Mayor of the city of Anaheim
Age: 47
Residence: Anaheim
Family: Wife Alexis; 2 children
Hobby: Family
Curt Pringle’s name has the ring of a big-city mayor in a county that has never rhymed with “Giuliani” or “Villaraigosa” or “Daly.” One of his strategies is to think big. Among his goals is to “advance Anaheim into a place where it deserves. What’s important is not only to continue (moving forward) with Anaheim as a leader, but also to do the same for the county. It’s interesting; we are very much discounted, or disregarded, because of our proximity to Los Angeles. Anaheim is a microcosm of the county, and also the state.” He adds: “I think we ought to get our proper due.”
As he prepares for a second and final four-year term he runs against William Fitzgerald in next month’s election Pringle is poised to help shape the most invigorating city in Orange County in the most challenging of times. Running a city Anaheim is among the state’s top 10 largest cities with 343,000 residents is no easy feat. Constituencies range from a growing Latino population to the world-famous Disneyland Resort to professional baseball and hockey teams. He has been there to greet NFL luminaries who want to plant a team in either the Los Angeles market or in Anaheim.
Pringle was there as the Platinum Triangle Orange County’s largest urban redevelopment project ever took shape. The concept is one that could create the first true downtown in a county that has been more village-inspired than urban. The 820 acres could have up to 9,500 housing units, 5 million square feet of office space, more than 2 million square feet of commercial uses and several high-rises.
In the eight to 10 years for buildout, the project promises to have the stamp of both Pringle’s early work allowing the free market to build a viable project with city support, rather than act as a hindrance and of his hope that it will emerge as the county’s true downtown.
“That’s the definition of an urban center,” he says. “The streets don’t roll up at 5 o’clock. I think you’ll see that here.”
This has been a busy year. The activist mayor has had a hand in several major city initiatives. These include: Wi-Fi is now available throughout the city; the Tiger Woods Learning Center opened; transportation initiatives in the form of the newly purchased land for the planned Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodel Center, which will provide shuttles to Disneyland, regional routes to neighboring cities, the Amtrak and Metrolink platform, and perhaps even high-speed rail to Ontario Airport and later to Las Vegas and possibly San Francisco. Also this year, the City Council gave the final go-ahead for GardenWalk, a 19-acre outdoor shopping center and hotel complex that opens in 2007.
Not everything is a win, though; the Angels prevailed this year against the city in a naming lawsuit (officially the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim).
The former state Assembly Speaker hosts an annual State of the City address that actually matters regionally. More than 800 people turned out this year. His annual prayer breakfast every October draws even more.
The question that makes him squirm is what he will do after his mayorship. “Those are always the nagging questions that show up. I’m at a point in my life where I don’t have to be in office … I’m very confident in God’s plan for my life, and at this moment in time have no interest in running for anything else.”
—Craig Reem
]]>Anaheim Unveils Cutting-Edge Technology with Dedication of Park above Electric Substation
City Leaders Help Celebrate Launch of First Underground Electric Substation in U.S.
ANAHEIM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Anaheim Public Utilities, in a partnership that included the city’s Community Services Departments as well as some of the nation’s top energy contracting and consulting firms, today dedicated Park Substation, the first underground electric substation in the United States. Adding to the uniqueness of the substation is the fact that it sits below Roosevelt Park, a two-acre facility that serves the East Anaheim neighborhood.
The 100 MVA electric distribution station has the capacity to serve 25,000 current and future residential customers. It uses state-of-the-art technology in substation design with Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS), which reduces the required space for the substation to approximately 30 percent of a conventional station design. The use of this technology is more common in Europe and Japan.
“I am pleased to see Anaheim continue its transformation into a city of the 21st century with the completion of this innovative project,” Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle told an audience of more than 100 invited guests that included city and utility leaders, project team members, as well as local residents and business owners. “With this new technology, we will be able to build substations closer to where we need them, in spaces that are considerably smaller than their predecessors and within enclosures such as buildings or underground.”
