As expected, there is interest in trying to get Google to choose Greensboro for its next-generation ultra-high speed broadband internet access. And apparently efforts are underway that are blind to Greensboro's history of making these kinds of initiatives tumultuous and divisive.
Instead of a wide-open first step of figuring out who the stakeholders are, what areas of expertise the application demands, who is best qualified to provide them and fostering broad community support from the get go, we have people operating in secret and closed groups. This is a prescription for unnecessary complications and mediocrity. This approach not only fails, by definition, to draw from the broadest talent pool possible, but it assures consensus only as an afterthought.
One secret group is described as "a privately-led group, involving key personnel from the city, econ dev groups, a/w/a people who are downtown supporters." Who, specifically, is not clear.
I am also told, whether a part of the same group or not, I do not know, that the City's "IT staff started pursuing this Wednesday" and that I'll be informed of "more as we get closer to applying."
This is old Greensboro. Broken Greensboro. The worst of Greensboro unheeded and repeated. Nobody has a right to hijack control of this initiative. This is too important to screw up. There needs to be community consensus FIRST for how to proceed, not another muckup vomited up from behind the same old closed doors.
here is a link to nominate the community ,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options
but also ashvegas blog is wanting their community to become a part of this as well here is that post,
http://ashvegas.squarespace.com/journal/2010/2/11/can-asheville-launch-successful-grassroots-effort-to-land-go.html