Either cable TV is really bad in Baltimore and officials are grasping at any straw to bring in competition, or the city is harboring a massive chip on its shoulder. Whatever the case, Baltimore can't seem to let go of the thought that Verizon won't be bringing its FiOS service there anytime soon.
Get ready for this bit of bureaucracy: The Baltimore City Community Development Subcommittee of the Taxation and Economic Development Committee recently held hearings in which Verizon was invited to explain why it's not offering FiOS to Baltimore. Among the concerns voiced were that Baltimore was being "redlined" as a less-than-attractive location for a potential moneymaking service.
Nonsense, said Tad Bishop, Verizon's vice president for governmental affairs, who said Verizon selected its markets based on "a number of business factors including engineering and cost considerations" and that "race, ethnicity and income were never factors in the selection of markets for Verizon FiOS." A Verizon spokesperson also denied that the carrier isn't coming to Baltimore because a former city councilman worked for Verizon. Said councilman, Ken Harris, was murdered in September 2008.
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