San Francisco leaders voice concerns about Wi-Fi project

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: December 20, 2005 8:25:41 AM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] San Francisco leaders voice concerns about Wi- 
Fi project
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com

San Francisco leaders voice concerns about Wi-Fi project
Agency members want to avoid a restrictive franchise deal
News Story by Stephen Lawson
<http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/technology/story/ 
0,10801,107216,00.html?source=x596>

DECEMBER 19, 2005 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - San Francisco's plan for  
citywide Wi-Fi ran into some friction Friday from a local regulatory  
agency.

The government of the City and County of San Francisco is readying a  
request for proposal (RFP) for the wireless network, which is  
intended to provide free or affordable Internet access throughout  
most of the city. Several possible partners, including Google Inc.,  
EarthLink Inc., Motorola Inc. and a local nonprofit project called  
SFLan, have already expressed interest in the project through an  
earlier request for information. The San Francisco plan would become  
one of the largest rollouts yet of government-initiated broadband, a  
concept that has generated heated political discussion in the past  
several months.

At a hearing Friday, some members of San Francisco's Local Agency  
Formation Commission (LAFCO) grilled Chris Vein, director of the  
city's Department of Technology and Information Services (DTIS),  
about the process of deciding how to build and operate the network.

LAFCO, made up of San Francisco county supervisors and members of the  
public, has a broad oversight role, including approval of district  
boundaries and annexation of land as well as contract approvals. The  
agency's aim in the hearing was to stimulate discussion, supervisor  
and LAFCO member Jake McGoldrick said in an interview after the meeting.

County Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and other LAFCO members said they  
fear a deal like San Francisco's current franchise agreement with  
cable operator Comcast Corp., in which the board of supervisors has  
been presented with already negotiated franchise deals that it must  
approve or vote down. DTIS handles cable franchise administration and  
other communications and IT responsibilities for the city as well as  
spearheading the Wi-Fi project.

[snip]

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