San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom sits down for a video interview with MarketWatch about the latest in the city’s bid to deploy WiFi.
About the decision by the Board of Supervisors to wait until July to vote on the proposal:
“It’s frustrating. It’s been a two-year process, a two-year odyssey. We came up with what we think is the best proposal of its kind in the United States. Not only is it the best economic proposal for the taxpayers…no cost out of our pocket… a system that will be operated and managed by Earthlink, and supported by Google… but also provides not just a tiered paid service, but this free basic service that Google is going to provide. No other large city has offered that kind of service.”
On the other hand, Bruce Wolfe of PublicNet SF Coalition in San Francisco is the lead organizer for the Municipal Broadband effort opposing the effort. Wolfe believes San Francisco is selling off of public rights-of-way to virtual ISP partners, Earthlink and Google. They would like to see a citywide fiber ring with a WiFi layer on top as they work towards a municipal FTTP as a community effort.
The proposals by SFLAN and BARWN would bring ownership and management of the network closer to the people.
