The City has a Digital Inclusion Task Force that is working on a real plan to bridge the technological divide. We are talking here about free or affordable computers, training, and tech support. These cost money, and without dedicated resources, the plan will be only a book in a shelf.
Where will the money come from?
A new report released by Media Alliance and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance may provide an answer. The report conducts a preliminary financial analysis of the expenses and income generated by a truly-municipal wireless system—a system owned by the City, not Earthlink and Google.
The results? We can have our cake and eat it too. We can have a good municipally-owned system AND generate money to fund the digital inclusion programs that the City so sorely needs. We estimate an average revenue of $2 million a year for 10 years, and this is after covering expenses to install, run, and upgrade the network.
Conversely, if we continue down the Earthlink/Google path, what do we get? You may get a clue by reading the SF Chronicle. Google is getting impatient. Its spokesperson calls a request for free computers and a share in revenues “unreasonable.”
The good news? Google’s impatience shows that the City is paying attention to some of our community demands and is negotiating in earnest.
The better news? Thanks to Supervisor McGoldrick’s insistence, the City’s Budget Analyst has agreed to study to financial feasibility of a wireless network paid for and owned by the city. Expect a report back in December, more or less at the same time as the Earthlink/Google negotiations will wrap up.
-- Sydney Levy