New at Reason

Julian Sanchez | December 1, 2005

Ted Balaker wonders whether the ability to play multiplayer Quake: Arena wirelessly is really at the top of the list of things New Orleans needs right now.

Comments

|12.1.05 @ 10:30AM|#

"The city's chief technology officer hopes WiFi will help "restimulate" the economy, but even before Katrina the economy was limp. Of the nation's 200 largest metro areas, the Big Easy ranked 159th in job growth from 1998 to 2003."

Talk about a non sequiter.

|12.1.05 @ 10:45AM|#

Perhaps I ahve become so used to high quality blog posts here at Reason, but this is a really shoddy article.

Zero evidence that the WIFI program is replacing other more traditional programs in priority.

Camden is criticized for building a light rail system while rated the most dangerous city, with no indication as to what they should have done (One would assume the standard Libertarian throwing up of the hands and complaining about quasi-one-party goverment). It is completely unclear whether the dangerousness of Camden has changed significantly as a result of prioritizing money on transport, or any impact the rail system has had, other than its cost.

Later Detroit, Baltimore, and Cleveland are criticised (in a cited link) for "[not] address[ing] serious issues like housing, schools, transport, jobs and security"[italics mine].

Those cities are also criticized for where they currently place on the most dangerous cities list without any indication of where they were before the criticized policies. It is glaring because it seems obvious that these programs were introduced in response to already exiting problems.

There may be a valid criticism of mayors adopting hip silver bullet solutions to lingering problems, but this article does not provide any evidence for it.

|12.1.05 @ 10:58AM|#

multiplayer Quake: Arena wirelessly

If they are hoping to attract the technologically proficient, it couldn't hurt.

I foresee ubiquitous "Keep New Orleans Weird" t-shirts in the near future.

|12.1.05 @ 11:14AM|#

I couldn't get posted yesterday on the New Scientist thread. I went to the Reason server room and found the squirrels emaciated and near death. What sort of death camp are you bastards running?

|12.1.05 @ 11:16AM|#

Won't someone think of the squirrels?

|12.1.05 @ 11:19AM|#

"The city's chief technology officer hopes WiFi will help "restimulate" the economy, but even before Katrina the economy was limp. Of the nation's 200 largest metro areas, the Big Easy ranked 159th in job growth from 1998 to 2003."

Non sequiter or not, has no one asked what good WiFi coverage is going to do you in a city that's more or less totalled?

"Hey Honey! When we're done shoveling out the dried sewage from the den, let's see if there's a new Strong Bad e-mail at Homestar Runner!"

I love my net access as much as the next geek, but come on. It's called "priorities" people!

Which brings me to the following: After yesterday's embarrassing fit in the Beirut thread, I think I have to step away from H&R for a few weeks, get my head together, and sort some personal things out. Of course, I'll lurk to keep track of the current discussions, and I plan to show up at the planned Chicago shindig. However, I was getting pretty freaky yesterday, and I need to chill out on all things political for a while.

See you guys later...

|12.1.05 @ 11:27AM|#

what good WiFi coverage is going to do you in a city that's more or less totalled?

I guess the thinking goes that what N.O. needs now are mobile, economically advantaged professionals without children who are able to get their work done without all that pesky infrastructure. They are looking for a population that can run entirely on snack foods, canned sodas and WiFi. That's Geeks, man.

Hey, I'm not saying that it isn't stupid. Still, it makes a certain amount of sense.

|12.1.05 @ 11:30AM|#

See ya later Akiragator, and help yourself to a couple of dead squirrels as you leave. :-)

|12.1.05 @ 11:31AM|#

The criticism of Camden is factually wrong: the RiverLine was built by the state of New Jersey (and New Jersey Transit), not by Camden. Camden happens to be one terminus, but the line runs from Trenton to Camden, a distance of 35 miles.

The purpose of this line is to provide commuters with access to Philadelphia, Trenton, and access to the Northeast Corridor trains to New York and Washington. It reduces pressure on I-295 throughout southern NJ. The route has been on planners' minds for decades (I believe it was originally envisioned as a spur of the PATCO high-speed line as far back as the 1960s or 70s)

I know the libertarian catechism should have me against mass transit, but as such things go, this line is better than most and is far from being a boondoggle. The two termini are logical destinations for commuters, and there is dense development along the route. It was built along existing Conrail track, and property for stations and parking was (to my knowlege) acquired without ED.

