Harrietstown drums up support for Google broadband project
By CHRIS KNIGHT, Enterprise Senior Staff WriterSARANAC LAKE - The town of Harrietstown wants to enlist other area towns and villages in making a pitch to Google to pick the Tri-Lakes region as a potential site to test an ultra-fast fiber-optic network.
As part of its "Fiber for Communities" program, Google announced in February that it is planning to build and test ultra-high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the country. The networks, according to a press release announcing the program, would have Internet speeds of over 1 gigabyte per second, more than 100 times faster than what most people have access to today.
Google said its goal is "to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone." The company said the Internet connection would be offered at a competitive price, which it didn't name, to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.
The 12-page application has to be submitted electronically by March 26.
David Wolff, chair of the local political action committee AdkAction.org, met with the town board last week to outline the program and suggest local officials submit an application.
"Broadband support is key to the economic viability of the area," he said. "My strong recommendation is we try to participate in this."
Wolff said such an ultra-high-speed network would be beneficial to big local employers like the Trudeau Institute, North Country Community College and Adirondack Medical Center. It could also help attract more telecommuters to the area.
"Many people here, like me, are seasonal and have jobs elsewhere; We telecommute," Wolff said. "I've worked for IBM for 31 years. I can work anywhere in the world if you gave me a good Internet connection."
Wolff also said the trial program would complement the efforts of CBN Connect, a private nonprofit corporation currently working to bring a community broadband network to Clinton, Franklin and Essex counties.
Supervisor Larry Miller said he had met earlier in the day to discuss the project with Wolff, village of Saranac Lake Community Development Director Jeremy Evans and Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sylvie Nelson. Miller said he wants to try and get other local governments on board. He noted that there's no cost associated with the application process, just a lot of time and effort.
"We felt we might have better success with this application if we asked our neighbors," Miller said. "Our goal is to make it as Tri-Lakes-wide as we possibly can. I don't see where we have anything to lose."
On Friday, Miller sent an e-mail describing the Google program and the application process to officials in the towns of North Elba and Tupper Lake and the villages of Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake. He wrote that the project would be a "win-win" for the region and would show that local towns and villages can work together.
Evans said he plans to discuss the opportunity with the village Board of Trustees at its Monday night meeting.
"I think we'd have a good location for them to test because of our geographic challenges, our climate and the fact that we could have even more telecommuters in the area," Evans said. "I think there's a lot of reasons why they should look at us."
If the Tri-Lakes area follows through with an application, it will be one of numerous communities across the country vying for Google's attention.
Some cities have hired advertising agencies to help make their pitch while other communities have been doing publicity stunts to draw attention to their efforts. Topeka, Kansas has officially changed its name to Google, Kansas for the month of March. Duluth, Minn. put a spoof video on YouTube promising all first-born males will be named Google Fiber and first-born females Googlette Fiber. Sarasota, Fla. has renamed its City Island as "Google Island."
"I assume the competition will be fierce," Evans said. "I don't think we'll be able to compete with things like that. But we'll have to put our best face forward, and hopefully they'll look at the merits of our application and the challenges we have here."
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Contact Chris Knight at (518) 891-2600 ext. 24 or cknight@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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positivelyspeaking
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03-16-10 9:40 AM
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Yes. Rabideau put a press release out about this back in February encouraging everyone to make their voice heard. This is a person on top of the issues.
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ADKaway
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03-15-10 7:13 PM
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Great idea and it wouldn't cost the taxpayer. Does this mean we're gonna be known as "The Google Lakes"? :)
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Dave12942
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03-15-10 4:41 PM
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Keene had applied for this as well to follow-up on it's successful Town-Wide Broadband Project which has brought broadband to 90% of the homes in Town using fiber-to-the-home technology. It is an ideal base for Google to build upon.
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jswhiteface
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03-15-10 4:14 PM
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Thank you Mr. Wolff and Mr. Miller
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1nobody
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03-15-10 3:48 PM
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How will this broadband be distributed to customers? Hopefully not through Verizon or Time Warner. They already have a monopoly on phone/internet/cable services and both are way to expensive but we don't have much choice.
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