Event hopes to bring more support for Google's high-speed Internet
An event sponsored by the Ann Arbor Ad Club hopes to gather more community support to bring Google’s proposed high-speed Internet to Ann Arbor.
“Google Fiber moves the Internet from zero to 100 like a Fiesta to a Ferrari,” will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday on the corner of North University and State Street in downtown Ann Arbor.
“We fully support what the city is doing,” Ad Club President Chad Wiebesick said. “Numbers (of supporters) matter, so we’ve got to get the numbers up.”
The campaign is in response to Google’s plan to bring a fiber optic network to select cities throughout the United States. The network would be capable of processing one gigabit of data per second, which would provide Internet service that is about 100 times faster than most Americans have today.
Cities, however, must compete against each other to convince Google why they should be chosen. Pittsfield Township and Saline are other communities in Washtenaw County vying for the project.
Wiebesick said the campaign will have a 30-foot van full of laptop computers to encourage people to express their support by submitting a formal request on the project’s Web site.
He said the van will also contain video equipment to encourage people to make a short YouTube video on why Ann Arbor should receive Google’s high-speed Internet. He said volunteers will be walking around the area with smartphones to make it easier for people to create videos on the spot.
The videos will be submitted as part of A2 Fiber’s YouTube video contest, which is collecting 30-90 second videos to be submitted to Google as further evidence of the community’s support for the project. Top entries will be eligible to win prizes such as iPads, local gift certificates and a digital camera.
Wiebesick said, weather-permitting, the event will also have a Ferarri on display.
“We want to illustrate how fast Google is,” he said. “We’re going to make it fun.”
Erica Hobbs can be reached at ericahobbs@annarbor.com.
Comments
Moose
Sat, Mar 20, 2010 : 10:31 a.m.
For people who want elected officials who actually think things through, listen to regular folks and not consultants or corporations with vested interests... Please vote in the upcoming elections.
Moose
Sat, Mar 20, 2010 : 8:43 a.m.
The buzz will wear off by morning. The high rises that have been built so far are empty. The other proposed downtown residential developments don't have the money to actually build anything. Think ahead. Homeowners, actual taxpayers, and businesses will not only foot at least part of the bill for Google, they will also continue to pay for the necessary physical infrastructure. Or do you think that we should allow infrastructure to crumble in return for faster internet and "tech savvy partiers"? Would you prefer "tech savvy partiers" or those who put down roots, pay taxes and are here for more than fast internet? The "stumble into fun" crowd isn't interested in staying in one place long enough to make a difference.
Dr. I. Emsayin
Sat, Mar 20, 2010 : 8:13 a.m.
Remember, Ann Arbor is trying to lure young adults to live in downtown Ann Arbor high rises. These singles do not care about the roads (remember, they will not need a car; buildings will not have enough parking, etc). The Google experiment could lure these tech savvy partiers, even lure UM students to stay in town, more than repaired roads and detoured traffic. The buzz is sexier than the asphalt.
Lokalisierung
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 6:04 p.m.
Yes I remeber Pfizer. I remeber them paying the city...was it like $450,000 in property taxes or some number like that every year? I guess that was a mistake to collect that money?
Lokalisierung
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 5:23 p.m.
Yep, one of the richest companies in the world wants to locate an office in our town and people bend over backward for them. You've really cracked the case wide open. Amazing work moose.
Moose
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 5:19 p.m.
So who care whether anyone agrees with me or not? I sure don't. Google blows whistle. The dogs salivate.
Lokalisierung
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 5:01 p.m.
"It appears that it's easier to motivate people to make videos and kiss Google's behind for pie in the sky than it is to vote and hold elected officials responsible for ensuring that our roads are safe drivable condition." Well, we both already knew that didn't we? Geting people to 'Jackass' it up on youtube is very easy and there's no end in site on that front. Having said that I'm not quite sure i agree with the rest of your paragraph. Every election people vote these people into office. I think your 'average citizen' is probably pretty happy (or at least neutral) on those running the city. Sure Annarbor.com replies get all in a tizzy about our officials but I think everyone will get elected pretty easily. look what it took for Greden to lose his election...and that was only by like 5 votes? Again I think better all around roads and 1 bridge at 50% is better than a 1 - 100% bridge and crummy roads everywhere else.
