Once again our neighbor to the north has an intriguing proposal by the mayor of San Francisco. Stealing a march on San Jose, the true epicenter of innovation, Gavin Newsom has positioned this new program as a way to offer universal and affordable broadband Internet access to the city’s residents and businesses. Google has responded in a big way, promising free wireless Internet service. The Mountain View company has a pile of cash and is thirsting to make a big impact. This is important because it is unique and ground breaking.
In recent months, speculation about Google’s plans as an Internet service provider has reached a fevered pitch up. However, the company said Friday that it did not yet have plans to roll out free nationwide Internet services. You have to wonder though.
The company is expected to compete with a number of other providers for the right to offer this new city service. Yet they clearly have the upper hand. Do not bet against them.
Where does this leave San Jose?
A Forum Surprise
In a surprising move the city and county have filed suit against the cash-short GI Forum. Insiders were amazed that our local pols would move against the politically potent Latino veterans group and attempt to foreclose on a loan supported by their Eastside building – even for 4 million dollars.
All comments by city and county officials were reserved and non-descript, leading some observers to wonder what the real story behind the story is. The GI Forum is also the promoter of the annual Cinco de Mayo festival which has been mired in controversy – and debt.
It is a wonderful part of our heritage to see the parade and the festivities, but severe problems have occurred later on in the festival day with troublemakers and a near-riot one year by a small number of attendees. This all fits in to the GI Forum’s financial problems because the rising police costs have greatly affected the bottom line of the festival.
Of course, there are many residents in the downtown area that would like to greatly restrict all festivals that make their ability to enjoy their homes and neighborhoods a difficult task.
The next chapter in this saga will be very interesting.
The Capital of Silicon Valley needs to have free WiFi but ideally it should be funded by businesses, not by the City, which is already poor.
Also… I wonder who else the City will decide to sue in order to shorten the budget deficit???
Tom:
Let it rest. San Jose is not the “epicenter of innovation.” Leave that to cities like Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Francisco and others.
Tom asks: Where does this leave San Jose?
That’s easy. Still in stalled negotiations with Comcast for the right for its citizens to pay for cable while SF is making plans to provide free WiFi for its entire population.
Comcast, and its “governmental relations” department, seems to keep getting a free pass from key players at City Hall. Meanwhile, is anybody happy with Comcast service?
You’ve got to wonder what San Jose could achieve if that ethical cloud over City Hall could be blown away once and for all.
How we cannot have free or even working wireless in this city is unreal! I really wonder what everyone is doing at City Hall. Maybe City Hall Chick know?
Though the two issues raised are quite different, both the WiFi plan and the GI Forum debacle involve one player that shouldn’t be there: local government. No matter its value to a publicity-hungry mayor, free broadband is not the business of the government. Nor should the lofty goals and fiscal irresponsibility of the GI Forum have ever been confused for the business of this city.
Broadband, which became a reality because of risk-taking capitalists, has now become very affordable due of the forces of the free market; local government had nothing to do with it (which explains its success). If it is the strategy of one particular company to provide broadband for free, a development that will certainly challenge its competitors, it should be done without the intervention of the government. Google’s strategy is certainly not devoid of self-interest, therefor it is important for the government to keep its hands off and let the industry slug it out, fair and square.
That said, free broadband delivered to every neighborhood should be celebrated, especially by those commercial sites dedicated to gambling, pornography, and the stealing of music.
As for the GI Forum, had San Jose kept its hands off, that organization might well have matured on its own and developed an agenda based on something more concrete than beer sales and city largess. Our city’s history with that organization is one of bailing them out and forgiving their debts, all in exchange for their self-serving accusations of racism. Enough is enough. Let’s get our money back and close the books on them, once and for all.
Let’s face it! San Jose is a small cowtown with 904,000 people, according to 2005 Census. It outgrew itself big time! SJ has a small town airport, a shamed riverpark with virtually almost no trail access, a dwarfed skyline, shotty WiFi connections, a tiny convention center, mediocre high tech industry, poor mass transit system, a mediocre downtown with no life, no national branches of anything, and lastly, no major media presence or respect! San Jose is nothing more than a small city with alot of people and sprawl with little or no major city infrastructures. That’s what the future portends. I’m sorry. San Jose is a disaster when it comes to vision of the last 28 years: vision of being a big city. It may not be a bad thing for alot people, but for me, it’s a terrible city to waste; it’s a lost cause.
