Update: 11/3/2011

Sometimes the 2nd time is the charm. On November 1st, voters in Longmont, Colorado overturned a 2010 referendum against letting their city use a municipal fiber ring to offer services to city residents.

After the telcos dumped $250,000 into the campaign and defeated the referendum 56% to 44%, city residents took another look, decided they had been snookered, and put another referendum on the 2011 ballot. Despite spending that exceeded the previous campaign, this time the voters voted differently. 

Muninetworks.org put together this cute comic strip on the trials of the telecoms in Longmont, where the people may yet vote to use their resources for their own benefit.