Post in Broadband in Central Ohio

May 16 15:10 UTC

Another interesting commentary on this topic.

Peter Shane
Columbus

<http://www.muniwireless.com/2008/05/15/northeast-ohio-muni-wireless-brings-together-education-city-officials/>Guest
commentary: Northeast Ohio muni wireless project
brings together education, city officials

Cathy Horton |
<http://www.muniwireless.com/2008/05/15>May 15,
2008 at 1:55 am |
<http://www.muniwireless.com/2008/05/15/northeast-ohio-muni-wireless-brings-together-education-city-officials/#comments>0
Comments

This week The Chronicle of Higher Education
published a story entitled: Struggling
Communities Turn to Colleges: Small private
institutions work to help ailing local
economies. The article discusses the value of
collaboration between higher education and local
government. Author, Karin Fischer, reports that
civic leaders say they are looking to colleges
not simply to spruce up their city centers but
also to help position them in an economy that
values smarts more than strength. She goes on to
report: In old mill towns and declining
manufacturing centers, in the Rust Belts former
company towns and in the rural South, small,
private liberal arts institutions like Kings
[College  Wilkes-Barre] are assuming a greater
responsibility for community and economic
development. They and their alumni are raising
money to purchase abandoned buildings. They are
relocating college facilities, like bookstores
and residence halls, to buy up urban cores. They
are working to better connect faculty experts with local entrepreneurs.

This important trend speaks to what the Beta
Strategy Group understands about Muni Wireless.
In our last
<http://www.muniwireless.com/2008/05/08/economic-value-and-collaboration-in-municipal-wireless/>article,
we suggested that of the broadband deployments we
are engaged in, most involve solving complex
community and economic challenges. Nothing is
more complex than re-inventing the business
communities of our nation through information technology and entrepreneurship.

Right now, we are involved in deploying what will
be the first Muni Wireless Broadband deployment
in Northeast Ohio, a network that will serve the
city and the local college, as well as its
surrounding cities and county offices. Thus,
despite the ongoing dialogue concerning the
validity of broadband deployment, smart cities
and colleges in our path understand that the
objective of drawing students and businesses to
state-of-the-art technology centers will be the
defining component of the future of their Main Street landscape.

For example, in Painesville, Ohio, City Manager
Rita McMahon and local officials at Lake Erie
College are building the exact case study called
for by Ms. Fischer in her timely article.
Painesvilles community has embraced a broadband
strategy to advance not only community safety and
improved city operations, but the network
connects with Lake Erie College. Lake Erie
College, a recipient of the Kaufman
Entrepreneurship Award, intends on building
student businesses and sees the value of keeping
these businesses in the local community.

Painesville and Northeast Ohio have been in the
forefront of broadband deployment and have become
examples of successful technology roadmaps. But
what is not always apparent is that the region
receives the value of collaboration. The success
of Muni Wireless is not just about deploying the
technology or creating a new utility. The true
value and allure rests in the programs that shape
and envision an economic future by leveraging and
raising the intellectual value of the surrounding
community. In other words, the biggest challenge
for Muni Wireless is not technological; it is
about building community economic models that
provide for broad inclusion. This means that city
leaders need to identify all of the
stakeholders in a deployment whilst structuring a
business model that accounts for the value of the
participants assets, whether they are technological or intellectual.

These are exciting times, and I encourage you to get started.

My colleagues and I welcome your questions and
commentary and we will research and provide you
with the best possible, unbiased input.

Peter M. Shane
Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law and
Director, Project on Law and Democratic Development
The Ohio State University
Moritz College of Law
55 West 12th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210

Executive Director, Knight Commission on the
Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy
www.knightcomm.org

Phone:  614-688-3014
FAX:  614-688-8422
URL:  http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/pshane
E-Mail:  <email obscured> or <email obscured>