Title
Resolution to Urge the Selection of the City of Ann Arbor as a Google Fiber for Communities Trial Location
Body
Whereas, Google, Inc. is planning to build and provide ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more communities in the United States, which networks would consist of 1 Gbps, fiber-to-the-home ("FTTH") connections and would provide Internet service to residents at a competitive price;
Whereas, Ann Arbor is an Internet-savvy, entrepreneurial, highly educated community of approximately 114,000 persons residing in more than 47,000 households;
Whereas, The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, with a nearly 40,000-member student body, is among the world's leading public research university in at least the fields of medicine, engineering and computer science;
Whereas, The University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor is one of the nation's leading medical education, clinical and research centers, with over 2,000,000 patient visits per year and over 40,000 employees, researchers and clinicians;
Whereas, The total research expenditures of the University of Michigan in 2009 exceeded $1,000,000,000;
Whereas, The City of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan are working closely together to respond to the Google Request for Information;
Whereas, The City of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan are working together with Detroit Edison, the owner of approximately 75% of all utilities poles in Ann Arbor, to ensure the rapid, efficient construction of the Google FTTH network;
Whereas, The Ann Arbor City Council believes that the Ann Arbor-University of Michigan community's balance of educational, medical, and entrepreneurial excellence, combined with committed, professional municipal leadership provides Google the ideal setting in which to test the installation and effects of a 1 Gbps, FTTH network; and
Whereas, The Ann Arbor City Council believes that the installation and operation of a Google FTTH network in Ann Arbor would be a tremendous benefit to its residents and would unleash novel creative, entrepreneurial enterprises in at least the medical, educational, Internet and engineering fields;
RESOLVED, That the Ann Arbor City Council enthusiastically supports the application of the City of Ann Arbor and urges Google to select Ann Arbor as a Google Fiber for Communities Trial Location;
RESOLVED, That if so selected, the Ann Arbor City Council shall direct City Staff to take all lawful measures to expedite and accommodate the safe and efficient installation of the Google FTTH network; and
RESOLVED, That the City Administrator shall send a certified copy of this resolution to Governor Jennifer Granholm, Lt. Governor John Cherry, Senator Carl Levin, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Representative John Dingell, Senator Liz Brater, Representative Pam Byrnes, Representative Rebekah Warren, and UM President Mary Sue Coleman, and urges each of them to contact representatives at Google, Inc. and to support the application of the City of Ann Arbor to be selected as a Google Fiber for Communities Trial Location.
Sponsored by: Councilmembers Christopher Taylor, Sandi Smith, Stephen Rapundalo, Carsten Hohnke, Sabra Briere, and John Hieftje, the Mayor of the City of Ann Arbor.