At its weekly meeting on Tuesday, City Council rejected the “Bay WEB” a regional broadband system, based on Motorola. That company had received a $51 million grant from the U.S. Commerce Department to initiate and install the system throughout the Bay Area.

Though City Council was not adverse to the idea of a regional broadband program, they argued that the San Francisco-based Urban Area Security Initiative, which oversees the program, failed to follow standard government contracting procedures, which led to Motorola being favored over other service providers. They noted that several key staff members of the group were former Motorola employees, and were therefore biased in favor of that company. They also noted that $2 million dollars intended for San Jose were reallocated without Board approval.

City Council then asked the Commerce Department to “conduct a fair and unbiased procurement process,” to allow the creation of a truly neutral regional broadband system.
Read More at the Business Journal.