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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Sept 9, 2013 8:26:11 GMT -6
Again, I am all for using that strength. If our City leaders were really interested in economic development, I would think they would have already been trying to utilize it.
We had an industrial park/farm field for years with no drainage system; we waited until it was keeping someone already here from expanding to do anything about it.
If we are waiting for businesses to make commitments based on what we might build for them, and then expect them to wait until we build it, they will continue to locate in other places that have already invested in their future.
Like I said 4G was just an example of how long we have to wait to catch up to the rest of the world, but do we know how many companies considered locating here but put lack of 4G in the negative column? Many will put lack of broadband connectivity in that same column.
If a fiber optic network is installed by a private company, we could find ourselves with just one supplier of service. If it were a municipal network, we could lease strands to several suppliers for internet service, several for television service, etc. creating more competitive choices and benefits for citizens.
It could pay for itself and then start creating revenue as well. I see a lot of positives to having a municipally owned fiber optic network.
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Post by oldtimer on Sept 9, 2013 8:26:46 GMT -6
not much left out there business wise, maybe retail and service industry could be attracted? everyone has spare office / warehouse space available in just about every town if you build it, they may not come I've always wanted to own and run a railroad though, who's with me? Well then, I guess Streator is just done. Everybody has office space and warehouse space. Everybody has industrial parks. Everybody has high speed internet. Everybody has.... excuses are for the weak. Let's just roll over and play dead! That railroad hub is big stuff. We keep trying to get a major highway. We keep trying to get a prison. Why keep trying for something when that railroad hub is right there and waiting. Get on it Streator! What else do we have to promote or sell that is already there?
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Post by super on Sept 9, 2013 10:04:09 GMT -6
I want to blow the whistle!
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Sept 9, 2013 11:03:01 GMT -6
Someone needs to blow some type of whistle to wake up the people at City Hall.
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Post by super on Sept 9, 2013 14:19:27 GMT -6
even the larger towns have lost a lot of industry through the years
the midwest has been hardest hit with big businesses / industry folding / going
some work has been replaced with service industry jobs which ain't the best
unless you reinvent the wheel, i doubt much will change in the near future
even offering a lot of free stuff still won't get the big paying jobs in the area
the trend is to locate business in areas with highly talented folks on hand
or in lower cost of operation areas
you won't find much of this in the Midwest
OH! and you will find a lot of short sales going on in these so called highly successful areas with industry as people flood the market with homes
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Post by chevypower on Sept 10, 2013 0:06:26 GMT -6
Super knows what happening, most are blind sorry too say.
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Post by super on Sept 10, 2013 6:23:02 GMT -6
I was wrong once?
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Sept 10, 2013 6:39:28 GMT -6
I know that there are a lot of negative factors working against our economic development, but we can't just give up and not do anything.
There are things that we can do to put our community in a better position to attract jobs.
I really think that speed and connectivity is the way of the future, the sooner we get there, the better off we'll be.
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Post by super on Sept 10, 2013 7:20:24 GMT -6
we offer a lot of retail choices down this way shopping wise
very handy and nice, makes for a nice community, but few good paying jobs are created
mainly service thrives in the area
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Post by Kyle Mitchell on Sept 10, 2013 14:13:52 GMT -6
At today's council meeting they talked about the I-fiber installation and a future fiber optic network. The City Manager told the council that we would have a decision about infrastructure to make. Maybe there is hope.
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Post by dog on Sept 24, 2013 11:44:27 GMT -6
I figured I would bump this back to the top so we can stop talking about Fiber Optics on the Cruise Night thread.
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Post by father of two on Sept 24, 2013 11:46:23 GMT -6
Maybe by talking to SACCI it would allow that group to ask their members if they are aware of I Fiber and if it would benefit their companies. This would be a way for you to get your message across and then passed on to the council. A different messenger may make a difference. The older members of the council most likely aren't as up to date with technology as the two younger members. These two will be able to explain it to their counterparts and show them the benefits of modernizing the city's approach. I wouldn't say they don't want new jobs here. I find that insulting that these men would be labeled as such by you. I sincerely hope you run for council.
