City Council Gives Staff Go Ahead to Pursue AT&T Deal

By Paul Burgarino, STAFF WRITER

SAN RAMON — The City Council adopted a resolution Tuesday to allow city staff to negotiate an agreement with AT&T to implement a new Internet service in San Ramon.

Before the council — down two members with the absence of Mayor H. Abram Wilson and Councilman Scott Perkins — came to a unanimous decision to let the mayor, city manager and city attorney negotiate with AT&T, legal and logistic concerns were brought up.

An upgrade to the current system would provide “Internet protocol television” and other enhanced services.

Questions included whether the proposed “Project Lightspeed” should fall under the restrictions of cable providers. A representative for cable television argued against the proposal.

As part of the facility upgrade proposal, 41 above-ground cabinets measuring 5 feet high would be placed in neighborhoods around the city in the public right of way.

Councilman Jim Livingstone asked if the cabinets would be covered and how much road work would have to be done to lay the fiber optic lines.

AT&T spokeswoman Shiyama Clunie said that the road work would be minimal, since a lot of the cable already is in place.

In regards to the cabinets, Clunie said that AT&T would try to camouflage the boxes with foliage and would go on a case-by-case basis.

“Project Lightspeed is an upgrade to our existing telecommunications network,” Clunie said during a presentation.

Representatives from the cable industry begged to differ.

Jeff Sinsheimer of the California Cable & Telecommunications Association, or CCTA, was given a chance to speak on behalf of Comcast, the cable provider in San Ramon.

Sinsheimer presented the council with a packet of information arguing that AT&T’s proposal is cable television service, and that AT&T should be held by those standards.

“At the end of the day, the customers experience of whatAT&T is proposing to provide and the Comcast customer’s experience is identical,” Sinsheimer said. “(Comcast) is a provider that is here in the right of way, who’s paying taxes, we’re only asking AT&T bear in an equal fashion.”

Sinsheimer noted that Walnut Creek rejected the proposal by AT&T (then SBC) in October, with the city concluding that the video offering fell within the definition of cable service.

City Attorney Byron Athan reminded the council that the deal with AT&T was still in negotiations with the city and that action would not have any legal ramifications.

During public comment, residents voiced their support of AT&T, saying that they were in favor of more technology options so they could pick and choose their tools for communication.

“The emphasis in San Ramon has always been on quality and continuous improvement,” said Ken Mintz, a resident in favor of the project. “The project by AT&T seems like an example of that and I support it.”

The council also set a date of March 14 for a joint public hearing about a proposed amendment to the city’s redevelopment plan. The plan calls for an increase in the agency’s indebtedness limit and re-establish the agency’s use of eminent domain.

Paul Burgarino can be reached at (925) 416-4863 or pburgarino@angnewspapers.com.