Wi-Fi (and C-Span) for the Masses

Today, eWeek reported that the City of Philadephia, Pennsylvania is considering "an ambitious plan" to enable highspeed Internet access via Wi-Fi in all135 square miles of the city.

As a planning commissioner for the City of Redmond, I tip my hat to the progressive, forward-thinking, and enlightened people of Philadelphia. The brothers rock!

From a socio-economic and political perspective, the importance of this announcement is hard to overstate. Democracy in the absence of educational opportunity is a pipe dream. The Internet is the greatest single source of information and education in history. eWeek writes, "Once complete, the network would deliver broadband Internet almost anywhere radio waves can travel—including poor neighborhoods where high-speed Internet access is now rare."

It is thrilling to think that Philadelphia, the cradle of democracy in 18th century America (sorry Boston), could become a cradle for high tech democracy in the 21st century (sorry Cleveland). 

Interestingly, my own proposal to enable broadband Internet access throughout the City of Redmond became public record at tonight's Planning Commission meeting. It's anything but a done deal but it's on the "issues matrix" as an item for discussion vis-a-vis updates to the Utilities chapter of our 20-year Comprehensive Plan.

Other policy changes that I proposed in the Utilities chapter for the consideration of my fellow commissioners and members of the Redmond City Council include:

• Adding television cable franchise negotiation guidelines to the Comprehensive Plan as the legally-binding foundation upon which all City actions would be founded. In particular, I would like to see the following concessions incorporated into our franchise agreements with the current and future cable providers (Comcast at present):
  • Redmond Community Television (RCTV channel 21) and possibly C-Span must be provided to all newly constructed residences for no charge. In other words, those stations would be made available to all new and to all existing homes where cable hookups are present, for absolutely no charge. The mobility-challenged and economically-disadvantaged residents of our fair city shouldn't have to pay to have access to current information about their local government.
  • Individual channels should be made available ala carte in addition to the basic, pre-negotiated package of channels. I don't think we, as a community, should mandate how much an individual channel costs. Let the market decide. But residents should not be forced to subscribe to HBO, which broadcasts material that is not necessarily suitable for all ages, in order to get channels like Home and Garden (HGTV).
• Encouraging a consistent approach to the requirement or promotion of policies that embody the ideals of conservation, fiscal conservatism, and progressive thinking shared by most Redmond residents in the provision of water, sewer, electricity, solid waste management services, & etc.
• And a plethora of mundane recommendations like providing direct incentives to homeowners in critical aquifer recharge areas (from which we pump 50%+ of our water in Redmond) who might wish to migrate from septic systems to the municipal sewer system.