by KYW’s Mike Dunn
It took six hearings, but Philadelphia City Council has given a preliminary okay to the Mayor’s plan to blanket the city in wireless Internet.
Wireless Philadelphia officials had hoped that approval by the council committee would have come weeks ago, but committee chair Brian O’Neill says it was important and complicated, so six hearings were needed:
“There were stacks of papers I think if you put on top of each they’d be taller than me, and I’m 6-4, so it was a lot of work, but a lot of good work, I think.”
Committee approval of the ambitious WiFi plan came only after the Mayor made some key concessions on the plan. Now, City Council will be able to appoint three members to the Wireless Philadelphia Board, and that board, which is a non-profit agency, will have to make its contracts public.
Approval by the full Council is expected next week.
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