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from: Kane County Chronicle

Officials remove signs, still dislike bill

By KAREN LONG - klong@kcchronicle.com

GENEVA -- With the state Senate poised to authorize state regulation of cable and video services in Illinois, Geneva officials have taken down their educational lawn ornaments.

The 5-foot brightly colored boxes at City Hall and the city’s two fire stations were one method officials told residents about House Bill 1500, which later became an amendment to Senate Bill 678.

The legislation at first would have given control of local cable franchising to the state, and allowed the boxes on the public right-of-way or private property. The bill’s most recent version addresses some concerns that the city had, including removing an eminent-domain clause, Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns said.

“We’re satisfied with some of the language that’s been cleaned up in the bill,” he said. “Are we satisfied with where the bill stands now? We’re certainly happier than we were months ago.”

Other issues that still concern the city that remain in the bill include not requiring companies to provide services to all areas of the city.

“We think this is a bad bill,” said Geneva information technologies manager Peter Collins. “We don’t think that the outcome was good for consumers.”

Legislators have said the attorney general’s office added language to protect consumers.

“I guess anytime I get a cable complaint in the future, I’ll be forwarding it to my local reps,” Collins said.

Burns said that he hoped AT&T and other companies would listen if residents have service complaints.

“If AT&T is true to their word that they want to be good corporate citizens, I’m sure they’ll accept calls from elected officials,” he said.