A tidbit from the April 2 East Bay Express (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/jerry_brown_is_bored_again/Content?oid=673992):
Alameda Power & Telecom (AP&T) cries uncle
Once upon a time, the city of Alameda enjoyed a quiet life of cheap electricity rates and budget surpluses. Then the city's leaders heard about this thing called broadband, and everything went to hell. Last week, after a bizarre, ten-year experiment in running a publicly-owned cable and Internet service provider, the city decided that enough was enough, and is presently shopping for private companies to buy its telecommunications arm. One could quibble that the city's leaders could have done this before running up an $85 million debt that will cripple Alameda's finances for years to come. But that would rude.