The reasonable reader would say there is a big difference between 1 Million and 10 Million.. and that an estimate with such a gap is not an estimate it is a wild guess based on ignorance not information.
The reasonable reader would ask, oh how much is this going to cost me? How much for the individual home owner, and tax payer, and eventually the monthly fee required to use the fiber optics connection. Nothing is free.
Once upon a time you could own a house, and not Be FORCED to buy CITY WATER, CITY SEWER SERVICE, CITY TRASH SERVICE and so forth. This is one more thing the City Will FORCE us to pay for one way or another.
As far as the need for Fiber Optics to build any type of business in Grand Terrace is fiction. Eventually the data stream from "Our Fiber Optics System" would be flowing into a non fiber link or server somewhere along the line and the data transfer would slow down. For folks who live with the Grand Terrace 215 Bottle Neck as part of our identity we should know that a fast system is only good if it links to a free flowing fast system.
So Steve Berry may want to check his enthusiasm and put the City Check Book back in his pocket. This "Great Opportunity" doesn't pass the smell test.
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Cities explore fiber options
Loma Linda may share system with GT to help it win business
Stephen Wall, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 08/05/2008 09:32:36 PM PDT
GRAND TERRACE - The city is exploring the possibility of hooking into Loma Linda's fiber-optic network as a way to boost economic development.
Officials in both cities are in preliminary discussions on a plan to bring a fiber-optic connection to Grand Terrace businesses.
Loma Linda has linked 2,000 new homes in the city to high-speed fiber-optic Internet service through its Connected Community Program. Loma Linda University, the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Medical Center and many businesses in town are part of the network. The city is in the process of expanding the four-year-old program to include older homes.
Grand Terrace would like to tap into the same technology.
The City Council has included the development of a fiber-optic program among its top priorities for the current budget year.
"We're looking at bringing the fiber-optic loop into the city of Grand Terrace as an economic development tool," said City Manager Pro Tem Steve Berry.
Berry has met several times with Konrad Bolowich, Loma Linda's information systems director, to discuss how the two cities could work out a fiber-optic partnership.
"We've got well over $1.5 million in electronics and optics that run the network that they don't have to acquire and build," Bolowich said. "Our advantage is we have somebody to share that cost with us. It becomes a very reasonable partnership between two neighbors."
Many details have not been determined, including how the fiber would be installed.
Carrying the fiber through a hair-thin tube is cheaper and less invasive than traditional underground pipes, Bolowich said.
He estimates it would cost somewhere between $1 million and $10 million to bring the network from Loma Linda's westerly city limits on Barton Road to the 215 Freeway interchange in Grand Terrace about four miles away.
One idea Berry wants to pursue involves the participation of Loma Linda University Medical Center, which is expanding into other communities because of space limitations at its main site on Barton Road and Anderson Street.
The hospital leases a fiber strand from the city of Loma Linda, connecting its off-campus facilities to the medical center via a secure network.
Grand Terrace could use fiber optics as a selling point to bring hospital-related businesses that provide higher-paying jobs into town, Berry said.
"We have vacant land available if they would be interested in developing that land with us for medical facilities," Berry said.
Berry said he plans to set up a meeting with hospital officials in the next week or so to discuss the concept.
