Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The city of Asheville released its Google fiber network application today.
There are a couple of key questions, and corresponding answers, on the application. Here’s one:
Q: Additional reasons why you believe that Google should select your community for this project:
A: Google’s core competencies match up with Asheville’s assets.
Google manages DATA and Asheville has data. Asheville is the Home of the National Climactic Data Center, the home of the world’s climate data records. Massive amounts of information passe every minute from satellites into NCDC. The data is processed, cleaned up and stored for future use of commercial or government use. As climate gains in exposure and prominence the NCDC offices are being utilized at an ever increasing rate.
Asheville’s data storage and handling doesn’t stop with NCDC but we have 2 other data centers; Netriplex and ERC broadband. However our fiber backbone access to the Google’s Datacenter and to Oak Ridge national Laboratory’s supercomputer ability makes Asheville a natural middle ground site for future technology talent.
Google is about COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION. Currently Asheville is the top site for 2 pharmaceutical schools. A major research university, UNC Chapel Hill, has potential plans to place a pharmacy school which will utilize a 2.5 Million dollar technology backbone to hold class and engage remotely. A partnership of Mission Hospital, MAHEC, UNC Asheville, the Chamber, the City and County all came together with individual resources to push this collaborative model forward. Looking back to the founding days of the Vanderbilt’s you realize Asheville was founded upon innovation. This innate spirit of innovation shows even today in our healthcare, climate, visualization and media arts efforts.
Further evidence that ideas and innovation can be incubated here and rolled out to the rest of the world is evidenced by Google’s Juicy Ideas competition. The model for the competition, which is now known nationally, was seeded here in Asheville.
Asheville is committed, like Google, to a LIVE, WORK, PLAY model. Since Google’s inception you have been dedicated to creativity and allowing your employees to “play” while working.
Asheville not only espouses this model but entire communities have been developed along this commitment. Biltmore Park, a community that houses over 800,000 square feet of office and retail space was planned specifically to integrate residential, fitness, entertainment and business.
We feel Asheville fits Google.
The answer looks pretty good. I don’t like government speak like “core competencies” and such, and I think there might have been some other concrete examples of why Google should move here that could have been cited. (The fact that we’re a big regional healthcare hub that could benefit; we have a vibrant small business technology core of businesses; we have creative artists who need the Web, too.) But overall, not bad.
The other key area that Google asks for more information comes under the category of ascertaining the level of community support. You can read the report to see what the city reported. Asheville’s got a tight-knit, active social networking community that’s cited.
Thank you Asheville City Councilman Gordon Smith and City Manager Gary Jackson for expediting the release of this information. I think it helps get everybody on the same page.
This thing is so bad I can’t believe someone wasn’t torn a new one before they released it. EDIT, people! So many dumb errors — yes, Climactic is glaring! — and the soulless nature is not at all reflective of Asheville. It’s like the actual application was an afterthought to all this local hype. And the video bid on Facebook is lame, too. Talking heads, no soul there, either. So embarrassing; sad really.
Yes, this is pretty embarassing, but worry not. Asheville never had a snowball’s chance in Hades to land this anyway. We never offered anything other than our grooviness as a reason for Google to choose us. Other cities came up with concrete, detailed, serious proposals.
NCDC is the National Climatic Data Center, not Climatic.
The folks at the Asheville Chamber and its Economic Development Office contribute very little given what they are paid.
It is embarrassing to see such a weak application from Asheville. Most of the thinking has been around for years now and started with the Hub Project some years ago. The Chamber has hijacked much of that group’s plan and now uses it as the basis for anything related to technology.
I looked at the entire application online and am dismayed at how poorly the entire application seems to have been prepared. Google is looking for something far more creative than what our little city has shown in this application.
Yes this application is very poorly done.
Agree with FM. A good editor should have had an opportunity to clean up grammar, punctuation and usage. Somebody alert Ben Teague to pass his prose by one of Asheville’s many good writers.
I’ve got to agree that the grammar is terrible. Under no circumstances should you see a "grocer’s apostrophe" in an official document that’s trying to lure a major company to the city to do business. That and the misspelled words make us look like a bunch of rubes. "Come tuh Ayushville, Guggle! We’s lerned reel gud heer and we is smahrt enuf tuh yoos yer fibber reel gud two!"
I don’t find this "application" very well-written or compelling.
Yes, the grammar is poor in spots. Most bothering is that the business case the application presents. It’s overly simplistic and leads very much like the usual PR propaganda the Chamber of Commerce puts out. If Asheville were really serious, this would have been far more detailed and technical, rather than just fluff.
I’m sure Asheville has zero chance in this effort. Too bad. Another opportunity missed.
The grammar is embarrassing. "use of government and commercial use" … "passe"… "Vanderbilt’s" instead of "Vanderbilts". Wow. Hopefully, these errors were introduced to the text during the transcription for this article.
Jason,
I thought it was important for your readers to know that Ben Teague, Senior Vice President for Economic Development at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, was primarily responsible all the work that went into this application. His leadership was essential to this entire process.
Ben is awesome. He’d make a great City Councilman some day.
MM
Great application!! I think this approach of connecting works better than silly tricks.