]]> The $19.5-million project is expected to be a benchmark prototype for other utilities, not only in California but across the nation. All circuits into and out of the station are underground, including 10 circuit miles of underground cable installed on Santa Ana Canyon Road, while another 5 miles of existing overhead lines are being converted to underground. An additional 8 circuit miles are underground on other streets.“In building this facility, our community leaders once again challenged us to fulfill our mission to deliver the affordable and reliable power that Anaheim needs now and into the future,” said Marcie Edwards, general manager for Anaheim Public Utilities. “However, in doing so, we were also reminded that success requires solutions that work in concert with our neighbors and enhance the community.”
Roosevelt Park will include open green space, walkways, seating and landscaping. It will complement the local surroundings and be within walking distances from the neighboring local residential and commercial areas. Even before its official opening, Park Substation and Roosevelt Park were officially recognized with a plaque for its contribution to the civic beauty of our community by Anaheim Beautiful.
The design-build team for Park Substation is a joint venture consisting of three companies—Siemens, a worldwide supplier of GIS equipment; Turner Construction, a general contracting firm; and BETA Engineering, a highly experienced specialty electrical engineering firm. As a design-build project, the joint venture was responsible for engineering, procurement of the material and construction of the facility.
“While we knew Park Substation would be a first-of-its-kind facility for Anaheim, we were wise enough to know that it would have been foolish for us to take on the responsibility to build a $19.5-million facility as mere novices,” Edwards said. “Due to the complex nature of the project, the city retained the construction management services of Sargent and Lundy, LLC.” Headquartered in Chicago, Sargent and Lundy is a leading internationally renowned engineering firm with extensive experience involving GIS substations, as well as other unique and challenging projects in the electrical utility industry.
“This is just the first of several new substations that we are building to update our electric system throughout Anaheim,” Pringle said. “In the coming months, Anaheim Substation, located near City Hall, will be replaced using GIS technology. The new substation will be enclosed within an above-ground structure designed to fit in with the historical architectural theme of the surrounding downtown Anaheim neighborhood.
“Additionally, Vermont Substation, also in the downtown area, will not be far behind. It will also use GIS technology, but will have an open-air design in a very compact space.”
]]>Students' plans would enhance Santa Ana River area
Anaheim, already at work on sprucing up the Santa Ana River area, praises extension students' visions.
By SARAH TULLY
The Orange County Register
A shopping and dining promenade could line a strip by the Honda Center. Paddle boats and kayaks could launch from docks on an expanded urban lake. Nature trails could wind around water basins.
These lofty ideas and others for the Santa Ana River came from UCLA Extension students, who developed a plan for a class project and presented it at an Anaheim City Council workshop this week. The council has no funding for the projects and is unsure which proposals are even feasible, but members lauded the grand vision for the river in Anaheim, which means "home by the Santa Ana River" in German.
"What this plan does is embrace the river (in a city) that has a great potential for being a riverfront city," instructor Kathleen Bullard said.
As part of Mayor Curt Pringle's long-term goal to revitalize the river, more than 100 landscape architecture students were assigned to think big at an April brainstorming gathering. Eleven students then came up with beautification plans for a nine-mile stretch of the river, which is usually dry.
]]> Students didn't worry too much about zoning, funding, existing leases or the political turmoil of uprooting businesses.Council members said they will decide later which ideas to tackle. The city already has a master plan for a park at the Burris Pit, a set of basins for storm runoff by the river. Bids are expected to go out by June.
"It's so gratifying to see a plan and really such ingenious ideas," Councilman Bob Hernandez said.
Some users of the river trail said they would enjoy improvements.
Corona resident Jeff Jensen, 28, jogs about three times a week with co-workers from the jail. He would like to see city officials address problems with homeless people, who he says harass runners and cyclists.
"If you beautify this out here, you would have people run through here more often," Jensen said as he took a lunchtime break behind Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOUR RIVER AREAS
The students came up with design concepts for four areas on the Santa Ana River. They focused on recreation, environmental improvements and economic development. Here are a few ideas for each area:
Angel Stadium of Anaheim area
• Big A Park: Park with Little League field on 10 percent of stadium parking lot.
