The city of Lompoc, Calif., thinks Comcast is in cahoots with a taxpayers' group: Lompoc is putting in Wi-Fi first and fiber next for municipally offered broadband and cable. Comcast would suffer, and the city believes they were behind a letter from the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Associates (SBCTA) to Lompoc residents. Comcast joined SBCTA after the letter went out.
The letter cites two municipal projects as failures that other, more recent and complete information from the Free Press and other sources indicates is a mischaracterization. (The cities are Marietta, Georgia, and Lebanon, Ohio. Marietta has been cited many times because it was sold to a private company "at a loss." The "loss" was a misrepresentation of the cost and finances of the project, the mayor ran on a ticket of selling the network, and the private company that purchased retained existing staff and infrastructure with few changes.)
Comcast denies involvement, such as providing Comcast subscriber names and addresses to the SBCTA. Neither the SBCTA nor Comcast is eager to divulge information about specific involvement and financing.