The weakness of the Camden criticism calls into question the remainder of the author's points. I agree with TheCoach that this was a shoddy article overall.

Dan|12.1.05 @ 11:35AM|#

This is Reason, after all.

Anything that the government attempts to do in New Orleans is going to be ridiculed.

|12.1.05 @ 11:41AM|#

Subscribe to Reason and get a free squirrel-skin tote bag.

|12.1.05 @ 12:06PM|#

The end of the article gets to the big point. Big, depressed inner cities, if they really want to recover, need to stop shaking down companies willing to do business there and taxing everything to death. Compared to this, and to the usual amount of corruption, the WiFi plan is nothing, and might actually provide a benefit to the public.

|12.1.05 @ 12:41PM|#

It's Quake 3: Arena.

Of course the kids are probably playing quake 4 now.

|12.1.05 @ 12:43PM|#

Building infrastructure means different things to different people. I criticize the idea of spending cash on wifi, when what people really need to know is whether NO can return to a normal state. Spend your cash getting that job done as quickly as possible, then throw out other lures as needed. Regardless of what else can be said about wifi, calling it fundamental seems off the mark.

|12.1.05 @ 1:13PM|#

My take is that any money spent on municipal wifi for NOLA while it's rebuilding indicates that too much federal money is being sent there.

|12.1.05 @ 1:53PM|#

I think there are far dumber and expensive government goodies then free wireless service. It could be used by pretty much anyone with a couple hundred bucks to spend on a computer, so it is not favoring one particular group at the expense of another. And I do think it is a good way to market NO as a fun and "hip" place to live for young, mobile professionals.

But one question comes to mind.. if the government takes over internet service, won't the subscribers be subjected to the political censor du jour? For example, couldn't jesus-freak officials filter out all porn and references to evolution?

|12.1.05 @ 1:57PM|#

I wouldn't take the cost of Wi-Fi into account since it was being put into place well before the hurricane hit. It's not a hurricane thing, it's just somehting the city had already done, and at least most of it was through donation (I don't think Federal dollars were involved at all). I would also point out that the hurricane showed quite definitively that the communications infrastructure in the are was in desperate need of improvement and redundancy and while Wi-Fi may simply conjur imagees of Quake matches there are a vast number of uses, such as VOIP, or even simply the ability to get information in or out, that might prove to be exceptionally useful from an emergency communications standpoint. That would be one of the true uses that I think would be acceptable for government to be involved in with something like this.

Now whether or not the ongoing costs will really be worth it for the city or not, I suppose only time will tell.

Ken Layne|12.1.05 @ 1:58PM|#

That's a crap article. Y'all can do better, right?

New Orleans -- part of it, at least -- is being rebuilt. If you're rebuilding a city, you take the chance to put in new utilities while you're at it. And like several commenters already said, there's zero evidence that putting wifi broadcasters atop the utility poles you already have to replace or repair has any impact on the other work being done throughout the city. Also, the gear has been donated by tech companies.

Also, it's the poor part of the city that's been mostly destroyed. The tourist, business and upper-class areas are mostly in good shape. (That's why the 150,000+ plus poor blacks who had to leave forever are very open to the Flood Conspiracy idea.)

Oh, and the public schools have barely reopened because there aren't any students. About 120 students showed up for the first re-opening of a NOLA public school. Poor blacks went to public schools. Whites went to Catholic schools. It has been this way in New Orleans since desegregation. The whites in the nice neighborhoods are coming home, and their schools are open.

|12.1.05 @ 3:08PM|#

Quake 3? Can I log into World of Warcraft as well, while drinking form my go cup in jackson Square?

|12.1.05 @ 5:22PM|#

I wouldn't take the cost of Wi-Fi into account since it was being put into place well before the hurricane hit. It's not a hurricane thing, it's just somehting the city had already done, and at least most of it was through donation

I think that money can be directed to more important projects. The whole point of the obscene amount of federal money being thrown at NOLA was that the city and state government just didn't have the funds necessary.

I would also point out that the hurricane showed quite definitively that the communications infrastructure in the are was in desperate need of improvement and redundancy and while Wi-Fi may simply conjur imagees of Quake matches there are a vast number of uses, such as VOIP, or even simply the ability to get information in or out, that might prove to be exceptionally useful from an emergency communications standpoint.

A wifi network sufficient to support first responders or even all city employees is a far, far smaller thing (and easier and cheaper to actually make redundant and powered during a storm) than a network capable of serving all residents with a computer and a wireless card.