The answer to the WiFi issue is simple. There is no leadership or vision at City Hall. This council and mayor are dead set on operating like some kind of backwater town. They all need to go.
Smurf –
If it were a lost cause why are we all here?
#4: We are doing plenty, but appraently not enough: We still don’t have working WiFi at City Hall, four months after the first employees moved in.
1,2,3..Get Rid of Ronny G!! poses a very interesting question.
Smurf tells it like it is.
Fin Fan’s got it down, except for his optimism that if left alone the G.I. Forum ever could have meant anything. If left alone they would have withered and died a decade ago. They played the race card all along, and the politically correct crowd swallowed it whole. If any other group—geez, am I sounding like Dale Warner???—had left such a huge police bill unpaid would they ever have been invited back?
#4: Where did this notion arise and grow that everyone is entitled to free stuff, whether it be WiFi or anything else?
SOMEONE has to pay for it. Just ‘cuz it’s cool and you like it doesn’t mean anyone—government, private sector, rich white guys, etc.—have to provide it to us free of charge.
It’s not an entitlement!
On the other extreme, our indolent city government has been “negotiating” with Comcast over renewing their exclusive contract since Moses was a boy…to no avail. So, the stuff we pay for—as we should if it were good—is crap. But one reason why I do not have a TV at home.
How can you expect working WiFi in City Hall when they can’t even get the heating/cooling system to work properly?? If the temperature in the GonzoDome is the same as in the Hall, the dome will be named the Igloo.
Welcome to the Ice Age.
smurf – what a bizarre handle – has it wrong. He seems like Oscar Wilde’s cynic “to know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” I guess he/she thinks that the job opportunities, quality of life, and positive changes to San Jose, her museums and Arena and parks, are not enjoyed or valued: wake up! We certainly are not perfect; we are also a long way from the frightful place he seems to imagine.
Look around you. TMcE
WiFi at City Hall? Is this actually something they planned? How would Gonzo allow such a thing?
My company will not allow me to use WiFi access with my laptop because there is way too much proprietary subject matter that would be vulnerable.
How could Gonzo ever be in favor of WiFi for City Hall if the emails he won’t release could possibly get hijacked or otherwise accessed by accident over the air?
wifi?
What about nanotechnology?
That’s cool too – I want my free nanotechnology! I deserve it!
But seriously, the city should get into the nano business as it could have some real payoffs.
The first application for city developed nanotechnology should be towards shrinking the size of the scandals emanating from city hall.
eg. Instead of 50 million dollar furniture cost overrun and 60 million dollar NorCal scandals, with nanotechnology, these scandal’s could be reduced to around 40 to 50 dollars each.
JMOC,
While I agree that WiFi is not an entitlement it could be thought of as infrastructure that improves quality of life and business climate much like roads, power poles, etc. If a company such as Google wants to subsidize it all the better.
If San Jose had free WiFi Comcast would have much less leverage in franchise negotiations with SJ. Remember that along with those TV shows you don’t watch Comcast also provides broadband Internet service. Do you think they would like to see WiFi given away free?
Just last week there was a story in the Chronicle saying SF concluded it’s Comccast negotiations and gets 1-million a year plus some additional $$. This week Gavin Newsom is talking about free WiFi. Interesting timing.
Hey Novice: Can nanotechnology shrink everything? Like government? Like mayors? We gotta get on that NOW! I’m in. I’m entitled.
Imagine this scenario:
As Gavin Newsom basks in the glory of his WiFi coup, thousands of San Francisco’s poorest high schoolers log onto the net for free, hoping to find a job that requires no more than the 6th grade academic skills the city’s schools have demanded of them. After a job search reveals nothing that doesn’t involve pushing a broom or wearing a paper hat, the young web surfers start thinking about those ads that load on nearly every page; ads that have paid off big for Google; ads specifically targeted for free broadband users; ads that promise excitement, pride, and a future: “Be All That You Can Be”… “The Few, The Proud, The Marines,”… “Go Navy.”
