If you’re an entrepreneur, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has an offer you may not be able to refuse. And that turns out to be good for average Joes, too.
Of course, Bloomberg’s term as mayor will soon end and he could sit back and count the billions of dollars in his bank account, but it looks like he’s going to work at making New York the world’s greatest city until they escort him out the door of city hall. In this case, he’s bringing free, public wifi to neighborhoods throughout the Big Apple. He hopes the technology will be irresistible bait for entrepreneurs.
Bloomberg said the new public networks would be up-and-running in commercial districts as early as December.
The city’s free public wifi networks will be available in some of the city’s highest profile business districts: In Brooklyn’s Fulton Street corridor, BAM Cultural District, Brownsville, and downtown. In Manhattan, in the Flatiron District, on the Water Street Corridor and Lower Manhattan’s East River waterfront. In Harlem along the 125th Street corridor and on Roosevelt Island. Bloomberg’s plan also calls for the free wifi to be offered in Queens, in the Bronx, and in other as yet unspecified areas.
“If New York City is going remain competitive in the global economy, we must find ways to support the entrepreneurs who are driving technological advances and creating jobs,” Bloomberg observed.
Bloomberg’s goal is to make targeted investments that improve the Big Apple’s wireless infrastructure and expand internet access. That, he predicts, will help entrepreneurs make intelligent decisions about where to open a business.
From our point of view, what’s good for entrepreneurs is good for everyone who’s tired of paying exorbitant internet access fees. The new wifi networks will be open to everyone in the impacted neighborhoods — not just new entrepreneurs — and we expect thousands of people to take advantage of them.
Of course, Bloomberg expects that intelligent decision to begin with a N and ends with a K.
Source: Smart Planet
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