The City of Manhattan Beach is considering the creation of a Municipal Broadband Network that would provide residents and businesses with faster, lower cost internet service and better support “Smart City” initiatives such as synchronized street lights, community cameras, and parking meters that allow drivers to find parking spots through an internet app.
Information Technology director Sanford Taylor, shortly after becoming the first IT director in the city’s history a little less than two years ago, was tasked with developing a Fiber Master Plan. Taylor had previously worked for the City of Long Beach, where in the course of doing a similar plan he made a discovery. The city itself was paying $14,000 per month for a gigabyte of internet services. The wholesale cost of this service, if provided by “ISP hotels” rather than a traditional broadband provider, was $1,100 per month. The realization hit him that Long Beach could not only obtain cheaper, better internet for city staff, but also for residents and businesses.
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