The city already sold the network once for $40 million, which didn't apply to the bond taken to build the network, and then got stuck with it again when Veracity folded. The sale to Google isn't so much a gift as it is a chance to not default on the bond (in theory) and get the service actually running. We can argue over it being anti-competitive but it doesn't appear that there were a lot of companies chomping at the bit to get this network due to the terrible state it was in.