Darren Glaude, Seminole County Watch columnist

Winter Springs City Commissioner Michael Blake wants his city to investigate the possibility of offering wireless "wi-fi" Internet service within city limits.

His Republican colleagues are a little less progressive than Blake, however, and are seeking to block Winter Springs and other Florida cities from offering any such services to their residents.

"Broadband access is going to be, if not freely available, then cheaply available at some point,"  Blake was recently quoted as saying. "Winter Springs should be at the beginning of that train, not at the end."

Problem is, this train needs to leave the station soon, or it may never be able to move down the track.

State Senator Lee Constantine is among those seeking to prevent cities from offering wireless broadband Internet to its residents.  The Altamonte Springs Republican is the sponsor of one of three bills in the State legislature that would make it illegal for municipalities to offer communications services to its residents.

Their main motivation is to protect the interests and profits of private telecommunications corporations that are seeking what amounts to an industry monopoly on such services.  Their goal is to block cities from taking progressive steps to offer such services to its citizens.

At first it might seem surprising that Republicans such as Constantine would be sponsoring such an effort.  Their mantra, after all, has been that consumers should have as many choices in the marketplace as possible, allowing such competition to decide which providers consumers deem as the most desirable suppliers of goods and services.

Now, in an effort to appease the telecommunications industry and their lobbyists, Republican legislators such as Constantine are suddenly willing to trash their "free marketplace" philosophy in favor of industry monopolies. 

Funny how the interests of their constituents suddenly take a backseat to corporate interests and the maximization of private industry profits.

One of the most appealing aspects of having government offer such services is that cost will be minimized for the consumer.  The idea is to provide wireless Internet as a service to the community, along the lines of other public services.  Doing so would enhance life in the community, drawing new residents and businesses to whom such progressive, cutting-edge benefits would appeal.

It would also give our nation a boost in integrating new technology into our neighborhoods and communities, an area in which we lag greatly behind other nations, particularly those emerging economic competitors such as South Korea.

Government books and financial records also would be open to scrutiny, preventing consumers from getting gouged by private providers whose creative bookkeeping allows them to charge inflated prices.

When boiled down to their essence, bills such as the one introduced by Constantine demonstrate contempt for the constituents whom Constantine and his fellow legislators are supposed to represent. 

Unfortunately, this is not Constantine's only such display of contempt for his constituency during the current legislative session.  He is also the sponsor of a bill largely written by the University of Central Florida that will open the door to unlimited sprawling university growth. 

That bill sponsored by Constantine, the subject of a recent column by colleague Valerie Parnell, would effectively limit access to public information that has thus far enabled average citizens to keep such uncontrolled sprawl in check.

Constantine has clearly established a pattern of favoring large corporations and interests over those of the average citizen, effectively violating his pledge to protect the interests of those who voted for him.

Blake first asked Winter Springs to look into offering wireless Internet to its residents at a commission meeting last month.  City manager Ron McLemore asked for several months to look into the matter and come up with cost estimates and other pertinent information.

McLemore had better step up the pace if Winter Springs is to outrun the train Constantine is seeking to send barreling down the tracks. 

As it picks up steam, it will soon be barreling over everything in its way.  That includes the right of Winter Springs to offer services to its citizens as it sees best, and the right of citizens to receive such services.

Instead,   Constantine might see that as the best way to serve those who elected him, but I have a different view.

Email Darren at darrenglaude@seminolecountywatch.com