St. Chas, STL Cos to discuss joint WiFi
From the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 11/14/2007The St. Charles County Council will meet with the St. Louis County Council tonight to discuss the possibility of regional participation in an effort to bring wireless Internet services to both counties.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the St. Louis County Council Chambers on the first floor of the Administration Building at 41 South Central in Clayton.
A group called the St. Louis Regional Broadband Coalition was formed under the Missouri Nonprofit Corporation Act to promote a plan to encourage cooperation among public and private sector organizations to create regional broadband wired and wireless communication networks for use by government, the general public, businesses, public safety agencies, schools and cultural institutions.
St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley met with representatives of the coalition and discussed regional access to wireless communications and that meeting led to the joint council session.
%u201CThis is an opportunity to work with St. Louis County on an issue of regional importance. That we%u2019re coming together for a meeting is significant in itself,%u201D said Ehlmann.
Dooley said, %u201CTo us, it%u2019s all about economic development. The two biggest counties in the state now are coming together to try to make this thing work, and that is a good thing.%u201D
David Leezer, who oversees communication models for the St. Louis County Economic Development Council, said this regional broadband coalition effort %u201Cwould take us into the 21st Century. We%u2019re taking the WiFi that you can use at Saint Louis Bread Company and making it available in homes and parks and everywhere.%u201D
Leezer, who worked in economic development for St. Charles County before going to his post with St. Louis County, said the regional approach to wireless Internet access would help immensely in public safety, health and education.