• ARTIC: Rounded plaza at the planned transportation hub.
• Honda Center: Promenade with lofts, restaurants, shops and a gym by the arena.
Burris Basin recharge and nature area
• The Point Nature Center: Place to learn about water use and wildlife.
• Rio Vista Overlook: Observation deck over the water.
• Burris Landing: Entry point with paddle boats, concessions and trail loops.
Frontera Street area
• Linear Park:Trails, picnic tables, concessions, and bicycle and surrey rentals.
• Resort and spa:Facility with pocket park and river lookout.
• Retail:Shops, restaurants, amphitheater and miniature golf course.
Lake Anaheim area
• Shoreline Promenade:Three-mile loop with cafes, art galleries and amphitheater.
• Boating:Marina with pier for nonmotorized boats.
• Swimming hole:Separate area with a natural treatment system.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIVER VISION PLAN
In August, Santa Ana accepted a plan for a six-mile stretch of the Santa Ana River.
A task force made up of community members and park experts spent 10 months drafting the plan for 10 sites along the riverbed. The city has applied for seven grants to fund development of the sites.
Some proposals in the plan:
• Spurgeon Park site:A 19.3-acre parcel next to Spurgeon Middle School could be used as a passive park with an interpretation center about the river.
• Pacific Electric site:A narrow parcel near Willowick Golf Course and Fairview Street that belongs to the Orange County Transportation Authority. One idea calls for turning the Pacific Electric railroad bridge into a pedestrian bridge.
• Centennial Park site:A 65-acre parcel owned by the city could be revamped to include concession facilities and bicycle rentals.
To read more about Santa Ana's plan, go to www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/parks /River_Vision_Plan.asp
Anaheim mayor seeks seat on a statewide rail board
Curt Pringle wants to join state agency planning high-speed bullet train connecting San Diego and San Francisco.
By JIM RADCLIFFE and SARAH TULLY
The Orange County RegisterANAHEIM - Mayor Curt Pringle submitted an application to the governor's office Monday for a seat on a statewide rail board – an effort to ensure that Orange County is a major player in a proposal to build a 700-plus-mile, high-speed line from San Diego to San Francisco.
"I actually believe something's going to happen," Pringle said. "It takes a long time to get the initial dollars in."
The state budget allocated $14.3 million recently to begin studying such things as exactly where the bullet-train alignment would go.
After years of little progress, it was a significant break for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which hasn't had much money to work with. But major hurdles remain, like funding the $33 billion-plus system. There are potentially several openings on the authority's board.
The bullet train is envisioned to run mostly through California's midsection. In Anaheim, the rail line would stop at the planned Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, a 13.5-acre parcel just south of Katella Avenue near Angel Stadium.
The entire story can be found here on the OCR website.
]]>Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle is the only Orange County elected official to be included in the list:
]]>Curt Pringle
Anaheim mayor; 47, AnaheimPringle has taken some heat for having lost Anaheim's name-change fight with the Angels and for struggling to muster consensus on courting the NFL. Still, Pringle is not only running unopposed, he's also been endorsed by his biggest critic. It's a testament to the skill and war chest of the ambitious GOP leader of Disneyland's hometown. More broadly, Pringle has built such a strong reputation for his aggressive pro-business approach to governance (creative tax waivers, sweeping zone changes, market incentives to redevelop run-down parts of the city) that other local officials have coined a verb for his philosophy: "to Pringle-ize."
By Dave McKibben, Times Staff Writer
July 26, 2006
Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, one of Orange County's few big-city mayors, has won the endorsement of his chief critic, and it appears he will run unopposed for reelection in November.
"He's done a great job for the city, and he deserves another four years," said Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu, who has sparred with Pringle. "Even though we might have our differences on a few of the issues, they are not significant enough for me not to endorse a man with a great vision for our city."
The smart money suggested that Pringle would have a fight on his hands this fall after Anaheim lost its name-game lawsuit with the Angels, costing the state's 10th-largest city some $4 million and alienating the team's popular owner. And an effort to land an NFL team drew skepticism from Sidhu, who thought the city was offering the league land for a stadium at half its value.
