Paul Scott comment:

I know—you thought this was going to be another story about the Mumford & Sons concert, didn't you? 

But there was another story from Waverly we reported on this week that involves a more traditional form of economic development.  Waverly Power & Light has announced plans to build a community-owned, high-speed fiber-optic broadband network.

One year from now Waverly hopes to have the 5th fastest internet downloading speeds in the world.  And lest you think that this is important news only to people who spend way too much time playing "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare," I'd like to point out how having a super-fast Internet connection is a great way to attract people to Decorah who can "telecommute"—continue to work for the company they have been working for, but from Decorah instead of from Chicago or the Twin Cities.

Maybe it's because I am also making my living on the Internet, but I have noticed how many people living in Decorah already fit that category.  It seems like a no-brainer to me: you keep your rewarding and good-paying job, but you get to live in scenic Decorah instead of less-scenic Detroit.

So it's not just for the sake of Netflix subscribers that Decorah should be investigating forming its own high-speed fiber-optic network utility—it's to encourage the kind of small-town economic development that would be the envy of other communities.

Best of all, because of setting up the Metronet, Decorah already has a system of 144-strand fiber optic cable circling the community.  From a physical standpoint, extending such service to businesses and to the public wouldn't be a huge stretch.  Work would have to be done to set up the correct legal entity to provide fiber-optic network service to the public, but that is also doable.

At this point, the biggest hurdle seems to be a political one—convincing the Metronet Board that there's enough public support for creating such a utility. 

My suggestion is that an on-line petition be started that Decorah residents can sign that says they want the utility to be created.  Is there anyone who would volunteer to set up such an on-line petition? 

Decorahnews.com would give publicity to the petition, including a link to the actual petition.  Contact us at news@decorahnews.com if you're willing to help with this project.