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mcgoo
New Member
Posts: 24
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Post by mcgoo on Sept 24, 2013 15:36:53 GMT -6
4G internet for smartphones is separate from high speed internet in your home. The only way they are connected is if your smartphone is your only connection to the Internet and you have no other service. Streator has had high speed fiber-optic for years. That's how Mediacom connects Streator to the Internet. Verizon FINALLY updated Streator's cell service to 4G-LTE last week. It works. I speed-tested it and averaged 10mb/s to as high as 20mb/s, depending on the time of day and bandwidth usage. Considering DSL is around 1.5mb/s, that's very good speed. Mediacom offers high speed broadband Internet service as fast as 50mb/s for residiential, and up to 100mb/s for commercial. It's expensive but it's there if you really need it. Any speed around 20mb/s for residential use will handle any full high-def content one could download from netflix, AppleTV, etc. There IS a separate Internet sevice going up in IL called iFiber. www.ifiber.org/ifiber/For the last 18 months there has been utilty work all over Northern IL. Ever noticed utilty crews burying bright orange plastic conduit? That's the ifiber network going in. It covers the Northern 3rd of IL and there was new fiberoptic cable installed all over Streator last year. iFiber's hub in this area will NIU. Several Streator institutions have signed up for it. iFiber will not be cheap either. Early adapters will pay a high price. As more people join the price will drop, but that could take years. Traditional sevice providers like Mediacom, Frontier, and Verizon will easily update their Internet service to compete. ifiber's initial target is large businesses, schools, hospitals, etc. iFiber's initial cost is being covered by goverment grants, our tax dollars. Streator is NOT isolated or behind as far as Interent service is concerned. It's just not cheap. Hopefully competition will bring down prices, faster speeds, and higher data limits. Some people say our City not owning a utility limits our development. Many communities are investing in their future with municipally owned fiber optic networks; a simple search will reveal many examples. Strands could be leased to generate income from many different providers of different services to help off-set costs and provide more competitive choices to the end users than if controlled by a private entity. Some people say that a private company will be putting a network in some day, but when? How long has Ottawa had 4G service, 2 years? When will it finally be in Streator? In my opinion, a fiber optic network will work the same way with private companies, we will be years and years behind places like Ottawa. I think that a municipal fiber optic network is a good example of an infrastructure improvement that could be considered for attracting more jobs and growth here, an investment in our future that could give us a good edge over other nearby communities. Speed and connectivity to global markets is the way of the future.
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Post by hawk on Sept 24, 2013 21:08:03 GMT -6
This is from the cruise night thread about the ifiberI give you crap because 1. Unlike Paul Harvey you only give half of the story. It's not until you get called out that you start giving the other details and information (typically important information) about the subject at hand. 2. You make the council seem completely oblivious to everything, out of touch, and unapproachable. "A majority of the council is still the same and like I've said before, from my experience attending many meetings, I don't think they are very progressive thinking." Explain. Give your definition of progressive, and then follow that up with what is a feasible amount of time. Are they not progressive because they don't follow every suggestion that you give them? What makes you an expert on matters that you bring to them day in and day out that they should say how high when you say jump? How can you expect anyone to take you seriously when giving tautologous statements? In your last entry you say "It was progressive that ultimately they did allow the grant to bring it to City buildings." What? You just said you don't think they are very progressive thinking. Your divergent opinions are really hurting your "experience". Maybe you should take a page from your own book and be a little more progressive. Plant the seed and walk away. 1. As it is, I post a lot of long posts; I can't provide every detail. I don't leave out important information on purpose. What important information did I leave out on fiber optics? dog could have looked to see if it was working in smaller communities before assuming that it wasn't. He was the one that provided the Chatanooga example, not me. 2. I don't think they are completely oblivious about everything, but I do think that some of them are out of touch on many things. I have actually been trying to get more people to approach them. Haven't you seen my posts giving meeting dates and times or City Hall's phone number and e mail address? I have been trying to get more people to be involved because I think there are too many that are just complacent to the problems because they feels so disenfranchised. In my opinion, progressive means looking to advance, creating growth and better conditions, and being accepting of new ideas and