San Jose is doing it. So is Topeka, Kansas, which renamed itself Google for the month. Duluth, Minnesota called on one of the state’s favorite sons (no, not Jesse Ventura) to make their pitch, while the mayor of Sarasota, Florida, took a dive into shark tank to get Google’s attention. Everybody wants Google (except the Germans). Everybody wants to be the first in America to test out Google’s new high-speed fiber-optic network. And everybody means Santa Cruz too.
San Jose is doing it. So is Topeka, Kansas, which renamed itself Google for the month. Duluth, Minnesota called on one of the state’s favorite sons (no, not Jesse Ventura) to make their pitch, while the mayor of Sarasota, Florida, took a dive into shark tank to get Google’s attention. Everybody wants Google (except the Germans). Everybody wants to be the first in America to test out Google’s new high-speed fiber-optic network. And everybody means Santa Cruz too.
The city’s economic development team has just completed its own application to host the pilot project with the support of NextSpace, the collaborative high tech workspace downtown. A group from Next Space even set up its own website to tout the benefits of ultra-high-speed bandwidth to the city in terms of public safety, health care, environment, the economy and education. The website may not have the pizzazz of diving into a shark tank, mind you, but then again, how does that promote public safety? And as for Duluth, they obviously don’t use Google yet, because if they did, they’d Google their city and find out that it’s colder than a penguin’s chuff in winter, or the toilet seat in an igloo for that matter. As for Topeka, Kansas, they must be sniffing the poppies in the Wizard of Oz.
On the other hand, Santa Cruz is local, it’s beautiful, and it’s chill. What more can Google ask for? Besides, the city would really benefit. High tech businesses would be drawn here, and local projects such as UCSC’s Genome Browser would be able to transmit massive files in seconds. In fact, the benefits are endless, which is why the creators of the Network Santa Cruz website are inviting local residents to share their ideas on how ultra-high-speed bandwidth could improve their lives. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
