Every once in a while, it’s useful to think about the impact that some of the technology we enjoy has on our lives. The cell phone, for example. The remote.
And what about the laptop? The laptop has set us free. No longer must we work behind the glass walls of the corporation or at our gray cubicles. We’ve become untethered. We can hold meetings at places that serve good latte. We can share the wonders of the Web in an easy chair. We can check e-mail during dull meetings. The laptop is the symbol of our mobile workplace, but it’s most useful and liberating when you can connect to the Internet without a cord. Cities – and businesses -- that recognize that are seen as gaining an edge in making themselves into the kind of places where knowledge workers and the so-called “creative class” want to live, work and play.
That’s a huge reason why cities everywhere have tried putting together wireless Internet networks – to help attract and keep young, smart talent in town. Just look what it’s done for Panera Bread, Starbucks, and thousands of other coffee shops that have become remote office locations selling pricey coffee and goodies. But in a lot of cities, the dream of the citywide wireless network hasn’t really worked out or making it work has been incredibly expensive. Projects in Chicago and San Francisco fizzled, and one in Houston is way behind schedule. In Philadelphia, taxpayers will foot the multi-million dollar bill for a citywide wi-fi network.
In Cincinnati, they did it, well, The Cincinnati Way. A group of volunteers brainstormed how to help create a region that attracts “creatives.” Their decision: create a network of free wi-fi hotspots across the region. It had to be free and it had to be accessible to residents and visitors alike, says Jodi McIntosh, one of the core group of volunteers who got the project off the ground. That helped drive their decision to “light up” parks and other public spaces that are heavily used.
It would be sort of an “adopt-a-highway’’ model, in which corporations would sponsor pieces and in doing so be a part of keeping the whole thing free of the debris that has cluttered such projects in other cities: subscription fees and taxpayer funding.
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They called it Project Lily Pad (the name was courtesy of the creatives at branding and design firm LPK) and got to work. They tapped into the people power of Give Back Cincinnati, a volunteer network of young professionals. Give Back provided the brains, the contacts and the support to get the project off the ground.
There are now at least 34 “lily pads” across the region where one can pop up a laptop and jump on the Web to do business, research, send e-mail or just catch up on the best of YouTube. These sites are in addition to the numerous other spots that provide free wireless, such as restaurants and coffee shops. There is no government funding for the project and users don’t need to register for it or pay. It’s free. Really.
The latest lily pad has the potential to affect millions of road warriors and others who pass through the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport each year. Through a partnership with Time Warner Cable, wireless Internet is now available in the airport’s busiest terminals, making it one of only nine of the nation’s top 35 airports to offer free wi-fi. With security concerns increasing the amount of time frequent fliers are spending in airports, wireless Internet should make that time more productive or just plain entertaining.
“Our passengers identified free wireless as a top priority,” says Robert Holscher, the airport’s executive director.
The airport project, potentially touching millions, should do wonders for the region’s image, says Richard Human, a Time Warner Cable vice president. “Whether someone’s travels begin, end or simply pause in Cincinnati, everyone will realize this is a vibrant, progressive region,” he says.
The Lily Pad volunteers went through a rigorous “request for proposal” process, submitting a 300-page proposal to win the airport business. And there’s a twist to the airport project that will further the spread of these lily pads. Because Time Warner Cable is subsidizing the maintenance and installation at the airport, Lily Pad can sign up other “sponsors” and use that funding to set up more free wi-fi sites.
There’s a wish list of about 75 more sites, including public schools in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, neighborhood business districts, the zoo, and shopping malls. Already, laptop luggers can find Internet on the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky riverfront, (a 2.5 million square foot swath that includes parks, stadiums and major retail sites); the food court at the Tri-County Mall, on downtown’s Fountain Square, at the Cincinnati Art Museum, or even while waiting for a bus at the Anderson Township Park n’ Ride.
They can find free wireless at Findlay Market, a historic marketplace in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood that dates to the mid-1800s. It’s one of the things that has brought the market into the 21st century, says Bob Pickford, the market’s executive director. “It’s an improvement to the public space that has attracted visitors, in particular younger visitors,” he says. It prompted the market to turn some its vacant space into something of an Internet café, where hanging out and people watching are welcome.
Rich Kiley, a high-tech entrepreneur, recognized the potential value of the idea when in 2005, as head of CincyTech USA, he committed $15,000 from that group toward the project’s start-up, and made a personal donation. “This was a way to get people to understand our region was advancing in terms of high-tech,” Kiley says.
Most agree that the availability of free wireless Internet in public spaces throughout the region is a great asset. But what may be an even bigger selling point is the simple fact that there was a group of people here who made it happen – came up with an idea, put together a plan, got businesses on board and made it work in a big way, with more to come.
“It’s a unique partnership in Cincinnati, that frankly, doesn’t exist in other cities,’ McIntosh says. “It works because it works here.”
Photography by Scott Beseler