Free wifi for Wynnum Central proposed by council
Brisbane City Council recently announced plans to roll out free wifi coverage in Wynnum CBD (Brisbane in Business Jul/Sep 2016). Council confirmed to WynnumCentral that there is no fixed date for the rollout but said it would happen before the end of the financial year, ie by June 2017 (this is contrary to a report in the Wynnum Herald 3rd August p4)which indicated this would happen within the next three years).
As the Wynnum Herald points out, there is already free Council wifi provided at the new Wynnum Library in Florence Street.
WynnumCentral can now reveal that in March 2015 the Wynnum Chamber (CCIQ Brisbane Bayside) and WynnumCentral proposed a joint venture to Brisbane City Council to roll out free wifi in Wynnum CBD, along with a proposal to extend the Wynnum Creative Spaces program in Wynnum Central to address the large number of vacant shops. Unfortunately Brisbane City Council did not take up either of these proposals.
The proposed free wifi network would not only have provided free wifi across Wynnum Central, but would also have provided valuable feedback to traders and event organisers on the number of people in the street for special events and general trading.
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I am curious, can someone explain to me a good reason why the council needs to provide a free wifi network. The majority of people have a smart phone that is already connected to the Internet. What about those that have a tablet or laptop,well if you can connect those to a free wifi, you can hotspot them to your own smart phone and use the data you have already paid for.
I don’t have a problem with council supplying free services, but why give a free service to the majority that already have that service. But what about the minority that don’t have a smart phone. Well the chances are they have no desire or the need to use free wifi. I feel that the money being spent on feel good projects like free wifi, and red buckets on the footpath could be better spent on fixing the poor condition of our roads. The estate I live in has been full of pot holes , lifting manholes and sinking bitumen for over 10 years. We have had to call ambulances on many occasions because people have fallen over the lifting manhole in front of our house. There are many more roads in the same condition in Wynnum. Council could also spend that money on the homeless, also on restructuring Wynnum to allow more visitors eg, fix up parking, plenty of options which have been discussed here before.
As I said, please explain why we need free wifi, I am certainly open minded as to why. I personally can’t see justification, for the expense, it is our rates money that is paying for this at the neglect of other infrastructure and maintianence.