In July, the City of Hartford announced that it would build “an extensive network of outdoor wireless access points across the city, providing a minimum of LTE-standard speed throughout the city at all times and at no cost to residents,” and that this program would begin in Frog Hollow and the Northeast neighborhoods — the two most in need of access due to resident income.
At the time, it was reported that those neighborhoods would see wifi access by the end of 2020.
There has been radio silence on this since.
Recently, the Courant published a piece on how 5,000 students statewide had not shown up for a single day of virtual class this school year. It did not mention Hartford’s promise of free wifi or what progress is happening with that project.
It’s like building a state-of-the-art school, giving the students backpacks filled with supplies, but then letting them figure out how to travel to the building from the opposite side of town. It’s like giving someone a car, paying for their insurance and registration, but not putting any gas in the tank. It’s like having a food pantry that people can only access by car. Oh wait, that’s not hypothetical.
While it’s not the end of the year yet, one questions why it has taken even this long, especially given the pandemic-induced remote learning situation (and for many adults, the work-from-home situation).
2020 hindsight is 2020, but imagine if instead of that short-sighted move by T%$&p to issue stimulus checks last spring, all communities instead began working immediately to provide free, public WiFi? It’s only as socialist of an idea as plowing snow off our roads.