Lubbock City Councilman Gary Boren had some inspiring words in an e-mail sent to me today in response to my proposal for the wireless downtown project. Mr. Boren seems to agree that a free wireless network downtown would indeed be an asset to the community. The initiative has now been passed on to the Revitalization committee for review. I also look forward to meeting with civic leaders who would like to discuss this.

Lauren and I were downtown last weekend and perused several areas that would be likely candidates for hotspots, although nothing is concrete yet. It was still great to walk the streets and think of how downtown might be different if we were able to introduce a greater technology presence to the area…Undoubtedly, this would provide a remarkable service to both businesses and consumers.

Two weeks ago I was in Austin, and was amazed to see the wireless influence occuring downtown, especially at area businesses and parks. I was so inspired, in fact, that I contacted representatives who played a major role in spearheading Austin’s initiative, Richard MacKinnon and Jon Lebkowsky of Austin Wireless City. Both have provided some excellent initial information for review, and Jon offered to make a trip to Lubbock to help us out, an offer we will no doubt take him up on once we get some more feedback from the City. Lauren and I look forward to having Dr. Rich Rice over for dinner this week, largely to indulge in steaks and lay out the plan of action from here. Rich is literally a walking encyclopedia on fundraising and grant writing initiatives such as this, and he’s also already established in local and national initiatives involving technology, literacy and education.