The network will depend on fund raising (not taxes) to build the net, and the mayor doesn't answer the question of who will pay for operation or maintenance.
The Boston Globe reports that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is looking for a nonprofit group to raise up to $20 million to build a public wireless Internet network. He has named Pamela Reeve, formerly of a software company called Lightbridge, to lead the search for a group to take on the effort. This effort is the result of a task force appointed by the mayor earlier this year to come up with a plan for Boston to catch up with other cities in developing a wireless Internet network. Here's the task force report itself.
Earlier this year, a report ("Boston Unplugged") sponsored by the Boston Foundation (EIN 04-2104021 Form 990) recommended that Boston pursue a public-private partnership similar to one in San Francisco and Philadelphia rather than rely on taxpayer funding.
The choice of a nonprofit solution already has skeptics (GigaOm: "Boston WiFi: Non-profit or Non-funded?" Boston has a lot of resources, both in the for-profit and nonprofit realm. But it also has a lot of well-heeled nonprofit players, which hinders any kind of collaborative effort (and, note to GigaOm, it might be relevant that Harvard and MIT are not in Boston, but across the river in Cambridge). Perhaps that is why Boston is already behind Philadelphia in its development.
From a politician's standpoint, a nonprofit solution is ideal. Those who are most eager for a wireless network don't have that many votes. It gets the issue off the city's plate.
Comments