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Second Generation Wi-RANs now online

Our second generation Wi-RANs with GPS and Wi-Fi are now installed on the following Hampton Jitney coaches: Numbers 75, 76, 83, 84, 86, 87.  So if you find yourself on any of these coaches, pop open your laptop and have a go at it! More coaches are coming online each week!

Be Careful What You Wish For

This post is quite tardy, but still worth reading, I feel.  David Kapell, the three-term mayor of Greenport, Long Island, came to speak to our group about the village that he is entrusted with administering.  His talk was entitled  "Be careful what you wish for", and it was the story of how he came to enter into politics and the ensuing events in the village to the present.  Hizzoner is an engaging, erudite speaker, a tireless booster for his Community, and that capital C came through in his tale of adversity, resolution, the power of participatory democracy, and creativity.  Elected in 1994 on a reform platform,

The Deed is Done

Ten years I had that hair, a big chunk of time, but I was happy to give it up when I saw the outpouring of support for the causes I was donating it to.  Donations to my St. Baldrick's page are still coming in, very generously, and besides the online donations, which are north of $1100 right now, on Saturday, I turned in over $350 in checks and cash, and people are still handing me money to turn in.  Being the small businessman that I am, I know the importance of collecting your recievables, so those of you who have pledged and not sent me checks...  If you thought I was going to chicken out, you were sadly mistaken.  Deeper feelings follow after the jump...

Wi-Fi on the rails, hopefully

A short interview I did with Dominick Basulto of Corante's New York edition got written up as a story on the question of why is the MTA not considering adding internet access to their commuter rail lines, when it would be such a no-brainer and ridiculously easy to implement, if Wi-RAN was used, of course.

The story seems to be getting legs as it has been picked up by Glenn Fleishman over at Wifinetnews, and Gizmodo too.

Hopefully, if I am a big enough pain in the ass, maybe the agency will move on the idea.  Richie Kessel is my role model here.

Sarah Myland Kaufman got the locals thinking back in November with this piece for the Gotham Gazette

Glenn started the public discussion back in July of '04 with his article on transportation Wi-Fi for the NYTimes, and a sidebar where he gets an MTA Public Affairs to say that they have no plans to offer access on trains or in stations.

Brownfields - The Other Open Space

Another friday morning, another stimulating LIMBA session, worth rising early for.  Today we had Michael Posillico speak on the utilization of Brownfields sites as starting points for redevelopment.  Michael, a scion of one of the families that built out the island, has his own firm, Blue Water Environmental, specializing in remediation of these sites.  Along with the recent Rauch Long Island Index report, and Senator Clinton's meeting on the housing problem here, density, one of the third rails of LI politics, looks like it may be starting to have its voltage turned down.
Michael spoke at length about the need to educate our community and encourage leadership on this issue among our government reps.  He gave us some detail on the scope of the Glen Cove project that is underway and the degree of co-ordination necessary among the diverse federal and state agencies that have hands in environmental projects.  Michael sits on the board of Vision Long Island, one of the foremost advocates of planning out here.

Now that more and more open space is being taken off the market, the cheapest raw material for building will be brownfields sites.  Density must be increased on these sites in order to make it economically feasible to build.  Without acceptance of higher density done well, Long Island is doomed to stagnation.  We need local leaders that are willing to be political risk-takers in this.  First among them is Tom Suozzi over in Nassau, but he has no bench on his team. Yet.