June 27, 1999

In Latest Fray Over Internet Access, 3 Los Angeles Commissioners Resign

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

OS ANGELES -- The struggle between the nation's cable television operators and Internet service providers over high-speed access to cyberspace has roiled city politics in Los Angeles, where three political appointees have resigned in a debate on policy over the issue.

Los Angeles has become another battleground for control over "broadband" Internet access through cable modems that can offer service up to 100 times faster than a standard telephone line as cities have been forced to deal with the issue in the face of conflicting messages from the Federal Government. Cable companies, led by AT&T through its acquisition of Tele-Communications Inc., are increasingly offering high-speed Internet access, through service providers with which they are allied; rivals like America Online say the cable companies should be forced to allow consumers a choice of providers.

The debate has split City Hall and brought about a rare public controversy.

Mayor Richard J. Riordan gave his support to the cable companies, while a majority of his appointees on the Board of Information Technology Commissioners favored a policy requiring so-called open access for competitors. Rather than cast a vote against the Mayor, the three commissioners on the five-member board resigned last week, leaving the panel without a quorum. Now, as city leaders struggle with the question of corporate market share versus consumer interest, the way to create that policy has been delayed.

"Usually, you don't see such clear disagreements between the Mayor and the commissions that are resolved with such public resignations," said Tracy Westen, a member of the commission during the Bradley administration who is creating an Internet platform called the Democracy Network to sponsor exchanges between political candidates and voters. "Typically they either go along or negotiate it out or resign more quietly, but this has sort of gained a life of its own."

The issue has been no less controversial for other cities around the nation trying to figure out how, or whether, to step into the fray.

Related Article FCC Says It Should Regulate High-Speed Access to Internet (June 16, 1999)

Portland has required that cable companies let competitors use their broadband Internet access, a position upheld this month in a Federal District Court ruling. In San Francisco this week, city officials rejected a plan allowing cable companies to exclude competitors, and ordered a policy to allow competition. But William E. Kennard, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, declared on June 16 that the issue should be regulated by Federal authorities and not left to the tens of thousands of local municipalities.

It is a conflict that has also brought an aggressive lobbying campaign often unseen at the local level. In seeking approval of its franchise transfer to AT&T, TCI paid lobbying companies more than $130,000 to represent it, according to city records; America Online and AT&T have retained two firms each. City staff members trying to draft policy on the issue have received hundreds of documents.

The issue has become a "full-employment act for lobbyists," said Mark Ridley-Thomas, a City Councilman whose technology committee has taken up the issue.

Over the last several months, the Mayor and his senior staff members concluded that the city should not intervene right now, said Kelly Martin, the Mayor's chief of staff. The Mayor's office believes that the access should be regulated by the Federal Government, she said, and is concerned that requiring access could inhibit investment in the technology.

A city report recommended a policy that allowed cable operators to exclude Internet companies from providing direct broadband service for the moment, but included "re-opener" clauses allowing the city to review the situation if the market became monopolized.

The Board of Information Technology Commissioners was expected to vote on June 21 on a nonbinding recommendation to the City Council on the report.

One commissioner who resigned, Robert Duggan, said he thought open access of some form was important and resented the pressure he said he felt to support the Mayor.

" 'If you can't support it, you should go away quietly,' " he said he was told. " 'You work for the Mayor, he's appointed you, and you're going to embarrass him if you can't come out for the position. So if you can't support him, why don't you just resign?' "

Ms. Martin said no pressure was exerted on the commissioners to change their position or resign.

Ridley-Thomas said politics often involved maneuvering and dealing that the public never saw, but that the resignation of three commissioners put this dispute on another level.

"I think it causes the usual behind-the-scenes machinations to be put on Front Street," he said.