Hollister
– High-tech locals may soon be able to connect to the Internet
from anywhere in Hollister or San Juan Bautista.
Hollister – High-tech locals may soon be able to connect to the Internet from anywhere in Hollister or San Juan Bautista.
County Supervisors Jaime De La Cruz and Pat Loe are working on a plan that could eventually lead to wireless coverage for all of Hollister, San Juan Bautista and surrounding parts of San Benito County.
“We want to do this at no cost to the taxpayer,” De La Cruz said.
The Hollister Downtown Association and the Virginia-based Public Wi-Fi Project brought a downtown wireless network on-line in 2005, but coverage remains spotty, according to HDA Executive Director Brenda Weatherly. De La Cruz said expanding the network to cover the entire downtown area and creating another network in downtown San Juan Bautista is the first step in the plan.
Loe said the project is in the fact-gathering stage, but she and De La Cruz hope to bring a proposal to the Board of Supervisors as soon as possible.
The existing wireless network is funded through sponsorships and advertising from local businesses. De La Cruz said the county will likely tap into the existing model as it expands the downtown network. But when the supervisors start looking at a citywide network, they’ll have to find bigger corporate partners like Apple or Cisco, De La Cruz said.
Main Street Bistro was one of the first businesses to join the existing network, and owner Megan Ward said it’s been great for the restaurant. Out-of-town visitors are attracted by the free Wi-Fi, she said, and are hopefully persuaded to stay by the bistro’s food.
“We get regulars too, who have some coffee in the morning, then work until lunchtime,” Ward said. “It’s great for us, because it fills that … little void between breakfast and lunch.”
The network could help more than downtown businesses and their customers, Loe said.
“Economic development-wise, it could be a big boost,” Loe said. “Companies may be attracted to move here when they see we were progressive enough to do this.”
De La Cruz hopes local schools will play a crucial role the program. In addition to creating Wi-Fi access in the schools, De La Cruz wants to employ high schoolers as the network’s technology staff and find grant money to distribute free laptops to students.
Hollister and San Juan Bautista should be fully wireless within two or three years, De La Cruz said.
Downtown Morgan Hill’s wireless network went on-line two years ago. And although it didn’t attract hordes of people right away, Book Smart owner Brad Jones said it’s been a boon.
“It’s an incremental way to keep people coming downtown,” Jones said.
The network was a hit with his customers, he said.
“That was something that was very popular,” Jones said. “We knew because if anyone had a problem, we heard about it immediately.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or
ah*@fr***********.com
.
