Google in Peoria would have positive impact on Washington

Google fever has hit metros across the nation as they vie for the chance to be home to the Internet heavy-hitter’s newest venture, Google Fiber Optics, an experiment that proposes to make Internet access better and faster. With a campaign to bring ultra high-speed Internet connectivity to Peoria, what does that mean for surrounding towns such as Washington?

“I think it’s obviously a benefit to the entire Central Illinois area if we are successful in this initiative,” said Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis.

“Hopefully, if we do get into a round where we are actually going to be considered for this, we not only would like to, we will, expect to be able to talk to Google about the strength in the surrounding communities and how important this would be not just for Peoria and Peoria County,
but for the region,” he said at a recent press conference.

Renee Charles, director of public affairs at Heartland Partnership said although the application for our area includes the entire region, Google has yet to make a decision on how far the project will go geographically. However, she said the community as a whole would benefit if Peoria is chosen.

“This is the new infrastructure for businesses,” she said. “It will bring business to Peoria and the surrounding areas.”

“If you have that kind of infrastructure in place, it helps to attract businesses because they see that we are on the cutting edge,” she said.

Washington Mayor Gary Manier agreed.

“Obviously, we’re all in favor of it coming to Peoria. A lot of our employees work on the Peoria side of the river. Plus, we’re hoping if they pilot in the Peoria area, we could get some regionalism going and they’d look at bringing it to Washington, as well,” he said. “For this region, it’s huge because of the jobs it can create.”

James Kelly, a project manager on Google’s infrastructure team, recently said on an informational video about the project that the ultra high-speed broadband networks will be tested in one or more trial locations across the country.  

“Google networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today,” he said. “Fiber-to-the-home connections will bring the Internet at speeds of over one gigabit per second, to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.” 

Current high-speed Internet rates max out at 10 megabits per second in Central Illinois.
Interested municipalities have until Friday to answer the call and provide community information through a Request for Information, which Google will use to determine where to build the network.

Charles said this would not only impact businesses, but schools and personal use as well.

“Schools have really stepped up technology,” she said. She added that schools utilizing technology in the classroom would have it that much easier if everybody could be on the Internet at once or if large files could be downloaded or shared more quickly.

If Google were to play in Peoria, Charles said connections would be “easier, faster, quicker, friend-to-friend, person-to-person, business-to-business.”

Other areas attempting to entice Google include Topeka, Kan., whose mayor signed a proclamation renaming the city Google, Kan., for the month of March.

The mayor of Duluth, Minn., jumped into Lake Superior at 35 degrees to show how happy he is that his city is a contender.

Residents of Grand Rapids, Mich., have expressed their pride and excitement on a Facebook fan page, which has  collected more than 33,000 fans.

While Peoria’s Facebook fan page has not quite reached this level of excitement at just more than 5,800 fans, activists trying to lure the search giant to the River City have flooded YouTube with videos.

One such video invites Google to become Peoria’s eighth wonder, joining the ranks of Vanna Whitewall, the clown that adorns Emo’s and the Hubcap House. Another tells Google to come to Peoria, “the geographic center of the universe.”

 For more information or to nominate Peoria, visit www.googleplaysinpeoria.com.