City of Buffalo seeks to assess broadband access with request for proposal

Mayor Byron Brown’s office wants to address some of the broadband issues in Buffalo, New York, but first it needs to figure out what those issues are. One of those broad issues is basic access. According to the latest American Communities survey from the U.S. Census Bureau, between 20 to 30 percent of city residents don’t have a broadband internet subscription at home. "It’s a significant problem," said Brendan Mehaffy, Executive Director of the Office of Strategic Planning for the City of Buffalo. "With limited resources that are out there, we need to see that those resources are all working to together." Buffalo only has one high-speed broadband provider, Spectrum, which is operated by Charter Communications.