Thursday, March 25, 2010

The official Google Moment is today and Asheville needs you!

Calling all Asheville citizens, friends of Asheville, bloggers of Asheville:

The city has set aside 1:30 PM today, Thurs, March 25th as a "Google Moment." It's a time to pause whatever you are working on and go nominate your town for the Google fiber project. You can both nominate and learn more on googleavl.com.

Here is the official announcement:

Asheville Encourages Citizens to Take Part in “Google Moment”
ASHEVILLE – Be part of the moment! At 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 25, Asheville citizens — including school children, employees, and business leaders — are encouraged to participate in a “Google Moment” and fill out online applications to make Asheville home of the Google Fiber Initiative.

On Thursday afternoon, area residents are encouraged to go to this website and nominate Asheville to receive the fiber network. Nominations can also be submitted at www.googleAVL.com, a locally coordinated site managed by advocates for the program.

On March 23, the Asheville City Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting Asheville as a target city for the Google Fiber initiative. In addition to that resolution, Council made a formal proclamation designating the “Google Moment” as a way to draw even more support from area residents.

Cities across the U.S. are competing for the Google Fiber Initiative project to win the installation of a fiber optic networkby Google estimated to be 100 times faster than current internet availability. The installment would come with no additional cost to the city.

Since the announcement in February, Asheville citizens have rallied to build momentum for the initiative. A March 18 Town Hall meeting on the topic at the Asheville Civic Center brought out community members, business owners and elected officials championing the addition to the city. Pictures of the event are posted on the City of Asheville Facebook Page.

Bringing Google Fiber to Asheville is compatible with the city’s strategic operating plan in both job growth and economic community development, as the fiber optic network is anticipated to attract technological companies to the area and increase the competitiveness of companies located here.

Alongside the citizen nominations, the Economic Development Coalition has been working with the City of Asheville and other local organizations to prepare a municipal application for the initiative.

The deadline for community nominations is Friday, March 26.

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