While there has been a grassroots push to bring Google Fiber service to Baton Rouge, a Midwestern software designer is running circles around the local effort through innovative Web-organizing. Jared Starkey of Topeka, Kan., began a group called Think Big Topeka and started Facebook and Twitter initiatives to drum up support for the cause: to lure Silicon Valley search engine giant Google to build a broadband system in his city.
While the Bring Google Fiber to Baton Rouge Facebook group has about 2,000 members, Starkey’s group now boasts three times as many. This week they plan to stoke enthusiasm for the drive with a flash mob, in which people will gather at a downtown redevelopment meeting to unveil T-shirts endorsing the fiber-optic wiring project. The same day, a local restaurant plans to host an event where supporters can fill out an online form requesting that Google consider the city for the project; free food will be offered to the first 20 participants.
“This is really about the community as a whole that has stepped up and said, ‘This is really something we want to do,’ ” Starkey says, noting that his Facebook group has three times as many members as his Kansas hometown’s population. “I never thought it would become this big. It worked wonderfully.” Kasey Clark, an IT systems engineer who works in Topeka, recently created a public service announcement that he says a range of local radio and TV stations will run, while the Topeka Capital-Journal newspaper is building momentum by reporting on the effort. “I didn’t even know Jared before this,” Clark says. “We’re meshing. It’s fun, and it’s great to see Topeka ready to change. We’ve been kind of just Topeka, Kansas. We’re jumping full-fledged into the Internet age.”
Ahead of Google’s March 26 deadline for cities to apply for the project, Starkey says he views the local awareness campaign in three stages: first to galvanize individuals, then to see businesses back the effort as a driver for downtown investment and quality of life improvement, and finally for city and county leaders to cement the deal. So far, he says, there has been talk among civic leaders but no official support for the grassroots drive yet. One roadblock to Baton Rouge’s push for the project that Starkey also sees possible in Topeka is pressure from Cox Communications and AT&T to nix the deal; the companies compete to provide paid Internet service but actually would benefit from Google’s pledge to leave its network open and allow other service providers to use its bandwidth.
Topeka’s population is about 123,500 according to the U.S. Census, while the city of Baton Rouge has about 223,700 residents. Google announced plans early this month to build ultra-fast Internet connectivity for up to 500,000 people in at least one municipality, meaning both cities could potentially benefit if the company chooses multiple sites. The service would provide data transmission of 1 gigabit per second, about 100 times faster than most Americans’ Internet access. “We are trying to build such a wave of momentum that this is something that the city and the chamber of commerce, and to be honest Cox and AT&T, have two choices for,” Starkey says. “They can get out of the way or they can run to be in front of it. The crucial thing has really been, the people that are involved with this are excited.”
