LITTLE GEMS
Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Ireland and so many other countries have free Wi-Fi throughout.
Why is the United States so lagging? In the U.S., citizens are dependent upon small businesses to have Wi-Fi (and pay for it) and then allow others in the local area to use their Wi-Fi systems. In 100% of Estonia, of all places, you can get free Wi-Fi everywhere, even out in the forests, and it’s 15 megabytes download and 15 upload.
The Wi-Fi problem in the United States is due strictly to one small glitch in capitalism, as we all experience it here. Competition for money. Just like with the cell phone companies, the capitalistic system in the U.S. allows big companies to buy out the small companies and then limit service to a minimum in order to cut expenses. The reduced service is then touted as being sufficient for the public’s needs. These big companies then lobby the representative governmental leaders to keep it that way. Your Wi-Fi inadequacy or high expense is rampant when compared to cities and towns in almost the entire rest of the world. This is being done to us all on purpose and for money. Oh, and nobody talks about it at all.
The people spoke and the City of Lake Geneva listened.
City of Lake Geneva residents went before city officials with concerns about speed bumps, those huge damaging bumps that were placed by the Town of Geneva on the hill going up and down North Center Street. Residents were concerned about the damage the unusually large and obnoxious speed bumps had been caused to so many vehicles. City council members agreed that the speed bumps were aggressive and petitioned that the Town of Geneva remove them.
The Town of Geneva stated it didn’t have the manpower to consistently patrol the hill and that the speed bumps were the only option to control the traffic. City Administrator, Dave Nord, sent the town a letter requesting that they remove the speed bumps with thoughts that if speeding is a big concern on the hill then maybe traffic lights would be a better solution. The town responded to the city’s request saying that the speed bumps would be temporarily removed in November or December but be put back in place in spring. This was not the solution the city was looking for so negotiations began between the city and town to find an answer that would accommodate the residents, city, and town.
After a lot of back and forth between the lawyers for the city and town, a resolution was finally found. Multi-jurisdiction has been established, allowing both the city and town to patrol that small section of Center Street, and to ticket any violators. Violators will attend court depending on what department the writing officer is from. It took time to go through all the proper channels to find the right solution but it was worth the wait and, in the end, everyone’s likely to be a winner following this dispute (except maybe the speeders).
Person of the Week
Fred Walling the Lake Geneva Building & Zoning Director and his wonderful dog Orbis are out for a walk enjoying the day. Fred is a great guy and an asset to the City of Lake Geneva!
