Editorial- Wi-Fi Downtown Cleveland- (If other cities can do it, why can’t Missoula or any other community in Montana?)

Here’s something simple, and not that expensive, Cleveland can do to
make a statement that it cares about the future. If Cleveland really
wanted to do something simple to prove to skeptics it can join the
leading edge — and send a very positive message to the young, the
smart, and the wired — it should Wi-Fi downtown and provide free
high-speed Internet access.

Doing so would make a tangible statement that Cleveland cares as much
about the future of technology as it does about convention centers —
and in the end it would help attract more people and jobs at a greatly
more justifiable public cost.

What we’re simply advocating is constructing a grid throughout the
downtown area where people can connect wirelessly to the Internet using
Wi-Fi technology via their laptops or pocket PCs wherever they roam. In
fact, we’re surprised that Tim Mueller, the city’s chief development
officer and former Internet entrepreneur, hasn’t already advocated this
very positive and affordable idea.

A great local example of what Cleveland can do has, in fact, already
been done in Cleveland. The New York Times, among other major media,
have lauded Case Western Reserve University for being way out on the
leading edge among the most wired — and wireless — colleges in the
country. Several cities, including New York and Long Beach, Calif., are
making free wireless Internet access available in downtown areas, and
other "hot spots," as part of an effort to attract visitors and
companies to business districts. Leading edge cities, such as Seattle
and San Francisco, already have hundreds of free access points
available to the public. Hotels and coffee shops are offering customers
Wi-Fi access as a convenience, and Starbucks has equipped nearly 600
stores and plans to eventually Wi-Fi more than 70 percent of its 3,200
company-owned North American outlets.

Hell, even Pittsburgh has a public Wi-Fi setup and is planning one that
will cover a 4-square-mile area of downtown.

Wi-Fi-ed cities are also spawning startups. It’s kind of a new hi-tech
urban and economic renewal strategy. This could also be done, by the
way, in such inner-ring suburbs as Cleveland Heights
(Coventry/Cedar-Fairmount, Cedar-Lee, etc.), Shaker Heights, Lakewood,
as well as various other Cleveland "hot spots" such as Tremont/Ohio
City.

So, should Cleveland join the leading edge, or join the "third wave"
(as usual) and follow other cities like it typically does, several
years behind the times?

What about it, Tim Mueller? What about it, Frank Jackson and City
Council? What about it, Cleveland Tomorrow? Here’s a no-brainer that
will do a lot more for Cleveland than it will ever cost — and really
show if this town will actually put its money (and it won’t take a lot)
where its B.S. is. The "Creative Class" is watching.

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Wi-Fi in Milwaukee

Milwaukee will become one of the first U.S. cities to offer free Wi-Fi
Internet access when, in early summer, it will set up 802.11 networks
in two downtown parks.

Private companies, among them SBC Communications
and Cisco Systems, are donating equipment for the hot spots in Pere
Marquette Park and Cathedral Square Park. People with WLAN-equipped
laptops or PDAs will be able to connect to the Internet for as long as
they want. The system will not filter content or provide security from
hackers.

Randy Gschwind, the city’s chief information officer, said
that residents of Milwaukee "are going to sit with wine bottles out and
their laptops right next to them," while listening to Jazz in the Park
concerts in Cathedral Square. (If I remember Milwaukee, it is more
likely to be beer and bratwurst.) Long Beach, California, already has
city-sponsored wireless zones, and other cities are likely to follow
suit.

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Long Beach WiFi Launches New Practice

With WiFi becoming an increasingly important communications technology across the United States, Bruce Mayes — who managed the nation’s largest free wireless Internet access zone in Long Beach, CA, – is launching a practice that will focus on development of WiFi hot spots in public areas and airports.

Governing Magazine

The Long Beach Hot Zone was kicked off at a grand opening in January. The downtown wireless hot spot perimeter includes various restaurants, cafes, department stores and hotels. The hot spot installation has gained worldwide attention.

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"We’re copying what you did in Long Beach … here in Baltimore" said Edgar Hammet, technology advisor to the Mayor of Baltimore. A number of cities are exploring the idea of installing such networks in downtown areas or throughout entire communities; they include San Francisco, Seattle; Jacksonville, Fla; and Lodi, Calif. reports John Markoff of the New York Times.

"By introducing free wireless Internet access, the city of Long Beach is taking a bold step to provide cutting-edge communications technology to anyone visiting our downtown" said Mayor Beverly O’Neill.

The WiFi standard allows several computer users to access the Internet quickly using technology similar to cellular phones and towers. All that’s required to take advantage of the service is a standard WiFi 802.11b radio card, available at any computer store, and a laptop computer.

The Long Beach Airport, among the five busiest general aviation airports in the world with more than 200,000 passengers per month, will begin providing free wireless Internet service in all passenger lounges and exterior areas. The network, operational now, will be unveiled to the public in June, making Long Beach Airport the first in the world to offer free Internet access anywhere in its environs. Mayes was the project manager and worked with partners Intermec Technologies Corp., G-site Web Design, Vernier Networks, Color Broadband, and Development Tech.

http://www.govtech.net/news/news.phtml?docid=2003.06.06-54835