Hacker News Reader

Comment by callmeed | Hacker News Reader

If you're curious (like I was) about what officially constitutes their "city limits" (correct me if I'm wrong), I think it's all of this area: http://www.turkey-visit.com/map/united-states/california/los...

Which is enormous.

You can fit St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Boston, SF, Pittburgh, & Manhattan inside of LA: http://laist.com/2012/06/30/map_how_many_major_us_cities_can...

It makes me skeptical that $5 billion would cover the cost unless it was done by a vendor who could piggyback existing infrastructure ...

View on HN

Indeed, the City is vast, and what people refer to as Greater Los Angeles—which includes most of the grey areas on the first map, like my hometown of Glendale, and a ton more to the east not displayed—is still more vast.

Greater LA aside, there's no chance in hell they lay fiber to every residence in the Valley (the communities that the 134/101 run through and everything else north of that), there's no chance in hell they lay fiber all the way down to San Pedro. Not for five billion dollars, not for five trillion dollars.

Anyone who has so much as casually observed an LA infrastructure/works project in recent history knows that this ends in tears.

> Greater LA aside, there's no chance in hell they lay fiber to every residence in the Valley (the communities that the 134/101 run through and everything else north of that), there's no chance in hell they lay fiber all the way down to San Pedro. Not for five billion dollars, not for five trillion dollars.

Why wouldn't this happen in the Valley? Genuinely curious as I live there.

How have private attempts to run fiber in your neighborhood played out, historically?

I think about the implementation of this am immediately confronted with unpleasant visions of deranged homeowners associations in Bel Air and Encino losing their damn minds. I imagine city planners and project managers haggling over just how far down the priority list they can push isolated ranches in Sun Valley and Sylmar. And keep in mind that these maps don't reflect elevation, or places like Hancock Park where literally the entire neighborhood is subject to Historical Protection Zoning guidelines, and the residents have enough money/political clout to have Congressional bans on tunneling[1] enacted in their favor.

The last mile in LA is a bitch.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock_Park,_Los_Angeles#Histo...

I can see no reason at all it wouldn't happen in the southern parts of the Valley at least. It's a fairly well-off area with the income and desire for such services.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com