Dear Fort Collins City Council members,

Thank you for your time and efforts in being on our city's council. I appreciate your time and trouble.

Please resist the idea of the city taking on the broadband service. It's a really bad idea and certainly you all have better things to tend do.

1. A government entity should not ever be in competition with private enterprise. Never. This city does enough of that already. Of course private enterprise is going to fight you, and they should. Let it be.

2. By the time the huge time and expense of placing the fiber-optic cables is complete, technology will have moved on. Let private enterprise figure that out and take those risks. It's what they do, it's what they know. No one on the City Council has the expertise to make those decisions. The Partner's Group does, and they're not interested. That's a big hint!

3. Comcast just opened one of their largest call centers right here in our city and claims to hire 650 people. Do we want to step onto the toes of a new, local employer? Think about it. "Welcome to town, Comcast. We don't want you here!!"

4. I don't like to buy my utilities from the city. Since I moved here in 2010, I've been told the electric costs will go down because of the smart meters, solar panel investments and so on, and my electric bill has done nothing but go up. I'd prefer to buy from private enterprise.

5. The proponents say the consumer would have more choice if the city took over broadband. That is not true, especially if the private providers leave our area.

You do not have my permission to spend my tax money getting into the internet business. Leave the free market alone and take care of the responsibilities you all have to the taxpayers in this fair city. 

Marybeth Snyder, Fort Collins

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