But Pringle's critics never got much traction on either issue. Even Pringle's opponents believed that in renaming the team the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Angels owner Arte Moreno had backed the mayor into a corner. Many residents of Anaheim - home to Disneyland, a huge convention center, an emerging downtown and professional baseball and hockey teams - applauded Pringle for fighting the name change. The NFL land deal has remained in the background, largely because the league has yet to choose between the Los Angeles Coliseum and vacant land next to Angel Stadium.
Sidhu has tangled with Pringle on a few other occasions. Sidhu was the lone council member who didn't support Pringle's decision to appeal the verdict over the Angels' name, and he disagreed with the mayor's move to put a permanent gambling ban on the November ballot.
Because of Sidhu's policy differences with Pringle and his wealth, most insiders figured he was the only politician who could give the mayor some competition. Sidhu, 49, once owned 28 fast-food restaurants and spent more than $200,000 of his own money on his last council race.
"Now that Harry has endorsed the mayor, I think he will run unopposed," said Anaheim Councilman Bob Hernandez, also a frequent Pringle critic. "It's unfortunate, because I think the political process works a lot better when people have choices. I think a challenge would be better for Curt too. It keeps you on your game."
But Hernandez acknowledged that Pringle, a former Assembly speaker with a war chest of some $500,000, is virtually unbeatable. Pringle, a conservative Republican, has worked closely with Democratic council colleagues Richard Chavez and Lorri Galloway and Latino leaders to create more low-cost housing and recreational opportunities in the city's poorer districts.
Amin David, who heads Los Amigos of Orange County, a Latino advocacy group, said he was happy to hear Pringle would probably run unopposed. "We certainly don't want to lose him," David said. "We're very pleased with him. He listens to a lot of the ideas set forth by the progressives on council, Lorri and Richard. He cares about doing something different and decent for the working class. That's very inclusive thinking."
Sidhu, also a conservative Republican, said he briefly considered entering the race. But he realized a month ago he didn't have enough support to defeat Pringle, who won handily in 2002 over three challengers. "His polling numbers are better than mine," Sidhu said. "But I didn't base this solely on polling. The timing was not right. I will have a chance in my lifetime to be the mayor of the city."
Pringle said he was pleased to receive Sidhu's endorsement Monday.
"Harry told me some time ago that he wouldn't run against me, but I know there was some talk out there," Pringle said Tuesday after a ceremony launching the city's 150th anniversary celebration. "It's nice to have a strong coalition of support from my colleagues. It makes it a lot easier to move the city forward."
]]>Along with the associations representing Anaheim’s public safety personnel, Mayor Pro Tem Richard Chavez, City Councilman Harry Sidhu, and City Councilwoman Lori Galloway have endorsed Pringle’s campaign.
“Although we don’t approach every issue from the same perspective,” Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, “there is no doubt that Curt has a passion for Anaheim. You know that he is motivated by what is best for our community.”
“Curt and I share some very important goals, including keeping taxes low and protecting private property rights,” said Councilman Sidhu. “I look forward to working with him in his second term.”
“Anaheim is in the middle of a Golden Age, and Mayor Curt Pringle is the visionary driving our progress,” said Councilwoman Galloway. “I am as proud to call him my friend as I am to call him my Mayor.”
Joining his council colleagues, the APOA and AFA cited Mayor Pringle’s efforts to keep Anaheim one of the safest large cities in America.
]]>]]>Beginning tomorrow, Anaheim residents can view City Council meetings from the comfort of their own home or anywhere they have access to the internet. Working with San Francisco-based Granicus, streaming video of Anaheim City Council meetings now will be available from the city's Web site.
"As I proposed at my State of the City speech earlier this year," said Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, "at every opportunity we are moving closer to creating 21st Century City Hall, where City Hall is open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whether you come downtown, or sit in a city park accessing the citywide wireless network on your laptop. With Granicus and our new EarthLink wireless network, Anaheim residents can now watch decisions being made that affect their daily lives from anywhere in the city."
