The Buffalo Common Council passed a resolution to little fanfare this past Tuesday, March 31st, that calls for bringing municipal broadband to Buffalo. This resolution coalesces all the various items the council members have submitted into one coherent resolution that gets the ball rolling on bringing community broadband to Buffalo. It begins the process by resolving to bring in a consultant that will help the City in assessing the viability of a City-wide municipal network.
We're really hopeful any consultant that comes in will recognize how well situated we are, asset-wise (backhauls running to Toronto, city-owned contuit, etc), and how much the City could save if it wired its own "Institutional Network", connecting municipal buildings, schools, libraries, and other anchor institutions.
We're excited to continue working with the City (as well as the County) on all the necessary steps that will have to go into this ambitious project. This is a multi-year endeavor that will involve much more community engagement, discussions with stakeholders, plans, blueprints, and resource/challenge assessments--as well as the hard work of actually building out the network--before this really comes to fruition.