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02/06/2007Pennsylvania's H.B. 30 Hasn't Impeded Pittsburgh
Rodney Akers is the Deputy Chief Information Officer of Pittsburgh. He spoke at the CIO Town Hall Meeting at the W2i Digital Cities Convention in Philadelphia, Dec. 5–6, 2006. Q: When did Pittsburgh begin thinking about broadband-wireless?
A: In Pittsburgh, we realized that broadband-wireless could have a number of useful applications in government beginning in the early part of the decade. We began to explore wireless applications for our public-safety sector — mobile computing in our police vehicles — and for building inspection.
We began to consider it on a modest scale beginning in 2004, which was the time when we were approached by the PDP about entering into another partnership with a vendor to deploy a Wi-Fi network downtown. At this time, Pittsburgh had already had a number of Wi-Fi hotspots, like most cities of comparable size, but there was not concentrated effort, and we hadn’t engaged in a systematic effort with the government.
Beginning in 2004, we took up that challenge, and while we did not initially support the partnership in its efforts, because it would evolve a significant expenditure in network equipment that the city could not afford at the time, we still remained open to the possibility of supporting the partnership if it wanted to continue the effort to increase the viability of downtown.
Q: What about Pennsylvania’s prohibitive legal landscape?
A: In terms of the passage of what is commonly known in the Commonwealth as House Bill 30, at the end of 2004, I think those of us in Pittsburgh and in the Commonwealth viewed it as an unwelcome development. We’re very happy that Philadelphia was able to continue deploying, and we’ve refused in Pittsburgh to view it as an absolute impediment. It just makes the deployment of municipally backed or funded networks more difficult than it should be…. And we’re not going to tiptoe around in terms of being intimidated by it. We’re going to do what we’ve done, which is engage in creative public-private partnerships to ultimately bring the promise of wireless to all Pittsburghers.
Q: What has been the reaction to Wi-Fi Downtown Pittsburgh?
A: The feedback we’ve received has been extremely positive. Like most northeastern cities, Pittsburgh’s downtown area is not as vibrant as it once was. It is no longer the shopping retail hub of the region. It is still primarily the office hub, the jobs hub, and there’s a significant business presence there during the weekdays. There is an increasing presence there in the evenings because of the increased viability of our cultural district, which is now recognized nationally for having reinvented downtown Pittsburgh. We’re also attracting more residents than we used to. The feedback we’ve received is that the businesses — the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, in particular — view the availability of Wi-Fi in downtown Pittsburgh as a significant plus. It is a distinguishing factor. It’s available outside and…to a limited extent indoors.
Q: What about a wider-area network across the city?
A: I see Pittburgh having a fully deployed broadband-wireless network within two years. That timetable is dependent on a number of factors, not the least of which is a thorough and comprehensive needs assessment and appropriate buy-in from all the stakeholders. And I do stress buy-in. I do not mean that we should be giving credence to obstructionists, or that we should be engaging in activities that are detrimental to the common good. What I mean by that is that there are any number of people who might suggest we should hold out for more. I think we have to remember, at the end of the day, that this is a business case on both sides, and we have to create a framework that is going to be a win-win that’s going to make it attractive for providers to provide the access under business terms that they can endorse. And it’s going to have to be a network that will provide the benefits that our citizens will come to expect and that we should provide.
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