First, I saw the opportunity for collaboration.

The day Google announced its Fiber for Communities project, the Blue Sky team was busy working on the BTOP grant that USFP was applying for. Our proposal was to connect four underserved counties in our area (Polk, Highlands, Hardee and Desoto) with a 250 mile sonnet 10Gb/sec ring that will bring these underserved communities Lambda Rail and additional dark fiber. Yesterday we made the final submission and should know if we go to due diligence by the fall. Also, I knew that the City of Lakeland has fiber to every street light in the city and that it is around 300 miles in length.  So I shot of an email to those involved in hopes of getting the ball rolling.

Second, I saw the opportunity to, as the popular phrase goes, bridge the digital divide. I know some out there might not see the internet as a basic right, I may agree, but I do believe it has become a basic utility. A requirement to be a part of modern society. Just like electricity and water. I see the opportunity to enable  schools to deliver relevant education to the home, and to us technology that they normally are unable to because of the lack of access that many students simply don’t have. Its this lack of access that i believe will continue the and compound the cycle of poverty, simply because broadband access elevates the entire society with it, and strands the rest without it. Now I know my conservative friends are starting to get riled up, and thinking “Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps”; but I contend that  you simple can not improve your own situation without broadband access in today’s global economy. The U.S. access to broadband has now slipped from 3rd to 5th in the world, and as reported:

“The nations that have actually progressed the most since the WEF began this survey back in 2002 are actually two surprising ones: China, and India. China, despite the numerous international concerns about the freedom of its Net systems, has leaped from 64th position to 37th, and India has moved from 54th to 43rd rank: This demonstrates incredible commitment by these (relatively) poorer nations to push their Net technology forwards, and highlights how little internal progress the U.S. has made.”

Simple put broadband access is the first step to enable our poorest children to change their status in life, to get them off government programs, and to prepare them to achieve in the global economy.

So why Catalyst for Innovation? Well it has become a mantra for me, in my faith, family, work and play. Its through this mantra that I want to pursue my life (not just career) track of being a builder of communities. Not just Cities or Towns, but people groups. Lots and lots of people groups.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and check out http://ConnectLakeland.com, because Google was just the start our community has a vision and I am going to make sure we reach it.

Let me know your thoughts, I really would love to hear them.

So I work diligently through morning meetings and tours of Blue Sky West. Then I finally get to the part of the day where I am checking email and preparing for my afternoon meetings and I realize that everyone in the office was gone and I still had to make my way from Downtown Lakeland to the USF Poly campus. Remember that my wife had to drop me off?

I call her (1:43)to see if she could just drop everything she was doing to come and shuttle me over to campus, and those crazy kids were asleep. I didn’t’ see another option at this point, so looked up bus routes for the Citrus Connection. I thought to myself, “This is a long shot”. I didn’t think i could get to campus on time with just 40 minutes(1:50) left until my meeting.

I was surprised to find out that i sat nearly equidistant to 2 stops for the Lakeland to Bartow Express. I looked for the later stop time to ensure I could walk there fast enough. I knew this could be close because my scheduled arrival time was 9 minutes (2:21) before my meeting, which would be fine if everything worked. I didn’t think luck would be on my side today. So I left the locked up office (and no keys) with a hope and a prayer. I arrived at the stop 5 minutes (2:00) before the scheduled arrival of 2:05. I whistle and sing to pass the time, as my concern grew as the 5 minutes became 3 and 1 minute; the bus was nowhere in sight. The clock ticked 2:05 and I looked up and saw the bus round the corner. I thought, “ Wow, this is to good to be true.”

So I boarded the bus set to ride to campus, with my backpack and thermal mug. The cost was a mere$1.25, but its an automated payment machine, with no change available. So my ride cost me $2, since all I had was a couple $1 bills.

As I sat down I noticed that there was sign claiming free wifi available.  Sweet. I popped open the laptop and was surfing in just a few moments. I am aware of the dangers of open access networks so I didn’t do anything secure, but I did check a couple of emails on the way to campus. It was a Great use of my Time. There was just 1 stop between the downtown Park and stop and the USF/PCC campus, at Grove Park Shopping Center; but nobody responded when the bus driver announced the stop and we kept chugging down Bartow Hwy.

We arrived on campus, just steps away from the LTB early at 2:19, so I had plenty of time to walk to the 2nd story and stop by our the office of our Blue Sky on-campus team members.

Over all my bus ride went extremely well. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised and honestly I am planning to use it again as I have on campus meetings. But I don’t know about the system as a whole, and will be exploring its use as interest and need arises.

This will likely be the first in series of posts about local mass transit needs, challenges and potential improvements. So stay tuned!

Its an interesting idea for a local election.  Though I wonder what the actual impact on the campaign is. If anything, I definitely think it serves as a great reminder that the City of Lakeland Election is tomorrow. | GO VOTE! | Back to my question, What is the impact of electronic advertising in the Lakeland election. As much as I am engaged online, I have to question the impact it makes to the voters.  Don’t get me wrong, I would love to say that web advertising (weather ad or social) make or break your local election, but I highly doubt that is the case.  If it were, would we see less of those yard signs littering the roadways? I doubt it.

