Chicago launches new push for broadband

Chicago is angling for about $100 million in federal stimulus money to build a high-speed Internet network that would reach some of the city's poorest neighborhoods. City officials have seized on the stimulus program as a second chance to bring broadband service to underserved areas like the South Side, after a more ambitious proposal to blanket the city with a wireless Internet signal fizzled in 2007. In the next few months, they plan to apply for federal funds to provide high-speed Internet access to tens of thousands of Chicago residents and a multitude of businesses. An expanded high-speed wireless network would help fulfill a goal of Mayor Richard M. Daley and others who long have argued that the lack of affordable broadband in some areas is an obstacle to education and economic development. The city estimates that broadband penetration in 23 of its 77 neighborhoods is lower than that in rural areas.