City forced to pull plug on wireless access in Vannie

By Megan James

The equipment that for a brief time made it possible for people to surf the Web while relaxing in Van Cortlandt Park was yanked last week after the contractor ran out of money.

As Vannie’s Internet collapsed, so collapsed the city’s plan to install wireless networks in 10 of its parks.

The project had been in the works for several years, beginning in 2004 when Wi-Fi Salon agreed to pay the city Department of Parks and Recreation $90,000 over three years for the right to set up wireless Internet networks in 10 city parks. But without corporate sponsorship — Nokia, the Finnish telecommunications manufacturer signed on in 2006, but backed out the next year — the company couldn’t afford to follow through, Wi-Fi Salon’s founder Marshall Brown told The New York Times.

According to Philip Abramson, a Parks Department spokesman, the department pulled the contract with Wi-Fi Salon because it was falling behind and not completing services it had been contracted to perform. The department has a back-up plan in the works, he said, but is not ready to make it public.

In addition to pulling equipment this week from Van Cortlandt Park, which had been installed in the Van Cortlandt Golf House in 2007, Wi-Fi Salon is also removing it from seven locations in Central Park, as well as from Prospect, Washington Square, Battery, Riverside, Pelham Bay and Flushing Meadows-Corona parks and Orchard Beach.

But local park-goers could still see that wireless connection in the future.

“The city will soon unveil a series of digital inclusion initiatives focused on expanding access to … broadband technology, including service in parks across the city,” said Mr. Abramson. “We expect details of the initiatives to be finalized and announced soon.”

This is part of the January 15, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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