Will CPUC De-Regulate Lifeline Phone Service?Paul Hogarthbyline‚ Jun. 03‚ 2009In 2001, Tenderloin tenants organized by the Central City SRO Collaborative went to multiple public hearings to demand that the City stop an SRO landlord from converting an 88-room hotel to tourist use. The commissioners at the Board of Appeals didn’t want to uphold a basic zoning law, so they kept delaying the vote – hoping that the low-income people would get tired and just go away. Today, I’m getting a weird sense of déjà vu – as the California Public Utilities Commission keeps putting off a plan to deregulate the state’s Lifeline Telephone service. Thousands of low-income senior and disabled folks rely on this program for a basic phone line at a flat rate, but the AT&T-backed proposal would link the service cost to a percentage of “market-rate” customers – which the phone companies would be free to increase dramatically. Tomorrow, the item is again on the CPUC’s agenda – which means grassroots senior and disabled residents have to return. Meanwhile, AT&T is pushing an astroturf lobbying effort to assure Commissioners that it’s more than just making money. Will they fall for the ruse? |