Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Mayor Baskett’

rescheduled State of the City 2014

Read Full Post »

rescheduled State of the City 2014

Read Full Post »

This year, the Decatur MLK Jr. Service Project decided to create an award to recognize participants that go above and beyond to support the project. The MVP Award (Most Valuable Participant) will be given out each year to a person or organization that has been identified for their exemplary contributions.

M. Cary & Daughters Plumbing was selected as the first recipient for the 2014 event. The business has worked with the program for four years, and donated thousands of dollars worth of time and resources.

Michelle Cary (center) accepts the 2014 MVP award from Mayor Jim Baskett (right) and Paul Mitchell.

Michelle Cary (center) accepts the 2014 MVP award from Mayor Jim Baskett (right) and Paul Mitchell.

“We simply could not do what we do without their skills to stop leaks, fix broken pipes and fixtures, replace toilets… you name it and they’ve done it,” says Paul Mitchell, chair of the executive committee.

Michelle Cary accepted the award at the City Commission meeting on February 18 and was overwhelmed by the recognition.

“This isn’t why we participate,” Michelle said quietly after receiving the award. Her humble nature reiterates why this award is so valuable. Contractors and individuals donate their time every year to this project with only one goal in mind; support Decatur’s low-income seniors.

Thank you to M. Cary & Daughters Plumbing and all the other donors to the project.

Read Full Post »

Today, Mayor Jim Baskett announced that Decatur is on a short list of cities working with Google to explore the possibility of bringing the ultra high speed Google Fiber broadband network to the city.

Improving broadband speed and choice for our residents has been a priority for Decatur for years, including applying for Google Fiber in 2010. Today’s average American broadband speed is 9.8 Megabits per second. In contrast, Google Fiber could bring Decatur residents access to “Gigabit” Internet connections up to 1,000 Megabits per second—or up to 100 times faster than basic broadband.

“The City of Decatur is proud to be on Google’s short list,” said Mayor Baskett. “Decatur is known for being forward thinking in our commitment to sustainable, long-term planning. We now have the opportunity to demonstrate that we are fiber ready and future ready. Our entire community of homes, schools and places of worship would benefit from Google Fiber’s unbelievably fast internet speeds, in ways we can’t even imagine. We look forward to Google’s building the infrastructure for this technological investment in our community.”

“Communities with abundant high-speed Internet grow stronger because there’s greater potential to create jobs, drive economic growth, and help students and families get access to essential resources” said Kevin Lo, General Manager for Google Fiber. “The Decatur City Commission is stepping up to see what they can do to make their city ready for the fiber-optic networks that are the future. We look forward to working with the City of Decatur in the coming months to see if we can build the next chapter of the Internet together, on gigabit speeds.”

There is huge consumer demand for faster Internet speeds, because no one likes to wait on the web. Unfortunately, many of the things people love to do online (like gaming, watching movies, video chatting) require a lot of bandwidth, which means that, using today’s connections, consumers often get stuck waiting for pages to load or for videos to buffer. Statistics show that people walk away from slow-loading sites. And gig networks aren’t just about meeting today’s speed needs. The next 100x leap in broadband speeds — to gigabit Internet — will lead to innovation that’s unimaginable today, just as the shift from dial-up to broadband did.

Starting this week, Google will work closely with city leaders and staff on a joint planning process to explore what it would take to build a brand new fiber-optic network capable of delivering these gigabit speeds throughout the city of Decatur. Google will begin compiling a detailed study of local factors that might affect construction plans. Simultaneously, city officials will begin meetings with Google to discuss what it would take to plan and prepare the city for a fiber project of this scale.

Google will provide an update on which cities will get Google Fiber by the end of this year. Google Fiber is an Internet and TV service that provides Internet connectivity that is up to 100x faster than the basic broadband, along with hundreds of HD TV channels. Google Fiber is currently available in Kansas City, Kan., Kansas City, Mo. and Provo, Utah and will be available in Austin, Texas later this year. For more information about this announcement, visit the Google Fiber blog.

Additional information for the news media (including b-roll and graphics) is available on the press website.

city-of-decatur-logo-2in

Read Full Post »

The Mayor’s State of the City address, originally scheduled for Tuesday evening, will be rescheduled soon.

Read Full Post »