Regularly-scheduled Anaheim City Council meetings will be aired live on Tuesday evenings at approximately 5 p.m. Each meeting then will be posted online along with an accompanying Council agenda about two hours after the conclusion of each meeting. Past meetings will be archived and searchable so that people can locate a specific item of interest and watch that item being addressed by the City Council.
The city's cable channel, ACTV-3, will continue to air the most recent City Council meetings for those who prefer a more traditional viewing format.
Here's is the Titch article:
Cable competition offers more for less
Legislature should end monopolistic alliance of cities, cable TV companies
By STEVE TITCH
Rising cable television bills have been straining household budgets and driving consumers crazy. But cable customers might finally catch a break as California pushes forward on legislation to reform our antiquated system of video franchising – the revenue-sharing agreements that cable companies sign with local governments in return for the right to offer video services to taxpayers on an exclusive basis.
Remember rotary phones and television sets with tuning knobs? Remember when personal computers did not exist? That's the era in which the current franchising system was created. Local governments wrote exclusive agreements with cable and phone companies for the purpose of "protecting consumers," i.e., regulating what was then a monopoly service. At the time, there was no competition with, or between, phone and cable service providers.
But today competition is booming among a variety of rapidly evolving technologies including cable TV, cell phones, satellite TV, Internet telephone, Internet TV and others.
So now, instead of protecting consumers, the old laws are actually shielding large companies from emerging competition and are preventing consumers from taking advantage of better services and lower prices.
You can read the entire article here.
]]>This is an impressive accomplishment and a testament to the speed with which private sector provides public goods when unburdened by government interference. The Anaheim City Council voted last October to sign an agreement with Earthlink for the building of a citywide WiFi network. Eight months later the first phase is already operational.
More importantly, this is not a city-owned enterprise undertaken to gratify government egos and provide a trendy “free” service using taxpayer dollars. Earthlink is using existing city infrastructure to build their WiFi network. The company pays the city for the electricity to power the system, a lease payment for the municipal fiber connections used, and a fee for attaching their wireless equipment to city streetlights and traffic signals. Earthlink will also provide the city with access to the new network at a discounted rate – enabling us to create a back-up for the city’s emergency wireless network at a lower cost.
Furthermore, Earthlink performs a wholesale role that enables other ISPs to sell WiFi access on a retail basis. In other words, Earthlink will not have a city-chartered WiFi monopoly in Anaheim.
July is a month when American celebrate our independence and remember to “let freedom ring.” In a small way, the inauguration of Anaheim’s citywide WiFi network does exactly that, and shows how local government, via open-mindedness and a simple willingness to stay on the sidelines, can let freedom ring a little bit louder.
--Curt
AOL and DirecTV will offer Wi-Fi subscriptions to customers in all cities where EarthLink builds networks.
"We don't want to be a franchise that has a monopoly on Wi-Fi," said Donald Berryman, president of municipal networks for EarthLink. "It will be a truly open market, price-competitive system, and that was a big selling point for the cities."
EarthLink said it has now completed about 20 percent of Anaheim's network, which will ultimately cover about 100,000 households over 49 square miles. It will also offer access to the city's throngs of tourists; some 50 million people go to Anaheim each year to visit Disneyland and attend conventions and sporting events.
You can read the entire article here.
By James S. Granelli
Times Staff Writer
June 29, 2006
Internet service provider EarthLink Inc. expects to launch its first municipal wireless system today, with high-speed connections in six square miles of downtown Anaheim.
The Orange County city is key to EarthLink's strategy as it adapts to changing online habits and the evaporation of its dial-up business. Anaheim is the biggest city so far to embrace a nationwide trend of creating citywide wireless Internet access for residents and businesses.
"We want to see competition for broadband Internet access," said Mayor Curt Pringle, who will join EarthLink executives for a "wire cutting" ceremony at City Hall. The project is expected to be completed this year.
The service will cost $22 a month, more than the base prices of limited broadband offered by the phone and cable companies that provide most Internet access across California.