I wonder if it would even be possible to run an entire campaign completely off of just personal and electronic communication. Would someone even have a chance? Do road signs really make or break a campaign?  I hope not, but I have been told that I hope to much. That I believe the people (read: voting electorate) are not that smart.

Though I disagree. I believe The People collectively are smarter than most give them credit. That is why our government was designed as it was. I believe that when we move away from the mind of the people, we move away from our founding principles.

Who knows maybe I am wrong. What do you think?

*Disclaimer* I am neither advocating for or against Howard Wiggs. He just happens to be the progressive politician using online advertising. */Disclaimer*

A NEW BRAND FOR DOWNTOWN

Why create a new identity?
Downtown Lakeland is a flourishing cultural, retail, and entertainment hub that offers an outstanding quality of life. In order to drive awareness of Downtown Lakeland and set it apart from other cities in its region, an authentic and distinctive identity was needed. This thriving social and economic center deserved an engaging brand that would communicate its energy, dynamism, and vitality to a local, regional, and national audience.

What does the new logo express?
Thoughtful in its evolution and growth, Downtown Lakeland reflects multidimensional, creative urban community where every detail and amenity is planned, purposeful, artfully selected, and masterfully interwoven. The new logo exudes the essence of Downtown Lakeland:

• the upward movement of the artwork suggests a fountain or a big splash, alluding to the many lakes that distinguish the region.
• the “fireworks flair” alludes to the explosive vibrancy of a Downtown that invites active participation in the regular festivals and events that celebrate Downtown’s heritage and traditions and the everyday richness of the environment.
• the colorful fronds of the artwork imply an interweaving of energy and reference Downtown’s brilliant interlacing of tradition, art, commerce, and culture.
• the tagline Rich Traditions . . . Artful Energy evokes the authentic atmosphere of this compelling and established place with its enchanting gardens and lakes, historic buildings, galleries, museums, inspiring retail, cultural centers, and visual and performing arts.

What will the new logo do?
The new brand identity will create a strong, recognizable image of Downtown Lakeland and will live on civic letterhead, literature, billboards, advertisements, and public Web site. Its expressive eloquence will capture attention and incite interest in the community. The new brand will express the community’s pride in a place where everything seems to flow and fit together. It will serve as a draw for those interested in enjoying the amenities, activities, and support services found within the compact, friendly, and thoughtfully detailed, mixed-use urban core. It will reference the strong sense of collaboration between Downtown Lakeland administration, committee members, organizations, civic groups, business owners, and residents who are called upon to create a Downtown culture, art, and retail district that reflects both a strong
sense of community and a strong sense of purpose.

What is Downtown Lakeland’s new brand?
Downtown Lakeland is not just a quaint and attractive community with a “hometown” feel and a high-growth potential. It is also a mixed-use urban center and compelling destination reflective of Central Florida’s heart and heritage. With a sense of place and a lot of soul, Downtown Lakeland reveals its true self:

• a compelling destination and a sustainable place to live.
• a cultural center or art and letters zone – with great art, museums, theaters, architecture, gardens, and lakes/swans.
• a place that incorporates the best of both worlds- a Downtown with great urban amenities combined with a strong sense of community.
• a 24/7 urban center that knits together the neighborhoods, the arts and cultural scene, and the business community to create a vibrant center with a high quality of life.
• a well-maintained, historic, creative, attractive, walkable and friendly environment with street-level retail and sidewalk café culture that energize the street.

For those that wanted to see it embedded, here you go:

LDDA: A New Brand for Downtown

Lakeland. So here is the collision:

Today I attended Access Church, where I have been attending for about two months. Its a different kind of church. Their tag line is {A church for the rest of us}. A quote from their website reads:

In 2007, we wanted a place to bring our friends. And we were a little wary of hugging strangers, church lingo, and—quite frankly—bad coffee and kum-ba-yah.

So about 15 friends quickly turned into lots of people seeking truth and authentic community. And you’re invited to join in. We don’t expect you to agree with everything we do or say. We just ask that you’re open to considering the possibility that there is a God who loves and pursues you.

It has lived up to its branding and has been quite different. From music to clothes to authentic personalities. It has been an amazing experience to have a ‘church’ like this in Lakeland.

What, you ask, does this have to do with Lakeland other than its location?

Well today we were offered a manttra for this young church, simply put : Bring Up There, Down Here.

Churches have notoriously solicited money from its congregants in order, effectively, expand their empires. So What came next blew me away. In order to break with that sterotype, this small church, has decided to give back. How much? I don’t know, but its around an entire months budget. For a small church whose average age is in the 20s this has real impact on everday observations.

So what are they doing? Puttting the power back in the hands of those who offered up that money, in order to effect change. Real Change. Every individual who attended was given a small envelope on the way out the door, with a small business card with info for the Easter Service next week & cash. Yes thats right, cash. How much? anywhere from $5 to hundreds.

