Old Main Support - Historic PrPlanning Services Department
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4864
Phone (319) 589-4210
Fax (319) 589-4221
March 21, 2001
The Honorable Mayor and City Council
City of Dubuque
50 W. 13th Street
Dubuque, IA 52001
RE: Support for Old Main Historic Preservation District
Dear Mayor and City Council Members:
The Histodc Preservation Commission would like to commend the Mayor, the
City Council and City staff for providing financial assistance for business
retention and repair of the buildings located in the Old Main Histodc Preservation
District.
As your support for the Old Main District indicates, the affected buildings are
some of the most architecturally and historically significant structures in this
district. Their preservation, and their continued occupancy by thdving
businesses, are important to the continued revitalization of Downtown Dubuque.
The Histodc Preservation COmmission would be pleased to help with this effort in
any way we can,
Sincerely,
erry Mozena, Chairperson
Histodc Preservation Commission
CC
Michael Van Milligen, City Manager c~
Laura Carstens, Planning Services Manager
Cindy Steinhauser, Parking System Supervisor
Pam Myhre, Acting Community and Economic Development Director
Service People Integrity Responsibility Innovation Teamwork
City Manager's Office
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque, Iowa 520014864
(319) 5894110
(319) 5894149 FAX
March 26, 2001
VIA E-Mail &
1 ST CLASS MAIL
robert_osterhaus~legis.state.ia.us
The Honorable Robert Osterhaus
House Chamber
Iowa Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319
Dear Representative Osterhaus:
I am writing on behalf of the City of Dubuque to again ask your opposition to Senate File 168.
(previously S.F. 47), which pertains to the grant'mg of competing cable television franchises.
The Iowa Senate passed the bill on March t9 by a vote of 27-21, with Senators Flynn and
Connolly among those voting "nay". As the Senate was voting, you should have received a
copy of an e-mail from City of Dubuque Cable Franchise Administrator Merrill Crawford to
Senator Mary Lundby. The e-mail offers a number of points regarding irmumbent cable
television service providers, potential competitive overbuilders, and the communities they serve,
which along with my January 31 letter explain in detail our concerns with this bill. If you did not
receive a copy of Merrill's e-mail, we will be happy to resend it.
S.F. 168 was introduced at the request of AT&T Broadband and other incumbent cable
operators, as a part of a nationwide coordinated effort to accomplish via state legislation what the
Congress rejected as anti-competitive. Masquerading as a simple set of"level playing field"
requirements in the granting of competing cable television franchises, S.F. 168 is in fact a strong
cable incumbent protection tool, designed to strengthen the monopoly advantage of the first
cable operator in a community.
In Dubuque and across the state, the impact of the bill, if enacted, will be to further inhibit the
entry of competition into local cable and telecommunications markets. It will also ratchet-down
and could eventually eliminate public service requirements and community benefits of existing
franchises such as Public, Educational & Government (PEG) Access channels, free or low-priced
services to schools and libraries, and other elements of previously-negotiated contracts.
The bill takes no account of the fact that the playing field is already tilted strongly in favor of the
incumbent cable operator in nearly every community. Forty-eight years of first-hand experience
Service People Integrity Responsibility Innovation Teamwork
The Honorable Robert Osterhaus
March 26; 2001
Page 2
in Dubuque and other American cities has proven that cable is a natural monopoly and that a
second entrant faces severn disadvantages in seeking to compete with a long-entrenched
incumbent. Meanwhile, customer service declines and annual cable subscriber rate hikes
continue to outpace inflation.
Dubuque's twenty-year franchise agreement with (Teleprompter / Group W / TCI) AT&T
Broadband is the midst of renewal negotiations. AT&T's recently-announced intent to sell all of
its Iowa systems to Mediacom further complicates our task of preserving what is good and
improving upon what is substandard in cable television service to Dubuque citizens. We are also
seeking additional competitive providers of cable and telecommunications services to address
unmet needs of local businesses, institutions, and the community as a whole. Despite our best
efforts, we see the "Digital Divide" slowly widening between metropolitan and rural
communities and states.
Enacting a one-sided cable television incumbent protection bill would be especially devastating
not only to our immediate negotiations, but also to the future prospects of protecting and serving
the interests of Dubuque's 21,000 cable subscriber families.
S.F. 68 is clearly not an Iowa response to an Iowa problem. Nor will it contribute to a true "level
playing field" in cable and telecommunications markets. It will benefit one, and only one player,
the existing monopoly cable operator, at the expense of competition, technological advancement,
economic development, and Iowa consumers.
We urge your active opposition to this bill.
Sincerely,
Michael C. Van Milligen
City Manager
MCVM:jh
Dubuque Legislative Delegation
The Honorable Paul Scherrman
House Chamber
Iowa Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319
email: paul scherrman~legis.state.ia.us
The Honorable Robert Osterhaus
House Chamber
Iowa Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319
email: robert_osterhause~legis.state.ia.us
The Honorable Pam Jochum
House Chamber
Iowa Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319
email:
pam jochum~legis.state.ia.us
The Honorable Pat Murphy
House Chamber
Iowa Capitol Building
Des Moines, IA 50319
email: pat_murphy~legis.state.ia.us