By Aleasha Sandley, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
ANDERSON, Ind. — Residents who support Google’s fiber optics project coming to Anderson are invited to show it Monday at a rally at the Paramount Theatre.
The city will host the rally, to be filmed for video submission to Google, at 11 a.m., starting outside the Paramount for the initial video shoot. The group then will move inside the theater for additional shots.
“The reason we’re requesting the public to show up is to support our efforts in attracting Google to Anderson,” city Economic Development Director Linda Dawson said. “Google is going to judge where they’re going to locate at by the desire of the community, so if we have a large crowd there that we can video and put it as part of our Google application, we feel it’s a win for everybody from the business person to the government to the residential user.”
City network administrator Darren Grile said Anderson University’s Covenant Productions would shoot the video to send to Google.
“A lot of times you just can’t quite get the idea across” with a written application, Grile said. “I think (video) also helps in communicating how serious you are by seeing the person’s face. We’re also going to get an opportunity to show some of the facilities and some of the sites around Anderson.”
Google announced in late February that it was seeking a community of 50,000 to 500,000 residents to set up and test its newly developed ultra-high-speed Internet service that it said will deliver speeds more than 100 times faster than most Americans can access now. Google expects to provide the service at a competitive price, according to the project’s Web site.
Anderson is one of many cities across the country competing for the Google fiber optics project, for which the application is due by March 26.
“If we are chosen as the Google city, it would have great benefit not only in the ability to market the city, it would also provide home users with Internet service 100 times faster than what they have now at a competitive price,” Dawson said. “The mayor’s asking everybody to come out and be a part of Googlemania. We have high hopes that the citizens in Anderson would want to participate in any venture that sped up their Internet.”
The project would come at no cost to the city, besides the marketing efforts involved in the application process, Dawson said. Marketing has been geared to Internet and social media outlets, such as Facebook, to attract the Internet giant.
“Google represents fiber optics, represents the Internet, so everything we are doing is geared toward that medium,” Dawson said.
Grile said he would jump in Shadyside Lake if the city’s Google Facebook site received 2,000 members.
Besides attending Monday’s rally, residents are asked to give their input online to Google by filling out a questionnaire asking residents why they want Google in their city. Go to cityofanderson.com and click the “Anderson wants Google” button to fill out the survey.
Residents and business owners all over the city have been getting involved in attracting Google to Anderson, Dawson said.
“The participation so far, with such late notice, has been tremendous,” she said. “Our Facebook is picking up hundreds of new participants a day that we feel is attributed to the Googlemania that’s going around the city. We’re hearing people talk about Google everywhere we go.
“Anderson has been Google-ized.”
Participate in the rally
The city will sponsor a rally Monday, March 15, for residents to show their support for bringing the Google project to Anderson.
-- 11 a.m. Monday at the Paramount Theatre, 1124 Meridian Plaza.
-- Wear Google colors (blue, red, yellow or green)
-- T-shirts will be given to the first 50 participants
-- Meridian Street Bar & Grill (across from the Paramount) will offer an $8 lunch buffet to rally participants.
Participate online
Anderson residents are asked to show their support for the Google fiber optics project online.
-- Go to cityofanderson.com and click “Anderson wants Google” to fill out a questionnaire about why Anderson needs Google
-- Join the city’s Google Facebook page at facebook.com/googlefiberforanderson
-- To learn more about the project or offer ideas, contact city network administrator Darren Grile at andersonfiber@gmail.com
Contact Aleasha Sandley: 640-4805, aleasha.sandley@heraldbulletin.com.
