This would be a no brainer for GTE
Citywide Internet access plan pushed
May 30, 2006
FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS
Mayor Richard M. Daley on Tuesday announced a plan to provide affordable broadband Internet access to all Chicagoans and to make computers more widely available to low-income residents.
The city is issuing a request for proposals for private-sector partners to provide Internet access throughout the city, including free wireless service in schools, parks and major public gathering places, according to a release from the Mayor’s office.
Daley also offered $250,000 in grants to help community groups come up with innovative ways to help close the digital divide, and appointed an advisory panel to make further recommendations on the matter, the release said.
“In the 21st century economy, everyone needs to have access to computer technology to succeed in life,” Daley said at a news conference at the Al Raby School on West Fulton. “Computer literacy is a fundamental skill in the modern world.”
The mayor said according to one estimate, though Internet use is on the rise among most Americans, 80 percent of households with incomes below $50,000 per year remain unconnected. “In technology, as in too many other areas of society, there’s a wide gap between the haves and the have-nots,” Daley said. “It’s known as the digital divide -- and the people on the wrong side generally have lower incomes and less education.”
Under Daley’s plan, the city will partner with a private firm or consortium to develop and deploy a high-speed, wireless network, the release said. The city could offer long-term use of its infrastructure, such as street lights and lamp poles, and if necessary, broker agreements with sister agencies and local utilities, the release said.
The private partner, according to the release, would provide:
Affordable, universal Internet access reaching every neighborhood;
Free hot spots in every Chicago Public School;
Free access in parks and other public places, such as museum campuses,
the lakefront and other neighborhood destinations;
Affordable computers and meaningful applications to low-income Chicagoans.
