But in my opinion, the real reason the Long Island WiFi project failed is, quite simply, the short-sightedness and arrogance of the two county executives involved, Steve Levy and Tom Suozzi. When I read Levy’s comments in Newsday after the deal was announced, to the effect of “if it fails, it’s no big deal because we’re not investing any money,” you had to know this was set up for failure. Of course, Suffolk and Nassau could have committed to being anchor tenants for such important, potentially money-saving apps like public safety and voice over WiFi, and EVENTUALLY piggybacked on the infrastructure for public access if and when a business model emerged that made sense. But that would have meant spending some money, and neither of the politicians ever really “got” wireless from the standpoint of those applications. It was always about free public access, which politicians will always get behind because it’s political candy and easy to claim credit for — even if it never happens.