Ticklish about making an anchor tenant commitment to bring free high-speed wireless access to Cleveland, Ohio, Mayor Frank Jackson has announced the city will reject bids requiring anchor tenancy and focus, instead, on a “phased approach” to deployment.
Exactly what is involved in the approach and how it will be implemented is not entirely clear. When I called the mayor’s office for details, I was referred back to the press release. This would be very annoying if not for the fact that the city is presently without a chief information officer. Former Cleveland CIO Melodie Mayberry-Stewart was recently hired as CIO for New York state and Cleveland is searching for her successor. Chances are, we won’t hear much more about the Cleveland deployment until a new CIO is in place and is able to hammer out details.
According to the press release, “A phased approach also better helps the City navigate the tenuous financial conditions and instability of the industry which were also factors in the City’s decision. Another part of the City’s new approach to WI-FI includes forging multiple public/private partnerships to strategically place wireless hot spots throughout the City using easy to install and affordable equipment.”
So it sounds as if Cleveland might be looking at a strategy that, in some ways, resembles the “lily pad” approach that Cincinnati is taking–bringing up one hot spot at a time as local, private sponsorships can be arranged to offset the cost of service.
The release did reiterate the mayor’s commitment to providing network access in Cleveland, quoting him as saying “I remain committed to our vision of providing affordable Internet to all Clevelanders. We must close the Digital Divide in our Underserved and unserved communities; however we must rethink our strategy if we are to become successful in achieving universal access.”
Mayor Jackson’s announcement followed the city’s review of five responses to the RFP it issued in April. EarthLink and MetroFi, which have both been quite public in insisting on anchor tenant commitments from city partners, were among the bidders. Blogger Bill Callahan, who has been covering the Cleveland scene, called our attention to the announcement which went unnoticed in the general media.
Cleveland is the latest in a string of cities that have balked at making anchor tenant commitments. Anchorage, Alaska, Toledo, Ohio, Portland, Oregon, and Corona, Calfornia have had similar reservations.
Click here to read Cleveland’s press release.
Click here for Callahan’s Cleveland Diary entry.
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