Google proposes free Wi-Fi for San Francisco - Yahoo! NewsGoogle is going to try to give free wireless to San Francisco. The City of Philadelphia is working on offering the same thing, and it was battled by private enterprises on the reason that the government shouldn't be offering the internet. Ironic, since the government created the Internet, but whatever. There may be some interesting problems with SF, though, since the terrain, hills, etc might make it a challenge to ensure coverage.
So here's my proposal. People say the new Net's Arena in Brooklyn will bring jobs to Brooklyn. I do not disagree. Question is, what kind of jobs does an arena bring? I'm guessing things like concessions, merchandise, ushers. And basically seasonal jobs, and in general jobs that are be transplanted from NJ. Of course there will be all those new bars, too, but how much will they siphon off customers from the places already in Park Slope. And there will all that new office space, but I don't recall downtown experiencing a shortage right now. And then there's all that affordable housing they're going to build. Right.
What if the borough (Hey Marty!) approached GOOG and asked them to try out the free wireless thing in Brooklyn? That would instantly create a need for a number of new jobs, starting with the people installing the wireless network, and maintaining it. It's a draw for Brooklyn to have that kind of access to information, for anyone. "But people don't all have PDA's". Sure, but a lot of people have iPods, and in a few months a nice PDA or wireless device will be cheaper than an iPod and will do just as much, and more.
I work on the web, so I'm sure I'm biased, right? But if every kid in Brooklyn had free access to the web, that sounds like a good thing.
Better even than free Nets tickets, I'd wager.
