Minneapolis plans outsourced city-wide network: The city will request bids on a citywide network to serve city workers, businesses, and residences, but Minneapolis won't have any ownership of the network nor will they put one red cent in. The goal of the network would be ubiquitous 1 to 3 Mbps coverage through Wi-Fi hotspots that would be tied together through what sounds like an entirely new fiber-optic network. That leaps this proposal into a much larger cost category, and explains why the city expects proposals from consortiums not individual companies. The city has talked to 26 potential bidders.
Unfortunately, this otherwise accurate article states that Philadelphia's network will be owned and operated by the city; I've already written to them about this error. The piece also notes that two local companies offer WiMax, which isn't possible as the certification process isn't done yet, and confuses WiMax's point-to-point offering with the future mobile WiMax that will allow roaming.
WiMax won't be too expensive for residential use when other alternatives aren't available or when operators are serious about competing on price: the higher initial cost can be offset by a lower ongoing capital cost for infrastructure versus wireline broadband, meaning that WiMax operators will eat more of the setup in exchange for contract commitments. This was true in the early DSL and cable modem days when those devices cost several hundred dollars each.