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Akron council to spend $800,000 on wireless plan

Akron council to spend $800,000 on wireless plan

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Akron council to spend $800,000 on wireless plan

The Akron Beacon Journal
Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The City Council voted Monday to spend about $800,000 over the next five years to provide free wireless Internet service in and around downtown Akron.

The city will enter into an agreement with OneCommunity, a nonprofit technology organization providing broadband wireless service, to create a wireless Internet corridor covering 11 square miles of the city.

Council President Marco Sommerville said that the wireless corridor will go a long way in bridging the digital divide.

''This will be in a number of neighborhoods where people can't afford it (Internet service). . . . The fact is the digital divide does exist and this will give people a chance to catch up and participate in the digital world,'' said Sommerville.

Last April, OneCommunity was awarded a $4.5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as part of its $25 million pledge over the next five years to accelerate digital access projects in 26 cities where the Knight brothers once owned newspapers.

Part of that $25 million commitment, about $15 million, will be used to establish and fund the Knight Center for Digital Excellence in Akron, which will coordinate the various digital projects in the grant communities.