What is going on in the airwaves of San Francisco, the self-proclaimed Military-Free Zone? How is this scandal going to play in the supervisor’s chambers? Wait until the Hispanic community sees its disproportionate representation in the new recruiting numbers.
“Was this part of the mayor’s plan?” someone questions.
“How could Google do this to us?” wonders the mayor’s aide.
“I love a man in uniform,” proclaims a voice from the Castro.
Will the city have to threaten Google, first to restrict ads from the military, then from the Christian right and the pro-lifers and an endless list of people and groups and causes that the Board of Supervisors finds objectionable? And then will follow the lawsuits; 1st Amendment arguments against the city’s suppression of free-speech, restraint of trade actions, and who knows what else?
If those running the show in San Francisco could ruin one of the most beautiful cities in the world, how could we expect them not to ruin whatever else they get for free?
Finfan,
I finally figured out who you are!
Your either James Rowen on good meds or John McInery on a Carl Rove indused six pack of Guiness.
Keep up the good work.
I prefer dial up access to Al Gore’s Internet!
DONT CONFUSE THE GONZO CIRCUS WITH THIS TOO, THEY CANT SEEM TO DO ANYTHING RIGHT , THEY DONT HAVE MUOH RUG LEFT TO SWEEP THIS UNDER. TIME FOR NEW CARPETS ,OR A BIGGER BROOM?
#12: Tell me about it. On my floor it’s either about 55 degrees, or about 90. And let’s not even get started with the crappy (sometimes literally) toilets… Two employee toilets per floor that can’t even flush properly!
#14: The free WiFi is not for the City’s internal network. It is in public areas for public use (no access to City network).
SF’s censorship requirements will be a piece of cake for Google given the hoops they’ve jumped through to support red China’s censorship programs.
Interesting comparison though.
I will with hold my comments, but to say that the Hispanic Politicions both at the City and County level no longer see the GI FORUM as an endosment. Were it not for the support given by these same politicions over the years, This group of players would have been relegated to raising cash money at garage sales.
Many of the old players have moved on or been disposed. In all fairness to those that remain GI forum members, regroup take control and get in touch with your community.
The City’s responsibility is to have events which honor the community. Tapestry Arts, Jazz Festival, Christmas in the Park, Greek Festival, Italian Festival.
Playing the race card, as the GI forum have done, inspires anger amongst the populous. Leaders are needed that will disolve the tension that exists between the young Hispanics, Mexicans, Latinos, Chicanos, community and Police.
Politically, this very group has held the three sacred cash cows hostage for the past 20 years. Cinco de Mayo, 16th de September, and until just recently the Mariachi Festival. So where’s the “Beef” San Jose! Show me the money!
If the same political players step up for the rescue routine, you can well bet that these pages will catch fire!
We are a proud many and we love our City. These groups such as the GI forum do not represent the major part of our Hispanic community. If they did they would be in good financial shape today.
Time for the Latino Peace Officers and the Latino Fire Fighters, perhaps to try their hand at a festival or two. Now that, I would support !!!!!!!!!!! Hell, I’ll Volunteer.
New shoes for all the horses! Whoa!
Where were you “San Jose Inside” 20 years ago when I needed you.
I am glad you’re here now!!!
The Village Black Smith
Gil Hernandez
City Hall Chick:
HHmm, toilets that don’t work in a brand new building—the most expensive municipal building ever built in North America.
I also heard that there are significant water leakage problems below grade. Is that true?
Maybe this crappy, over-built, over budget building is a reflection of the administration that oversaw its construction—-like a mirror image of the corrupt, inept folks that were on watch when it was built.
And where are the three mayoral candidates hiding on this issue?
Gonzo should have been on this one. He dropped the ball again. He is probably so obsorbed with one of his other fiasco’s that he can’t think of anything else. A sharp intelligent Mayor would have wooded google to San Jose. Why doesn’‘t someone move to have this guy resign or remove him from office.
#24: I have not heard of water leaks at City Hall, but the 2-year old new main library’s lower levels were recently flooded with sewage. Yum.