technologies. I do not feel that they have been very progressive over all because bringing the jobs that would be needed for growth has not seemed to be a high priority to them and they have not seemed to be accepting of new ideas. These are just my opinions though. I do give them credit for the few good things that I see them do. Sorry if you think it is divergent, but I see it as just being right and don't feel it is hurting my experience. Nothing makes me an expert and I never said I was, or that they had to jump at all. Obviously they don't have to follow the suggestions that I give them, I don't think they have yet. Is that because I've been too tautologous? When someone exposes himself in the middle of the street and I tell them, how many more do I have to watch do it without saying anything for it to ever end? BS is what that is. If they did something about the problems once in a while, I wouldn't have to keep going back to talk about the same things over and over again. Obviously they don't have to jump to my suggestions, so I get to the point of posting videos on line. There sure were right on top of the chicken issue with that special 8:30am meeting though weren't they? I don't think that planting a seed and walking away is a good idea; shouldn't you do what you can to promote its growth as well? 1. As it is, I post a lot of long posts; I can't provide every detail. I don't leave out important information on purpose. What important information did I leave out on fiber optics? dog could have looked to see if it was working in smaller communities before assuming that it wasn't. He was the one that provided the Chatanooga example, not me. You gave an incomplete example about Chanute Kansas and their broadband situation as a comparison to Streator. You conveniently left out how long it took them to make $600,000 until I questioned your example. Then you had to add how long it took and chime in with "the sooner started, the sooner that [revenue] could happen." How far do you think that $138,000 will go by doing that? 2. I don't think they are completely oblivious about everything, but I do think that some of them are out of touch on many things. I have actually been trying to get more people to approach them. Haven't you seen my posts giving meeting dates and times or City Hall's phone number and e mail address? I have been trying to get more people to be involved because I think there are too many that are just complacent to the problems because they feels so disenfranchised. probably because its always your problems and not their own. In my opinion, progressive means looking to advance, creating growth and better conditions, and being accepting of new ideas and technologies. I do not feel that they have been very progressive over all because bringing the jobs that would be needed for growth has not seemed to be a high priority to them and they have not seemed to be accepting of new ideas. These are just my opinions though. I do give them credit for the few good things that I see them do. Sorry if you think it is divergent, but I see it as just being right and don't feel it is hurting my experience. Your being divergent and hypocritical with your own statements. Its not what I think, it's what I know. You have it in print. Get your story straight. Once again your experience means nothing when it can't even support itself. Nothing makes me an expert and I never said I was, or that they had to jump at all. Obviously they don't have to follow the suggestions that I give them, I don't think they have yet. Is that because I've been too tautologous? Thats what I said, so yes. When someone exposes himself in the middle of the street and I tell them, how many more do I have to watch do it without saying anything for it to ever end? BS is what that is. If they did something about the problems once in a while, I wouldn't have to keep going back to talk about the same things over and over again. Obviously they don't have to jump to my suggestions, so I get to the point of posting videos on line. And that helps how? There sure were right on top of the chicken issue with that special 8:30am meeting though weren't they? I'll agree with that. I don't think that planting a seed and walking away is a good idea; shouldn't you do what you can to promote its growth as well? Over watering will drown the seed, and therefore will not grow to its full potential
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Post by hawk on Sept 24, 2013 21:08:29 GMT -6
I am not saying that they do not want jobs here, only that it is not a high priority to them. That is my opinion from the comments I've heard at meetings over the years. A club house, a band shell, a fountain and other amenities are all more of priorities to them. Have you ever thought that maybe these are all easily attainable items that improve the towns appearance? For too long the appearance of the town and the condition of the buildings have been over-looked, and now the town looks sad, dilapidated, and a shell of its own-self. The Council has started to make the right steps to improving those aspects. The giant leaps you want the council to take don't happen over night let alone a couple of months. What is the high priority items. Just because things are not discussed publicly doesn't mean its not high priority or not being discussed. Where are all these jobs that are coming into Illinois that we are missing out on?
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