Thursday, May 17, 2007

Mayor Dick and his Wired City

Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard, (aka) Mayor Dick, believes Fort Wayne to be one of the most wired cities. This statement is impressive, with the lack of economic development. And because Fort Wayne is suffering a slow growth in jobs many college educated students must leave the city to get a higher paying job.

However, this opportunity is not available for high disadvantaged residents. And since Fort Wayne is one of the most wired cities, connecting these individual to the Internet could possibility close the digital divide. A WIFI service should be offered free of charges for low income families and not a select few nonprofit organizations, but the residents.

The Mayor of San Francisco has the right idea:

[An} agreement to bring free universal wireless Internet access to San Francisco is a critical step in bridging the digital divide that separates too many communities from the enormous benefits of technology. Ubiquitous WiFi will change how residents access education, social services and economic opportunities ... This will make city government more effective and accountable to the people we serve."


Yes Earthlink and Google can be used to close the educational and digital divide, but we need a brave Mayor to do the right thing? Has anyone seen our Mayor Dick?

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous5/18/2007

    You might also want to check out http://www.connectkentucky.org for other suggestions on how they are planning to provide for high speed internet for all their citizens. There needs to be public policy to make sure EVERY American has access to affordable high speed internet. Without it they are left behind on education, political participation, medical options, consumer services.... There are other policy suggestions at http://www.speedmatters.org.

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