EPISODES

Pod Virginia 8/27/21 Pod Virginia 8/27/21

What's slowing down municipal broadband?

Two professors from Virginia Tech explain how legacy telecoms cornered the market on broadband in Virginia, and how they harmed communities and municipalities. They provide their recommendations to expand high speed internet throughout the Commonwealth.

Michael and Thomas also discuss new developments from the redistricting commission and speculate about what certain outcomes might be.

Pod Virginia 7/30/21 Pod Virginia 7/30/21

How do we bridge the urban-rural divide?

Michael and Thomas are fresh from their vacations and back at the podcast studio. Their guest this week is John Provo, director of the Center for Economic and Community Engagement at Virginia Tech and the author of Vibrant Virginia, a forthcoming book about the Urban-Rural divide in the Commonwealth. Often framed as weak rural economic development, John reframes the issue as one that really has more to do with our understanding of wealth and class.

We discuss rural broadband and how telecom providers rigged the system against local governments from providing or subsidizing municipal infrastructure.