Last month, the New York City Council Committee on Technology and Government held another hearing on affordable broadband Internet access for all New Yorkers. Over at Government Technology, John M. Eger (the former telecommunication advisor to Presidents Nixon and Ford) follows up with a concise look at why broadband Internet access is "as necessary as water, electricity and a telephone in an earlier era, and indeed, such broadband Internet service maybe the missing link to reinventing and renewing our cities for the global knowledge economy."

The only problem, says Eger, is that "traditional cable and telephone companies are preventing municipalities from developing their own aggressive broadband strategies. The telecom industry, long dominated by AT&T, now the so-called Baby Bells, together with the large and equally powerful cable communications companies, have joined forces to prevent any municipality from providing wired or wireless infrastructures of any kind."

The Committee on Technology in Government has already held at least five hearings on affordable broadband Internet access. A big hat tip to City Councilwoman Gale Brewer and legislative policy analyst Bruce Lai for driving the process forward.