nancy DeBoer was one of the first representatives on City Council to support my initiative: get the four jurisdictions on Lake Macatawa together for the purpose of planning four universal kayak launches and an eventual water trail on Lake Mac. Three of the four are done with the possibility of the remaining one in 2023.
Nancy continues to be a strong advocate for our area. She can have a larger impact at the next level. I’m pleased to say she has my support in the upcoming state House seat election. Join me, won’t you?
Don Swierenga
Holland
Nancy DeBoer best choice for 86th District
I support Nancy DeBoer for state representative of the new 86th District in Michigan.
If ever there was a time to elect representatives to be the voice of conservative leadership, it is now. I have spent time with Nancy and her husband, Jim, and they are the real deal.
Nancy has a genuine heart for people, all people, and lives out the beautiful example of what service to others looks like. She believes that we are better when we work together and everyone contributes to the process of finding creative solutions to real issues. She doesn’t take the easy road of going with the group voice just to feel comfortable and then move on to the next issue.
Nancy DeBoer takes the time to weigh all possible outcomes and how the proposed solutions might affect the people that she serves, and in the end, she is led by her moral compass. Nancy has been mocked for her beliefs in past local elections and never has she lashed out or gotten distracted from her goals. She leads with integrity and character not typically seen in politics because she feels she has been called to serve others. It is the people that keep bringing her back to running for positions of office in our community.
She is running this race for all of us who are not being heard. Nancy DeBoer wants to ensure future freedoms not only for her own children and grandchildren but for all people who still believe in the American dream of freedom. I will be voting for Nancy DeBoer on Aug. 2, and I encourage you to do the same if you want to ensure that every voice is represented equally.
Lisa Kasten
Holland
Stonewalling Taliban government in Afghanistan has achieved nothing
It is time to end the financial sanctions we imposed on Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, and begin to normalize relations with the government. The sanctions and our refusal to recognize the Taliban government have contributed to a devastating humanitarian crisis and made it easier for hardline Taliban leaders to push moderates out of Afghan leadership roles. The earthquake that hit eastern Afghanistan is an opportunity for the Biden administration to reverse its policy of refusing to deal directly with the Taliban.
In February 2020, the Trump administration signed an agreement to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. This agreement was negotiated directly with the Taliban, excluding the Afghan government which the U.S. had been supporting for over a decade.
When President Biden ordered the pullout of all U.S. troops in summer 2021, he cited this agreement as central to his decision. So, a Republican administration was willing to negotiate with the Taliban to end our military support for the government we had spent billions of dollars propping up, and a Democratic administration accepted the resulting agreement as binding.
However, neither party now sees anything strange about refusing to recognize the Taliban as legitimate. This is in spite of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country the same day the Taliban entered Kabul and three days later announcing he supported a peaceful transfer of power to the Taliban. We should have recognized then the Taliban were in control, and now, after a year of pursuing a failing policy toward Afghanistan, it is way past time.
We refused to recognize the government because of what we feared it might do, but by refusing to engage with the new leadership and by cutting off its access to financial resources, we contributed to the very outcomes we feared. It’s time we accept the reality that the Taliban is Afghanistan’s government, that we re-engage in diplomatic relations, and that we drop sanctions that are achieving nothing except driving Afghanistan further into poverty and enhancing the power of hardline Taliban leaders.
Frank Barefield
Holland
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Letters to the Editor: Choose a future with city-owned broadband