Unable to get cable modem service at her Caracol Toy & Candy shop three blocks from City Hall, Rosie Navarrete became EarthLink's first customer, switching to wireless during a test period that started at the end of April. "The first thing I noticed was that I got reception everywhere in the store and the surrounding areas outside," Navarrete said. "It was great reception. No interference."
EarthLink needs more customers like Navarrete.
Executives of the Atlanta company appreciate that the wireless system is just another option for residents who already can get DSL from AT&T Inc. and cable modem service from Adelphia Communications Inc. But Adelphia doesn't reach Anaheim businesses. Earthlink figures it needs to attract 15% to 20% of the households with Internet access to make its effort profitable.
"We're looking at it as a replacement for dial-up Internet users, for people who are new to the Internet and for those who want a roaming service," said Donald Berryman, president of EarthLink Municipal Networks.
About half the nation's online households still use their regular telephone connection to dial into the Internet, according to Forrester Research Inc.
"That's a pretty good market to sell to," Forrester analyst Charles Golvin said. "I think EarthLink has a really tough row to hoe, but it is focused on the right market."
The company's business model, he said, is unproven.
EarthLink customers in Anaheim will get data at 1 megabit per second — about 18 times faster than dial-up. Phone and cable companies sell slower broadband for $13 to $18 a month and faster speeds for more than EarthLink charges.
Last year, the company lost about 300,000 dial-up customers. After counting gains in broadband customers, its subscriber base fell by 73,000 to just over 5 million.
A problem for EarthLink is that it doesn't own any broadband access pipes. "Given changes in regulations, it can't assure itself of holding on to its broadband customers going forward," Golvin said.
That's why EarthLink Chief Executive Garry Betty decided to go after the municipal wireless market.
The company is starting to put together a 135-square-mile network in Philadelphia as well as systems in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans and in the Silicon Valley town of Milpitas. It has won contracts to unwire San Francisco and Aurora, Colo., and is a finalist in bids for building networks in Long Beach, Pasadena, Minneapolis, Arlington, Va., and Grand Rapids, Mich.
In Anaheim, EarthLink is building two linked systems based on wireless technologies known as Wi-Fi and WiMax. Residents within 6 square miles around City Hall downtown can get wireless broadband now, and coverage will grow to 10 square miles within a month, said Jay Dugas, the company's local network director. Earthlink plans to cover all of Anaheim's 50 square miles by the end of the year.
At some point, Dugas said, EarthLink also will offer higher speeds to businesses.
But even as EarthLink completes its network, AT&T is rushing to finish upgrading its system to a mix of fiber-optic and copper lines to provide more reliable digital subscriber line, or DSL, service and pay TV.
The nation's largest phone company expects to start offering television programming to Anaheim residents by the end of the year. AT&T also aggressively markets its phone, video, high-speed data and Cingular Wireless services in discounted packages that neither Adelphia nor EarthLink can match.
EarthLink is undaunted. "We're not going to take many DSL customers anyway," Berryman said. "I think our service will be complementary. Customers can take it and roam around."
There are good things happening at the local government level. As concerns cable and video services, the always informative Reason Foundation vice president Adrian Moore recently wrote, “A few states, like Texas and Ohio, have passed legislation requiring that cities allow competing services. And a few mayors have spoken out in favor of competition in television providers and an end to the old monopoly regulations and franchise fees.” But, pointing a positive finger, Moore says, “Mayor Curt Pringle of Anaheim has been out front on this.” Moore mentions that the Anaheim Mayor and city council are making “good policy decisions that embrace competition and markets. Mayor Pringle’s perspective on competitive telecommunications providers … will give city residents more choices, a better deal, and make the city more competitive with its neighbors.” The next time your local officials blather on about franchise fees, the need for a monopoly provider, and other blah, blah about the importance of Soviet Central Telecomm Planning, hand them the City of Anaheim media release that extols the benefits of reduced government interference and franchise fee elimination. Next, send ‘em to Disneyland to see firsthand what a wonderful telecomm world we could have if they’d just stop acting Dopey.
]]>
]]>OutFront
Tomorrowland
Scott Woolley 07.03.06Anaheim is about to turn on the first Wi-Fi network to blanket an entire city. Has Earthlink's Garry Betty finally found a way to make a mint selling Internet access?
