“It’s damaging whenever we create a community that talks about ‘them and us.’”
A quote from Jim Dunn at a city council meeting addressing the situation in which renters aren't receiving the same subsidies as homeowners in North Kansas City.
The first speaker, Aaron Wendel, highlighted that NKC partnered with Nocix to launch KCFiber, a joint venture that delivers 1Gb/s fiber to all residents. It's available today with even more generous plans for power users and businesses.
Great! So why don't I have access to this essential service?
Well, that's where the next speaker comes in. Jim Dunn, an educator in North Kansas City, talks about the inequality of subsidies in this city. Because most apartment complex developers choose to make exclusive deals with ISPs, residents are now locked out of a service that North Kansas City considers essential.
“Now I want you to consider for a minute the $100 a month that that would save people living in apartments in our community. That’s real money, folks — that’s grocery money every month. And there’s no reason for this. My guess is developers don’t find that a financially feasible option. Well, you know what? They don’t find tempered glass financially feasible either, or sprinkler systems, or firewalls. Those are all expensive things, and we demand them because they keep folks in our community safe. We have a basic expectation that we do those things.”
However, as of this city council meeting, NKC is getting around these exclusivity deals between ISPs and developers by providing free municipal Wi-Fi to multifamily buildings. Which is incredible and influential to all neighboring cities that don't have this. I'm excited to keep up with this effort and sharing this city's achievements.