While taking a stroll through one of the parks in St. Peters next spring, one might see children playing, people jogging, dogs frolicking and people surfing the Internet.
That's right. Officials said some city parks are now wired for the World Wide Web.
"This was really a good deal for the city and our residents," said Alderman Patrick Barclay, Ward 4. "We are now the first city in our region to provide our residents with free Internet access."Protronics Technologies Inc., based in St. Charles, is providing free wireless Internet service to the city and access to park visitors. Company founder Andy Kastrup said providing free wireless service is cost-effective.
"We have been providing computer services throughout St. Charles County for 22 years and wireless Internet access for 12 years," Kastrup said Thursday. "Since we already have a vast commercial wireless network in place throughout the county, it is PTI's way of giving back to the community."
Wireless Internet access is available in City Centre Park, Shady Springs Park, Laurel Park, Spencer Creek Park, Woodlands Sports Park, Brown Road Park, Lone Wolff Park, Sports Centre Park and Rabbit Run Park. City Hall and the Rec-Plex and Rec-Plex South buildings also will be connected to the Web, according to a city news release.
Efforts also are under way to make wireless service available in remaining city parks and recreational facilities, such as Old Town Park, the Golf and Recreation Center, Oak Creek Park and the St. Peters Community and Arts Center.
"I'm excited about the opportunity to provide our residents free Internet access points in these parks," Mayor Len Pagano said.
Officials also are taking steps to provide live Web casts of city meetings on the city's Web site, www.stpetersmo.net.
Barclay oversees the city's E-Government Advisory Committee.
Barclay said the city's information services department will begin providing Web video of the Board of Aldermen meetings, planning and zoning meetings and city-produced programs as early as late February.
"It will be set up so (that) if a person wants to watch the Board of Aldermen but only the business section, they can skip the rest of the meeting and proceed directly to the parts they want to watch," Barclay said.
The city currently contracts with Charter Cable Services to operate public access channel SPTV-10.
Channel 10 live and on-demand programming will be available through a link on the city's home page, Barclay said.
"Not everyone has cable and some have even said that they often miss programs because they don't always keep track of times they are on Charter," Barclay said. "Once the shows and meetings are available online, residents will be able to click on a link to watch city-produced programs any time they want for several months."
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Latreecia Wade
Quelle/Source: St. Peters Journal, 24.12.2007
