The latest on Asheville’s efforts to land Google high-speed fiber network

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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From Asheville City Councilman Gordon Smith:

I hope you’re all safely ensconced in a warm home on this winter night. I’m asking if you can come out on Thursday to add your brains and talents to the effort to bring Google Fiber to Asheville. We’re on a compressed timetable, so it’s now or never.

Thursday, March 4th, 8-10pm, The Dripolator on Broadway.

A lot of information on the subject is here at googleavl.com.

We came out of tonight’s meeting with action steps to get lots of people involved and lots of attention to Asheville. 

On Thursday, bring your ideas about how to make a splash. Bring your video concepts, original music ideas, theater pieces, performance art, demonstration ideas, and everything else that comes to mind. We need to tell Google (1) that we’re a unique city; (2) that we’re innovators; (3) that we’re ready for their network and we’ll make the world a better place with it.

Invite people who can help.

Know that other folks are coordinating other sectors, we are about creativity and how to distribute it.

Until Thursday, please spread the word about http://googleavl.com. Individuals and community groups can submit community applications here. While we don’t need to be in lockstep, some unity of message will be helpful in demonstrating our cohesion.

Thanks for letting me know if you’re coming, and I’ll see you shortly,

Gordon Smith

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

1 Comment

  1. Jeff March 3, 2010

    I’m curious about a bunch of things with this…

    * So they would lay this fiber optic all over Asheville.. would it be on poles alongside the cable TV network? Might it be under ground?

    * What is the estimated cost per subscriber? Are there costs incurred to the City or County?

    * What kinds of privacy protections would come with this? Google is notorious regarding collection of data on it’s users. If they owned the pipeline, what kinds of privacy guarantees would there be?

    Reply

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