In the past decade Garry Betty has experimented with just about every possible way of connecting his customers to the Internet--and wiped $1 billion of his shareholders' capital off the balance sheet in the process. But now the chief executive of Earthlink says he sees a way to take his revenge on the giant rivals who have long beaten him bloody.
In Anaheim, Calif. Earthlink has attached little white boxes to 1,500 traffic lights. At the end of the month Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle will cut a ceremonial wire, turning on those boxes and powering up America's first big-city Wi-Fi network, which will offer residents high-speed wireless Web access across Anaheim for $22 per month.
While many cities have fought bitter public battles over building urban Wi-Fi networks--phone and cable companies loathe the idea of the cut-rate competition--Anaheim is about to become the first major-league city to do it.
The 49-year-old Betty hopes to repeat Anaheim across the nation, turning Earthlink into the leader, by far, in building and running urban Wi-Fi networks. He has won contracts to build networks in Philadelphia and New Orleans, both of which will go live in the last quarter of this year. He hopes to finalize similar contracts with Honolulu, Minneapolis, Arlington, Va. and, with help from Google, San Francisco. Dozens more cities are eyeing Anaheim before deciding to sign up.
It's a sweet moment for Betty, who has spent most of the past decade trying to beg, borrow or buy access to the networks owned by big phone and cable companies. His larger rivals had no interest in letting him turn a profit selling dial-up or high-speed access using their wires. Government efforts to force them to share--which Betty lobbied for--did little to create real competition.
"For the first time I don't have to go crawling on my hands and knees asking for a better deal," says Betty.
Earthlink, based in Atlanta, has spent $5 million building the Anaheim network and expects that it can earn a decent return on that cash once 15% to 20% of Anaheim's 100,000 homes sign up. The monthly $22 buys a customer access at 1 megabit per second. That's not as fast as cable or DSL, but it's cheaper and, unlike most Internet connections, is accessible from a car or a park bench as well as home.
That's just the start, says Betty. Last year Earthlink and South Korea's SK Telecom launched their jointly owned high-speed wireless service called Helio. Helio buys minutes on Sprint's broadband cellular network and resells them. Betty plans to offer Helio customers new phones that can sense Earthlink's Wi-Fi networks and shunt calls off the cellular network and onto Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi option has the potential of offering clearer calls at cheaper rates, by letting callers pay for smaller monthly buckets of cellular minutes. While cell phone companies don't have much incentive to let their own subscribers use such phones, Helio has plenty.
Another potential new market is lower-income Anaheim residents who can't afford broadband or a standard cell phone. Betty expects to offer them unlimited calling from anywhere in Anaheim to anywhere in the U.S. for around $25 per month.
Betty dreams of creating new wireless markets that don't exist: tracking cop cars and fire trucks; reading electricity, parking and gas meters; monitoring inventory and breakdowns in soda- and candy-vending machines. He figures he can make a fine profit charging the likes of Coca-Cola a few pennies a day per machine. "Prior to this they could never afford to connect all those machines, but for a buck a month they will," Betty says.
Betty's initial capital outlay works out to $50 per home within the territory (i.e., $250 per customer, if he achieves that hoped-for 20% market penetration), and he thinks that price will fall to close to $20 per home passed as volumes ramp up. Within the next two to three years Earthlink's antennas could be upgraded at minimal cost to speeds of 5 to 10 megabits a second, says Donald Berryman, the Earthlink executive in charge of building the networks.
Cellular data networks offer vastly greater coverage areas, but installing cellular towers and licensing cellular airwaves cost far more per customer. Last year U.S. carriers spent $23 billion upgrading their networks to "3G." Telcos are spending $1,000 and up per home passed to lay capacious fiber in the ground. Betty is happy to cherry-pick the urban areas that are the cheapest to serve with Wi-Fi.
It is too soon to say how many cities will qualify. Earthlink chose to start in Anaheim because it is blessed with friendly geography. The city is mostly flat (hills block Wi-Fi signals) and studded with slender palm trees (leafier trees damp signals); the tallest building in the center of town happens to be city hall (so the Wi-Fi antennas around town can beam their data back to one central location).