Our charge was to use the money to try and make a difference in someones life, or meet someones need. Literally Striving to bringing the Kingdom of God, ‘down’ to Earth.

I have a few ideas of how I will be using my envelope, but I would like to hear from you what needs are out there. Where do you see a need, what you would like to really see changed here in Lakeland. It could be a family in need, or a favorite non profit. Please let me know.

This is very exciting and I hope you take this with the sincerity of heart that I bring it.  If you would like to keep up with stories of what others are doing you can follow along at http://www.accessgivesback.com/

I am trying to contact someone who may have been a witness to the Sunday show to get his view point. I hope to update you soon.

As for the picture, I would like to thank my coworkers for completely making me look silly, by leaving the item pictured on my desk.  You guys are so hilarious.

 

Back to my live coverage summarization: 

I saw the update on Twitter by the LPD at 10:29. My coverage on Twitter followed shortly there after. 

Fox 13 Coverage | Article posted at 10:51 AM: Best live coverage. With in Just a few minutes of finding the Twitter post I saw the Fox 13 coverage. Several minutes into it they had a photo, posting a total of 3. They had a video shortly after for the midday news. 

ABC Action News Coverage | The coverage I found next. For most of the morning it was lacking, just a single photo, and later I found a video probably made for the evening news. 

TBO.com/Tribune | I then looked to TBO, it was updated with just a single photo, and now video. They have an office in Lakeland, and the Polk County News blog, which still has nothing.

The Ledger | I didn’t see the article until around noon, even though the article says it was posted at 10:44. Strange thing is there was a comment posted at 10:04 . I didn’t see photos until after the blank  ”News Alert Blast” they sent out twice at 12:11 & 12:14. Then at 1:54 they sent another blast that featured The Obama Stem Cell story from the Associated Press (with a picture), over the Bomb Threat. Needless to say I was a little disappointed. They do now have 7 photos and a video posted. That really wasn’t reassuring while this was going on. In fact the video is great, looks like they were allowed to film the detonation from the parking garage. It would have been great if I could have seen it live, and not been left hanging.  The technology is so easy and cheap to use, I do not understand why they haven’t implemented it yet.  As the “home town” media outlet I expect more. Demand it. 

About 1pm I walked down to the garage from the Chamber and took the photos and had a chance to ask Jack Gillen, Lakeland PD spokesman a couple questions. It was quite easy to find out what was going on, so I don’t believe access to information was a problem at all. 

BayNews9 | I didn’t know about their coverage untill I walked down to the site and saw their TV Truck. Its just not a normal source for me, so when I pulled out the laptop outside Harry’s I appreciated finding the 2nd video of the day. Not sure if there was live coverage of

TampaBay 10 | Its 10:45  and I still don’t see a mention of this, and THEY were at the scene. I just don’t understand, why they don’t even mention the story. If you find it please let me know.

I followed up with Asst Chief Bill LePere, who is running LPDs Social Media engagement, about access to the survelliance video of the 3 men, and he said they would post to Facebook if its released.  I believe LPD understands the Social Media phenom more then some of the media outlets. Great Job today Chief LePere. I look forward to seeing more. 

I hope to keep you updated with any new devlopments on this. So keep a look out.

The real story is how bad |SLOW|  the news coverage was on this and how easy it was for me to convey what I was seeing and hearing to my Twitter followers ( I LOVE YOU GUYS). I would like to tip my hat to Fox News for the best & quickest coverage though. Fox had a news report up, photos and story much quicker then anyone else. Thanks Ken Suarez. Still I didn’t see a live stream of the event, anywhere. I had a couple people ask me if there was, so I wasn’t the only one looking for it. It would have been great to see what was going just a few blocks from my office. There were a total of 5 news trucks there, but no live stream.  I have linked the coverage I found and will summarize my real time experience in my next post.

Fox 13 Coverage

ABC Action News Coverage  

TBO.com 

BayNews9 

TampaBay 10  | Uhh what coverage & yes they had a truck on scene… but man they covered the Brush Fires!

The Ledger

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

 

Q & A with Steve Reneker, CIO of the City of Riverside, CA

Steve Reneker, with the support of Mayor Ron Loveridge has lead the Riverside Wireless network deployment in a unique public-private partnership with ATT. Besides its public access objectives, the emphasis was put on leveraging the city wide infrastructure to improve government services productivity and public safety, leading to a broad local government anchor tenancy agreement with ATT. This prompted W2i to single out the Riverside project in early 2006 as one of a handful of experiments along with the city-wide projects of Minneapolis MN and Brookline MAto be closely watched as early proof-points.

I know we are in a ‘tough’ economic times, but it would be great to see what we could accomplish here. Building a network like this would be a huge PR hit for the city of Lakeland, and they definitely have the broad fiber network that could support a wireless one. I would love to see some leadership comming from our commision to see that an initiative like this is persued. With no offense to our current commission. I think it is completely off their radar.

Prove me wrong!