FCC hails Mayor Daley's plan to bring technology to 5 Chicago neighborhoods

Five months after designating four impoverished Chicago neighborhoods as "digital excellence demonstration communities," Mayor Richard Daley on Monday added a fifth neighborhood to the list and put some meat on the bone. The plan to flood Englewood, Auburn Gresham, Chicago Lawn, Pilsen and the latest addition, Humboldt Park, with technology was hailed by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski as a model for the nation. "As we develop the national broadband plan in Washington, we're paying a lot of attention to the smart actions being taken in cities like Chicago," Genachowski said. Mayor Daley argued that bridging a digital divide that has left nearly 40 percent of Chicagoans with little or no access to the Internet is as important to cities today as paving streets and building water and sewer systems was in the 19th and 20th Centuries. "Many Chicagoans haven't embraced broadband and digital technology because they see it as too hard or too expensive," Daley said.