NY’s newest workplaces - wifi parks

With 8 million people living within its borders and a model for urban working and living, one would have thought that the City of New York had established a plan to provide free wi-fi in their parks by now.  They haven’t.  However, with the possibility of being leapfrogged by San Francisco and Philadelphia, the City may finally have a plan for free wifi in all their parks.  The reason?

The City will no longer try to make money on the wi-fi networks off of the private sector companies building them.*

Not surprisingly, without such municipal financial demands there is now widespread interest by private sector companies in setting up wi-fi networks in parks throughout New York City, namely Nokia.  The numerous parks that already do feature free wi-fi, such as Bryant Park (pictured) did so through nonprofits and business groups.

More on this story in the NY Times.

*If governments lose money on constructing a transportation infrastructure (e.g. roads, freeways), why in the world would they expect to make money on a digital one?