Lets see them privatize the Biomed Foundation or Hilton Hotel while they are at it. Funny what the government thinks it should and should not be doing. Does the city still want to go into the ISP business for instance?
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Shreveport council considers wireless Internet proposal
January 10, 2007
By Joel Anderson
joelanderson@gannett.com
Calvin Lester Jr., considers himself to be a bit of a "techie."
The Shreveport councilman is always browsing the Internet, sending messages from his BlackBerry and keeping up with the latest in computer appliances.
"I'm a very gadget-oriented, technologically inclined person," Lester said. "I use technology everyday. ... I know how important it is for education purposes."
To that end, the City Council on Tuesday approved his proposal to create a task force that would explore increasing high-speed wireless Internet access throughout the city.
Lester's resolution, which was approved by a 6-0 vote, also would target proposals to bring more broadband service to "underserved communities and neighborhoods."
The task force would consist of two City Council members, the chief administrative officer or one of his designated staffers, the finance director or one of her staffers, the data processing director or one of his staffers and the city attorney or one of her staffers.
Inspired by his own love for technology, Lester researched similar municipal plans to offer broadband access in cities such as Boston, Philadelphia and Austin, Texas.
But as the representative for District A, which includes the Allendale and MLK neighborhoods, Lester wanted to make sure any ideas for improving Internet access would particularly focus on lower-income areas.
"A lot of people don't have Internet access," Lester said. "We should try to bring the Internet to these underserved communities, so we can take children's minds outside of these communities and expose them to things going on in the world."
Lester also said that widely available, municipally offered Internet access could be an additional lure for companies and young professionals.
"This could also be an economic development tool to bring businesses in," Lester said.
Also from Tuesday's meeting:
n The City Council unanimously approved an ordinance, submitted by Lester, that would create a "sales and use" tax exemption on charges for repairs to "tangible personal property," which includes vehicles, electrical and mechanical appliances, jewelry and other items.
The exemption would apply when the repaired property is delivered to a customer in another state.
Lester, Glover and John Dean, chairman of board of directors for the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce touted the ordinance as having great potential economic impact for the city.
"This is a very progressive ordinance as far as economic impact," Dean said.
n Councilman Joe Shyne, along with attorney Larry English, called on Mayor Cedric Glover and the City Council to extend more opportunities to black businesses, and in particular, add more black attorneys to the list of attorneys on retainer for the city.
"There's a lack of economic development opportunities for African-American professionals in this city," English said. "There's economic apartheid being practiced in this city."
Said Shyne: "I truly believe that we have a moral obligation to make sure that opportunities are available to black professionals in this town."
n Glover and the council members lavishly saluted restaurateur Dominic Cordaro, whose popular Italian eatery on East 70th Street closed Saturday night after more than 40 years of business."˜