City leaders took the first step this week toward addressing a thorn in the side of local businesses and residents alike: improving broadband Internet service.

The Santa Cruz City Council unanimously voted to partner with local service provider Cruzio to investigate building an exponentially faster, cutting-edge, gigabit fiber-optic communications network. Only about 50 other cities across the country have engaged in similar publicly-backed projects, and none have aimed to reach every property in their jurisdiction, as Santa Cruz is hoping to, said city Economic Development Manager J. Guevara…