Greensboro searches for ideas to lure Google broadband
GREENSBORO — Bring your snappy slogans and your unique ideas. Greensboro needs you to help it lure Google.
Local leaders are making a bid for the city to become a test market for Google’s super high-speed broadband project.
The city is asking residents to bring their ideas and their enthusiasm Wednesday night to a public meeting to help with Greensboro’s application for the project.
City staff members already have started gathering the reams of data Google will need — everything from who owns utility poles to Greensboro’s topography.
Supporters say what could set Greensboro apart from dozens — or even hundreds — of other cities that want to be a part of the network could be public participation.
The application, due in late March, asks cities to describe community support for the initiative. Dozens of Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and Web sites in support of bringing Google to various cities have popped up in the two weeks since Google launched the initiative. They range from a grass-roots project called Think Big Topeka to government-run efforts such as one in Gainsville, Fla.
“We need to make the case why Google is great for Greensboro and Greensboro is great for Google,” Assistant City Manager Denise Turner said.
Councilman Danny Thompson said he’d like to see Greensboro work the social media angle, and see 50,000 people join the Facebook group Bring Google Fiber to Greensboro, NC!
As of Monday afternoon, about 1,460 people had joined.
Another idea is to put video cameras in the hands of displaced workers and let them interview people about how Google broadband could change their lives, said Jay Ovittore, who is administering the Facebook group.
“We want to go out and talk to single moms,” he said. “How would it change your life? Talk to university folks. How does this change your life on campus? Talk to a radiologist. How would it change your life to be able to upload images on the Internet instead of sending it across the city via messenger?”
Faster broadband would improve everyday Internet uses, such as watching online videos or downloading a Powerpoint presentation.
Google hints it would use the project to test what kind of services can be developed with super high-speed capabilities. Better broadband citywide feeds nicely into what airport officials have been researching: building a fiber loop around PTI.
“It would be a big business recruiting advantage,” Councilman Robbie Perkins said.
Perkins said people should brace themselves for the possibility the city would have to put up some cash to lure Google.
“Especially with something that will be really competitive, someone somewhere is going to throw some money at Google,” he said.
Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com
Accompanying Photos
Want to go?
What: Community meeting on the possibility of bringing Google's high-speed broadband to Greensboro
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: City Council Chambers of the Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St.
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