Council Votes for Verizon's FIOS

Update: 5:47

The Council has just voted in support of FIOS in its first vote on the legislation.

The council is required to take a final vote in the coming months, but given the support it has received----though Jack Evans has voiced his concerns (see below)---it's a safe bet that FIOS is coming to the District next year.
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In a marathon legislative session, the D.C. Council is poised to vote this evening on a bill that will clear the way for Verizon to break ground on its nine-year effort to install a new fiber optic network across the city, starting next year.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty introduced the legislation for FIOS, an amenity that many District residents have been eager to access. And Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) has been garnering kudos all day from her colleagues for setting up a process by which the network will be installed.

Jack Evans, (D-Ward 2), has been frustrated that his ward is not set up to receive the network in the first phase of the installation. "Ward 2 is the only of the eight wards to have nothing...in the first phase," he said minutes ago during the discussion of the legislation.

As the plan is currently set up, Ward 2 would receive the service in four years, a frustrated Evans pointed out.

Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray is urging the council to vote in support of the first reading of the legislation and encouraged that the "tinkering" take place after the initial vote.

Hamil R. Harris