Senator Chuck Schumer said it best last month when he put it this way: “In an economy that is increasingly reliant on high speed Internet, not having high speed Internet access is like not having air to breathe.”
More and more of us find ourselves in this new American information society in a wholly unforeseen reality. This reality includes communicating and working wherever, whenever and however we can. It also absolutely includes working with the portable devices, portable computers and the smartest telephony equipment available.
It is also about our own economic future and about our children's future.
The whole world is now online. Nations such as Singapore and Ghana now have plans to be wired and wireless. Norwich, England is now one UK city that is already one giant hot spot.
WI-MAX service could cover a whole village the size of Aurora or even a commercial area the size of downtown Auburn and perhaps with the support of the county Legislature ultimately the whole of Cayuga County.
Today cities large and small are planning to connect via wired and wireless networks. San Francisco, Philadelphia and Minneapolis are all entertaining “Requests For Proposals” (RFP's) to both wire (utilizing fiber optic cable) and to wirelessly (WI-FI, WI-MAX) connect their citizens, their businesses and their educational institutions. Today, education at all levels (especially higher education) is increasingly more dependent on access to online services. This is certainly our future.
These cities are leading but they are no longer alone.
Many communities, large, small and even our village are all considering how to plan for the next generation of communications. This is the time for Aurora, Auburn and Cayuga County to seriously consider doing the same.
My Aurora neighbors and friends who think we need more “practical projects” like sidewalks, new paved streets, a new post office and park, archival storage and many fewer trash trucks are all certainly correct.
Know that I will certainly honor these classic government chores and all our grand history - but first give me a sustainable present and hope for our future. High-speed wireless Internet access is also a government responsibility that will help drive our future, our jobs and our connection to the whole world around us.
Our first priorities must be a present and a future with opportunity, jobs and hope for our families and our citizens.
Then I will be very happy to help build Aurora's citizens more sidewalks, more streets another park and perhaps someday too a museum to house those grand archives to save our shared history.
We must not allow well meaning questions to delay or forestall the inevitability of our future. Delay by ignorance, indecision or inaction is I fear a kind of folly of the worst kind. Something none of us in government or as citizens can afford.
If we want to keep our jobs and our children here, we would be wiser to keep focused on the future of our Internet and how it relates to our jobs or we all risk becoming exhibits in that virtual museum known as New York's lost opportunities.
That is something none of us want and our children can't afford.
It is also about our own economic future and about our children's future.
The whole world is now online. Nations such as Singapore and Ghana now have plans to be wired and wireless. Norwich, England is now one UK city that is already one giant hot spot.
WI-MAX service could cover a whole village the size of Aurora or even a commercial area the size of downtown Auburn and perhaps with the support of the county Legislature ultimately the whole of Cayuga County.
Today cities large and small are planning to connect via wired and wireless networks. San Francisco, Philadelphia and Minneapolis are all entertaining “Requests For Proposals” (RFP's) to both wire (utilizing fiber optic cable) and to wirelessly (WI-FI, WI-MAX) connect their citizens, their businesses and their educational institutions. Today, education at all levels (especially higher education) is increasingly more dependent on access to online services. This is certainly our future.
These cities are leading but they are no longer alone.
Many communities, large, small and even our village are all considering how to plan for the next generation of communications. This is the time for Aurora, Auburn and Cayuga County to seriously consider doing the same.
My Aurora neighbors and friends who think we need more “practical projects” like sidewalks, new paved streets, a new post office and park, archival storage and many fewer trash trucks are all certainly correct.
Know that I will certainly honor these classic government chores and all our grand history - but first give me a sustainable present and hope for our future. High-speed wireless Internet access is also a government responsibility that will help drive our future, our jobs and our connection to the whole world around us.
Our first priorities must be a present and a future with opportunity, jobs and hope for our families and our citizens.
Then I will be very happy to help build Aurora's citizens more sidewalks, more streets another park and perhaps someday too a museum to house those grand archives to save our shared history.
We must not allow well meaning questions to delay or forestall the inevitability of our future. Delay by ignorance, indecision or inaction is I fear a kind of folly of the worst kind. Something none of us in government or as citizens can afford.
If we want to keep our jobs and our children here, we would be wiser to keep focused on the future of our Internet and how it relates to our jobs or we all risk becoming exhibits in that virtual museum known as New York's lost opportunities.
That is something none of us want and our children can't afford.