Moose
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 4:39 p.m.
But this topic was for folks to blow Google's... horn. You choose. Bridges and roads or faster downloads. I bet that more people who consider moving here check the condition of the schools, roads and home prices before they ask about download speeds. Some folks are pretty casual about how we spend our tax dollars here. Google gets a tax break and free parking for their 250 jobs out of the politician promised 1000. The same politicians and a CFO who cheerlead for Google and delayed bridge repairs for a decade weren't even prepared when Washington was handing out dollars for such things. Why do we trust them to make a good decision on Googles business pitch? It appears that it's easier to motivate people to make videos and kiss Google's behind for pie in the sky than it is to vote and hold elected officials responsible for ensuring that our roads are safe drivable condition.
Lokalisierung
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 3:50 p.m.
The city is most likely going to end up paying for the bridge. They have a certain amount of money in that fund, and i'd hate to see it depleated to cover one area (I do not know how much money and if it would actually pull away from other things but that is my ASSumption becasue it isn't going to be cheap). We all know the roads are horrible around here(and Michigan in general) and I'd rather fix a whole mess of roads on not have chunks of concrete missing and have one bridge at half capacity, than the other way around. Looking at the situation realistically that bridge is working fine now. I'm not in the group of people that think it's going to collapse killing hundreds of people and yada yada. I travel that bridge everyday and I never see it backed up too much (But of course I'm not there at all times). Thousands of peopel and businesses use internet every day also. My thinking is it is just as selfish to care more about a bridge specifically for motorized vehicles (bikes and pedestrains can get around it just fine) than for somthign only accessed by internet users. If brain dead than that's fine. As for the other thing, if we legalized & taxed reefer and prostitution like Amsterdam we'd probably have a lot of money laying around to do all types of things. Again, that would probably just be selfish also.
Moose
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 3:16 p.m.
"For one thing i would rather have gigabyte speed than a 2 lane bridge. The one lane that bridge has does me just fine. We won't agree on that so let's move on." That's an awfully selfish point of view considering that is one of the heaviest traveled routes in the city used by thousand of other people, just to pass it off as a difference of opinion. Unbelievable at best, brain dead at worst. I fail to see the correlation between Amsterdam and Ann Arbor except for an off hand, sarcastic wing nut reference to pot, as if lame humor had anything to with Google, gigabit or ganja.
Lokalisierung
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 2:45 p.m.
For one thing i would rather have gigabyte speed than a 2 lane bridge. The one lane that bridge has does me just fine. We won't agree on that so let's move on. Second, are there any cities "like Ann Arbor" that have done this Fiber upgrade? I mean, I don't want to waste any time I don't have to pointing out that Ann Arbor is different than Amsterdam.
Moose
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 2:28 p.m.
Google blows the whistle. The dogs begin to salivate. This whole Google rah rah biz is a pantload of gratuitous fawning. Google is milking it for every shareholder dollar they can. More power to them, but the hurt won't go away just because Google "gives" us faster downloads. The City should be holding it's fire until they see the real bottom line, but they seem to have bought the hype instead. It's a good news week for the politicians when us plebes think about getting something for nothing rather than crumbling infrastructure, mounting debt and higher taxes. Don't be surprised if Tom Crawford and Roger Fraser figure out a way to tax your almighty gigabits. I'd prefer the city to "lure" us a new Stadium Bridge than on demand movies from Comcast or Google.
Peter A Webb
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 2:14 p.m.
Example of a city doing it on its own: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/03/how-amsterdam-was-wired-for-open-access-fiber.ars
Lokalisierung
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 2:07 p.m.
And then typical hum bug posts from typical Ann Arbor residents angry that Ann Arbor tried to lure one of the richest corperations anywhere into the city...wow, the nerve of the city!
Peter A Webb
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 2:06 p.m.
Ann Arbor really could set up gigabit internet access on its own. There are plenty of places in other countries that have already done so. It would be great if Google paid for most of it, but we really don't NEED them.
Moose
Fri, Mar 19, 2010 : 1:53 p.m.
More free advertising for Google. Where are those thousand jobs? And why did we give Google, one of the richest corporations anywhere, a couple hundred free parking spaces? So we could build more? Oh. I get it, the city bought their big promises and got less than that they thought. Typical City Hall.