Somerville aims to impress Google with community video

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

The City of Somerville is pulling out all the stops in its courtship of Google, sending a homemade video to the company last week as part of its bid to become a pilot community for Google's new high-speed broadband network.

The video, narrated by the former “Voice of Somerville” Tom Champion, describes a “historic, sophisticated, and richly diverse” city with a penchant for new technology. Comic relief is provided by local celebrities Jimmy Tingle and Jimmy Del Ponte, who appears atop Prospect Hill dressed as “Lady Google.” At the close of the video, 100 Somerville high school athletes dressed head-to-toe in Google colors spell out the firm's name on Dilboy Field.


http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/somerville/2010/04/somerville_aims_to_impress_goo.html

Comments

Cool. My only criticism...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Is the fact that capital letters were used, with the exception of the letter "l". So, It reads more like "GOOGIE". Not sure why they could not have "Google" .

Re: Cool. My only criticism...

[floormaster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I noticed this right away and it bugged me. I appreciate the effort but sometimes the result actually matters.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

OMG. That was ... well, that made my day a LOT better.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is too awesome.

And if the voice of Tom Champion can't convince Google to come here, well, then, I just don't know what!

uncomfortable

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

Communities all across the country are making similar attempts to woo Google. I like my Google as much as the next person but is anyone else uncomfortable with all this public sanctioned bowing / scraping to a corporate, for profit giant?

Re: uncomfortable

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

I'm less uncomfortable than I am with them doing the same thing for a sports team...

Re: uncomfortable

[sunshineyellow.livejournal.com]

Bowing and scraping? It's not really any worse than favorable tax codes, zoning and other methods communities use to encourage businesses to locate in their area. And it's certainly no worse than any regular contest where people send in videos to win something, except now it's city governments and not individuals.

Re: uncomfortable

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

Its the big picture of what people are doing all over the country that I find troublesome. Like this example:

* Share On Multiply!

WASHINGTON – A city in Kansas seeking to be a test hub for a high-speed broadband network being built by Google has temporarily changed its name to... Google.

"Topeka Mayor William Bunten issued a proclamation declaring that, for the month of March, the Kansas capital would be known as "Google, Kansas -- the capital city of fiber optics."

The official city website, Topeka.org, welcomes visitors to "The City of Google" -- written in the large colorful letters the Internet search giant is known for -- and includes a link to the mayor's proclamation."

Re: uncomfortable

[sunshineyellow.livejournal.com]

i dont see how this is qualitatively different from any other stupid thing many towns do or name themselves (oftentimes permanently).

Re: uncomfortable

[ron_newman]

An example: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Re: uncomfortable

[perich.livejournal.com]

Same here.

Re: uncomfortable

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Just because a company is for-profit doesn't mean they're inherently evil (to say nothing of Google specifically). If the contest is fun and creates a little community togetherness and a few conversations, I don't think it has to be a bad thing.

[hallie-mathia.livejournal.com]

Huh. If I wrote an article on the Davis Square resident perspective to all this, would you guys want to talk?

[tom-champion.livejournal.com]

One of the more enjoyable things about "the Davis Square resident perspective" (especially as reflected in DSLJ) is that it will almost certainly vary widely on almost anything -- and particularly issues like this.

But, in a down economy, anything that has the potential to improve quality of life and spur economic development is going to be hotly pursued. The Google network project will likely be a net (okay, little pun intended)boon to whichever communities end up getting it. As a Somerville homeowner, I'll always be happy to do a little groveling if it means we get transit, or mega-speed broadband, or new jobs -- as long as such benefits don't come with unacceptable environmental or social downsides. The Google project seems unlikely to carry either of these liabilities.

I'm slightly confused as...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

To what Somerville residents would gt, if Somerville is chosen (it won't happen; perhaps if the mayor brands Google on his forehead with a hot iron; come on, Curtatone, do it for Somerville). How would they get access to the superfast network? How much would it cost? Would we be monitored more heavily? ...

Re: I'm slightly confused as...

[tom-champion.livejournal.com]

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html

http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/faq

It's all kinda vague. What we can assume from Google's history is that they have the wherewithal to do what they say and that they prefer open access, net neutrality and little-to-no censorship or surveillance. On the other hand, they are definitely not a charity. They'll want to make money off this once they get the bugs worked out.
And don't count Somerville out. Being compact and populous, and sitting in a cluster of major universities, are all advantages. Of course, we have our drawbacks, too -- but so does everyone else who's applied.

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

I think it would make us look more alluring if we played a little harder-to-get.