The $1 billion of shareholders' money that Earthlink spent over the last decade has left it with 1.6 million broadband and 3.6 million dial-up Internet subscribers. That customer base produced $188 million in cash last year, but is atrophying as dial-up customers disappear. Revenue fell 7%, to $1.4 billion last year, and building out cities with Wi-Fi will eat up a big chunk of the cash flow the remaining subscribers throw off.
Betty had to assiduously cut costs to bring the company to profitability in 2004. It earned $143 million last year. Betty thinks citywide Wi-Fi won't produce meaningful revenue this year or next. "But by 2008 or 2009," he says, "it could be a really big number."
NFL guards its playbook as execs pay visit to O.C.
By Sarah Tully and Michael Lev
The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA – The NFL and Orange County business community had their second date Thursday. The lingering question is whether their budding relationship will result in a marriage.
A small group of National Football League executives visited Thursday with top tier business leaders - a follow-up to NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue's speech in April to the Orange County Business Council. Another meeting is expected to be set up soon.
Even as the NFL drums up corporate support in Orange County and Los Angeles, the NFL has yet to set a time frame for picking one or both sites for a stadium.
"We are looking at an investment of multiple hundreds of millions of dollars and a partnership that hopefully will extend over most of the next century. The emphasis is to do it right and do it thoroughly and not set deadlines that turn out to be meaningless," Tagliabue said.
The local meeting, set up by Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, came the day after NFL executives dined with Los Angeles business leaders.
While Tagliabue declined to say publicly which site he favors, some expressed a preference for building a stadium from scratch, as the league could do in Anaheim. In L.A., the NFL would remodel the Coliseum.
"I think they were clearly interested in playing in a new NFL stadium vs. a refurbished stadium," said Larry Higby, CEO of Apria Healthcare.
'Very Clean site'
Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, who visited Orange County a decade ago, said he could see the area's transformation during the trip.
"We obviously have a very clean site here in (Anaheim). We have a very difficult site in Los Angeles. Yet Los Angeles is Los Angeles," said Bowlen, a member of the league's 11-owner L.A. Working Group.
"It's always easier to build a new stadium on a clear site. Clearly, right now, we've got two very viable opportunities, and we should act on it as soon as we can."
Tagliabue said it is "wearying" to keep answering questions about when a decision will be made, but some business leaders said they appreciate the league's thoroughness.
"We were not making assumptions about Orange County. We were rolling up our sleeves and really trying to understand in-depth what was going on. And that's what we're going to continue to do," Tagliabue said.
At the same time, Tagliabue realizes that Anaheim is starting to consider other ideas for the 53-acre plot next to Angel Stadium since the NFL failed to choose the site by last month. Still, the league is spending up to $10 million to study both sites. Each stadium project could cost about $800 million, which would come from private funds.
Filet and chicken
The Orange County meeting was more low-key than the one in Los Angeles. There, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's dinner took place at his residence, the Getty House, featuring food by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. Pringle's luncheon took place at the First American Corp. business park in Santa Ana. First American catered the lunch with salad, filet mignon or chicken and sherbet with fresh berries.
The discussion centered on Orange County's advantages and the demographic shifts, but failed to get into specifics, such as suite buyers.
"I think it was positive reinforcement that Orange County is a very serious candidate for an NFL franchise and facility," said Paul Folino, chairman and CEO of computer-network storage company Emulex.
Before the business meeting, Lennar Corp. officials presented their plans to build high-rise condos and shops near the proposed NFL stadium site, as well as efforts in other cities to incorporate urban living with sports facilities, including San Francisco.
"We obviously told them how big of believers we are in Anaheim," said Emile Haddad, Lennar's California region president, who attended the business meeting as well.
Bowlen said he was encouraged by both meetings.
"We need to have a team in what I call the Los Angeles basin. We ought to as a league act on that and get going on getting a team here," Bowlen said. "The meetings we had the business community leaders that showed up, I couldn't have been more impressed."
]]>