Two New Jersey counties‚Äö?Ñ?Æone of the state’s¬¨‚Ćpoorest and most urban and one of its most rural but rapidly industrializing‚Äö?Ñ?Æare exploring a joint initiative that would bring wireless broadband access to 800,000 people. ¬¨‚ĆCamden County, an urban eastern¬¨‚Ćneighbor to Philadelphia, and Gloucester County,¬¨‚ĆCamden’s eastern¬¨‚Ćsuburban/rural neighbor, would be the first in the state to engage in a large-scale municipally deployment.Two New Jersey counties‚Äö?Ñ?Æone of the state’s¬¨‚Ćpoorest and most urban and one of its most rural but rapidly industrializing‚Äö?Ñ?Æare exploring a joint initiative that would bring wireless broadband access to 800,000 people. ¬¨‚ĆCamden County, an urban eastern¬¨‚Ćneighbor to Philadelphia, and Gloucester County,¬¨‚ĆCamden’s eastern¬¨‚Ćsuburban/rural neighbor, would be the first in the state to engage in a large-scale municipally deployment.
According to a story in the San Jose Mercury News (registration may be required), the counties hope to engage a public-private partnership and spend no more than $125,000 each. The operation would receive no government subsidies. Officials in nearby Burlington County were evidently invited to join the initiative but declined and appear to be taking a wait-and-see attitude.
Officials in Camden look to the network to address the digital divide while those in Gloucester are pinning hopes for economic development to it. The story quotes Tony Evans, Camden’s director of the city’s health and human services department, saying that the cost of broadband service in the county is so expensive that only one of six of his community centers are online. It adds:
Capelli acknowledges that computer ownership is also low in the city, but he hopes the county government can change that, too, by helping make low-cost computers available to residents.
One would hope but¬¨‚ĆCamden, sadly, has deep-rooted problems that computers and wireless access alone are unlikely to address.¬¨‚ĆThe city’s poverty and crime rate is among the highest in the nation and the digital divide is symptomatic of the serious economic division that must first be addressed. Basic issues of jobs and income are key there. The¬¨‚Ćfirst hope for municipal wireless, it would seem, should be much like Glouster County’s–to attract businesses that bring jobs and¬¨‚Ćraise the taxable rate base of the city to provide a flow of city income that can be channeled to bring change across the board.
Posted by Carol Ellison
[...] Just last week, the two counties in Roberts’ district agreed to jointly pursue a municipal broadband initiative. Click here to read about Camden and Gloucester counties’ plans. [...]