The first thing you may think upon meeting Federal Communications CommissionChairman Julius Genachowski is that he looks like a lawyer who just might have gone to school with Obama. Bingo!
Then you read up on how he wants to smash open the iPhone over the recent AT&T / Google Voice lockout brouhaha. You see, Jules acted with a shocking quickness. Is it because he “gets” technology? Could be.
Anywho, Mr. Chairman came to the lovely Valencia Gardens housing projects (seriously, the best in the City, more appealing than the Fillmore Center Apartments anyway) on a dreaded sunny day to highlight “the importance of broadband access in low income communities.” Check it:
Julius, second from right, chatting with the Mission Digital Connectors:
And with other Missionites:
Can people in the area around 14th and Valencia open up their netbooks to catch 5/5 bars worth of WiFi goodness at 54 million bits per second? Yes we can.
There’s your schmoozefest of the day.
FCC CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI TO HIGHLIGHT BENEFITS OF BROADBAND AT SAN FRANCISCO HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
Chris Vein, San Francisco’s Chief Information Officer
and Henry Alvarez, Executive Director of the San Francisco Housing
Authority (SFHA) will welcome Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), for a Mission neighborhood event
highlighting the importance of broadband access in low income communities.
Chairman Genachowski will tour the technology facilities at Valencia
Gardens, a SFHA community, and meet with residents of Valencia Gardens and
community leaders. Valencia Gardens is a national model for bringing high
speed internet access to public housing sites. Through the San Francisco
Department of Technology’s partnership with the Internet Archive, residents
are able to receive speeds of over 50 mbps. In addition to access, the
Department of Technology has coordinated a wide range of training and
support programs for residents of Valencia Gardens.
The Department of Technology has led an initiative to bring broadband
access to 4399 units of public and non-profit housing developments.
WHAT: FCC Chairman tours Valencia Gardens Technology Center
WHEN: Sunday, August 2, 2009
3:00 P.M.
WHO: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski
San Francisco Chief Information Officer Chris Vein
SFHA Executive Director – Henry A. Alvarez III
Hydra Mendoza, Education Advisor to the Mayor of San Francisco
Alan Greenley, One Economy
WHERE: Valencia Gardens Technology Center
360 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
