[wplug] Philly - Wi, Pitts - NoWi

[Greg Simkins]

If Government makes your blood boil (it does mine), then you should be happy 
to see Government out of the Wi-Fi business.  The last business that Mayor 
Murphy involved the city in was retail - Lazarus - and it went down in 
flames.

Now we have the 50% parking tax to pay off that foolishness, further driving 
business away from downtown.

Before that was stadiums - I know the bill is hidden somewhere in current or 
future taxes - and I have no interest in what is going on in either stadium.

Before that was the airport.  I initially thought that was a rare success, 
but now our major airline has gone bankrupt.  I suppose we (taxpayers) will 
take over payments on the airport bonds now.

And I should add....the convention center is terribly ugly.

Greg


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Semcheski" <lists at immuneit.com>
To: <wplug at wplug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2005 10:54 PM
Subject: [wplug] Philly - Wi, Pitts - NoWi


> Saw this article online in the Post-Gazette:
>
> http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05124/498485.stm
>
> Basically, Pittsburgh is not going to be starting a wifi network,
> Philadelphia is.  Please someone, correct me on the following if I am
> off, but this is my understanding:
>
> Because there is no community based wifi service offered by the city of
> Pittsburgh (or the suburbs), such municipalities will be prohibited from
> starting such a service in the future.
>
> If there was so much as one subscriber for such a service, that service
> would be grandfathered in, defeating the municipal-wireless bill from
> earlier this year.
>
> Therefore, we should lobby city-council to create such a service (even
> if it only finds one subscriber) and grandfather it in before that
> telecom fronted by Darth Vader (Verizon) cements its monopoly.
>
> The article I provided the link for mentions that Bill Peduto created a
> committee to investigate the issue, and it had people from Verizon and
> Comcast on it.  Talk about a conflict of interest.
>
> As someone who grew up in the Philadelphia area, it really galls me to
> see Philadelphia get something that Pittsburgh doesn't.
>
> I don't know what it is, but lately if I am writing an email and some
> aspect of government comes up, my blood pressure just goes up through
> the roof.
>
> Mike
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