I was in Duluth this weekend for the MN Voices Online Unconference (I blogged it here) and had the opportunity to meet Danna MacKenzie, the Cook County information systems director in Grand Marais. She was featured in a Strib article a couple of weeks ago about MN communities who are “lining up for part of the $7.2 billion in federal recovery money designated for broadband projects.” Northfield is about to follow suit, as at Monday’s Council meeting, Northfield’s IT Director Melissa Reeder will ask the Council to appoint a workgroup to pursue a federal stimulus grant application for a Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) project. (continued)
Tag: <span>fiber</span>
The City of Northfield’s fiber consultant has finished surveying residents on their current use of cable, phone, and internet services (PDF of the questions asked). (See our podcast with City…
It was a full house for last night’s Fiber Optic Feasibility Study open house at Northfield City Hall. Melissa Reeder, IT director for the City of Northfield, hosted the meeting,…
We spent the first half of this week’s show discussing the flood of charges from area prosecutors aimed at 1) a group of eight alleged heroin dealers; 2) Mayor Lee…
In today’s Star Tribune, there is an article about the City of Monticello’s efforts to make itself one of the most wired communities in the country. Apparently, the effort has…
We started yammering about the need for Northfield to belly up to the fiber optic bar back in April of 2006 on podcast #15. Since then, we’ve blogged it many…
Another week, another road trip.
Economic Development Manager Charlene Coulombe-Fiore and the EDA facilitated a field trip to Chaska, MN to talk with their City Administrator and other staff in charge of planning and development. Riding in a Care-Tenders van packed to maximum capacity were EDA members Rick Estenson, Dave Van Wylen, Victor Summa, Marty Benson; City Councilors Jim Pokorney and Scott Davis; Planning Commission members Ron Griffith and myself; and City staff Brian O’Connell, Joel Walinski, Charlene Coulombe-Fiore plus Kathy Felbrugge from the Northfield Chamber. Charlene prepared a comparison of the two communities, based on demographic and economic data, for our review before the trip.
There are many similarities between Northfield and Chaska in terms of size, history, relationship to the metro area, and other factors, as the above comparison demonstrates. There are significant differences, too, but I was interested in having the discussion because Chaska has managed to keep a consistent vision and approach to both planning and economic development for more than a decade, and it shows.
My buddy Curt Benson, owner of Fab Lab, is among the lucky people who now have FTTH/FTTP: communications fiber to the home/premises. He sent me this picture of an installer…
Northfield residents and businesses are lucky to have a multiplicity of choices for getting broadband access to the internet. Cable (Charter) DSL (Qwest and via several ISPs, eg, Local Link)…