With poll: Ann Arbor officials putting final touches on Google fiber application

"There's a real effort to make sure our application is as good as it can be on the merit," said City Council Member Christopher Taylor, D-3rd Ward, who has taken a lead role on the city's A2 Fiber initiative. "The Ann Arbor community plays a tremendous role in making this happen."

The A2 Fiber initiative has more than 13,500 fans on Facebook and 724 Twitter followers. A separate group, “Ann Arbor for Google Fiber,” has more than 1,100 fans on Facebook.

Google's fiber-to-the-home connections would allow those using the network to exchange electronic data at a rate higher than 1 gigabit per second. The company promises to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people in the community it selects.

"That is a game-changing rate of speed and it will provide companies an incentive to locate and innovate here in Ann Arbor," Taylor said. "It will provide an opportunity for folks themselves to unleash creative and entrepreneurial energy. I think it will be a great thing for the Ann Arbor brand. Ann Arbor has a deserved reputation of being a hub of innovation and I think the Google fiber-to-the-home network coming here would reemphasize that."

Although dozens of cities across the United States are competing to become the first trial location for Google's new fiber network, Mayor John Hieftje likes Ann Arbor's chances.

"I have a feeling that having a Google office here does help," he said of the Google sales office downtown. "But what we have going even stronger for us is we're one of the most wired communities in the world and one of the most highly educated communities anywhere."

Hieftje said Ann Arbor is a natural fit for a high-speed broadband test project because of the many high-tech companies involved in research and development here. And then there's the University of Michigan, one of the leading research institutions in the world. U-M also happens to be the alma matter of Google co-founder Larry Page.

Page, a 1995 engineering grad, is known to speak occasionally with U-M President Mary Sue Coleman. Conversations between Page and Coleman led directly to Google’s decision to launch its sales operation in downtown Ann Arbor in 2006, a move aided by financial incentives from the city.

U-M officials haven't yet said whether anyone at the university is reaching out to Page. City officials also confessed they have no knowledge of anyone trying to connect with the former Ann Arborite, but point out that Page has several friends in Ann Arbor and it's likely someone did contact him.

"I'm not aware of any outreach effort," said Rick Fitzgerald, a university spokesman. "But the university is working very closely with the city to prepare the request-for-information material that will go to Google and President Coleman is writing a letter of support to go with that package. Certainly the university is very much involved in that whole effort."

Jake Parrillo, a Chicago-based spokesman for Google who handles media communications for the Ann Arbor office, said the company has no comment to make until after the Friday submission deadline.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm was in California earlier this month pitching Michigan as a site for Google, though she isn't taking a stance on which city should get the award. Several cities in Michigan are submitting applications, including Grand Rapids, Lansing/East Lansing, and even Ann Arbor neighbors Pittsfield Township and Saline, which are submitting a joint application.

Congressman John Dingell, D-Dearborn, announced on Friday his support for the both the Ann Arbor and Pittsfield Township-Saline efforts.

"Ann Arbor’s expanding alternative energy sector, their world-class university, the energetic students, and the vibrant citizenry serve to make it an ideal candidate to test the broad range of uses for future fiber optic networks across the country," Dingell wrote in a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "Pittsfield and Saline bring together a range of citizens and small businesses that will present a unique opportunity for Google to explore the benefits of high-speed fiber optic cables in both urban and rural areas."

Dingell said the presence of U-M - encompassing everything from its engineering school to the massive health system - requires enormous amounts of bandwidth and would benefit from a super-speed network.

"Furthermore, the success of statewide initiatives like the establishment and expansion of health information technology, which is being lead by Altarum Institute in Ann Arbor, will depend on advanced telecommunications technology like ultra high-speed broadband," he said. "Such is also the case for alternative energy companies like A123 Systems, who are on the cutting edge of reducing our nation’s reliance on foreign fuels while simultaneously spurring the creation of green jobs."

The A2 Fiber campaign website tells visitors to imagine being able to experience a video conference without connection hiccups, a movie rental that takes minutes to download, or streaming videos of lectures taking place hundreds of miles away "with resolution so precise that you can practically see the loose threads on the professor’s sports coat."

From an economic development standpoint, city officials and representatives from Ann Arbor SPARK also are hopeful high-tech companies would relocate to Ann Arbor to take advantage of immediately available high-speed Internet that requires no up-front investment.

"The opportunity for innovation here is probably beyond what most of us can imagine right now," said Rich Sheridan, founder and CEO of Ann Arbor-based customized software firm Menlo Innovations. "This begins to create entirely new opportunities that we're not even thinking about today."

Sheridan has thrown his support behind A2 Fiber and will appear in a promotional video going up on the web this week. Hieftje provides the introduction for that video filmed as part of the city's initiative.

"I think we're just such a natural community for this to happen in," Sheridan said. "It's very entrepreneurial here, we've got several venture capital firms right here in the downtown and this plugs right into the transformation we've seen this community leading for our state."

Josie Parker, director of the Ann Arbor District Library, said the library is in full support of the city's application.

"Libraries nationally have made a case that broadband and broadband access is a future necessity for American citizens," she said. "So much is moving to the web and we need to provide broadband to our public."

Tom Crawford, the city's chief financial officer and recently dubbed "Google czar," said the clock is ticking.

"We have a relatively tight timeline and the city's efforts are getting accurate and complete information together to get our best foot forward," he said. "Google as a company has a relationship with this organization and community already, and I think that's been positive. I hope they’re finding this community a welcome place for their business."

To find out more ways to support the A2 Fiber initiative, go to www.a2fiber.com.

Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.