Staff Biography

Charles Cooper

Web Developer

Charles grew up in the Seattle/Tacoma area and after a 15-year stint in Chicago and the Midwest is happy to again make his home in the Seattle area. After experiencing large scale integrated transit systems such as Chicago’s CTA, he developed an interest in improving people’s lives in cities. He serves on the board of the Seattle Subway Foundation. Charles provides technology support for The Urbanist and occasionally can be found in the urban blogosphere with a byline.

Recent Articles

Comcast New Data Caps Changing Landscape For Municipal Broadband Prospects

Comcast (Xfinity) announced to their customers via email in Washington and 17 other states that effective November 1st, most broadband Internet plans would be subject to data caps. This move, though not totally unexpected, was...

An Open Letter To Elon Musk

Dear Mr. Musk, This letter is both a salute to your continued success and a challenge to consider (if you haven’t already) some ideas that your master plan doesn’t seem to address. First, let me say...

Why Municipal Broadband

In light of the recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decisions on Net Neutrality and the ending of restrictions on local governments offering Internet services to the public, here is a dive into the idea...

City Council Mulls Franchise Agreement with Comcast

The City of Seattle has entered into a proposed agreement with the Comcast affiliated entity called “Comcast Cable Communications Management LLC”. Comcast recently entered into a separate agreement with the City of Philadelphia that...

Historic FCC Votes on Internet Freedom Set to Enable Seattle Municipal Broadband

Creating vibrant and successful urban environments requires infrastructure and access to services. We include access to the Internet as being critical in a 21st Century city. Today, the Federal Communications Commission concluded a year-long fact-gathering...