CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
A big time proposal by Mayor Emanuel that would bring thousands of jobs to Chicago along with making the city one of the most connected in the country.
The proposal includes free wireless Internet access in every public space, park, and plaza in the city. The mayor envisions affordable broadband in every neighborhood, with business having gigabit-speed access, about 50 times faster than currently available.
It's exciting for entrepreneurs who foresee the total of good-paying, digital jobs in Chicago tripling to 100,000 in the next few years.
Eight years after Mike Evans and a friend started Grub Hub in a 10-foot by 10-foot cubbyhole; the company has just moved more than 250 employees into 60,000 square feet in the heart of the Loop. And they need to hire another 35 people immediately. Grub Hub says it owes of its success to the presence of hundreds of other tech start ups.
"There's this sense of openness in the Chicago community that really facilitates this concept," Mike Evans of Grub Hub explains. "I lean a lot on the community of other entrepreneurs here to help me figure out to do things."
We saw that collaborative model in action on the 12th floor of the Merchandise Mart Monday. Named 1871, the year of the Great Fire after which Chicago was reborn, it's nurturing hundreds of tech entrepreneurs and wanna-be's.
"The number of new technology startups in the City of Chicago is doubling year over year over year," says Matt Moog of Viewpoints.com. "You have more venture capitalists investing money here. All of the major universities are realizing this is a big opportunity."
The mayor cited the phenomenal growth of Chicago's digital economy today as he announced today the goal of extending high-speed broadband wireless Internet access to every corner of the city. It would, in effect, be similar to other utilities, such as water and power.
"These are companies founded in Chicago, built in Chicago, recruiting for Chicago and making a whole new economy and helping us grow for the 21st century," Rahm announced.
The mayor said Google's Executive Ehairman Eric Schmidt persuaded him it would be a good idea to put broadband fiber into the ground right next to all the water and city pipes the city plans to replace in the next 10 years. That will be a key to the gigabit download speeds the mayor wants to make available. He says it will support tech entrepreneurs and new innovations.
