Portland, Oregon, city commissioners approved a franchise agreement...

Portland, Oregon, city commissioners approved a franchise agreement with Google Fiber, making it the first of the new group of cities (CD May 9 p8) being considered for the high-speed broadband service to reach such an agreement, a company spokeswoman said. Under the agreement OK'd Wednesday, Google agreed to pay the city the standard 5 percent franchise fee that other utilities pay (http://bit.ly/1poHekk), should it be selected. “We don’t talk about being a ‘world-class city’ all that often, but I really want world-class neighborhoods,” said Portland’s nonpartisan mayor, Charlie Hales, in a statement to us. “Google Fiber to the home would go a long way toward that. And if we can break down the digital divide, and serve low-income neighborhoods and communities equally, we can do great things in the coming years.” Google is evaluating other cities and aspects of building in Portland, and is on track to decide where to build next by the end of the year, said the company spokeswoman.