The need for high-speed internet is on City Council’s agenda
6/2/2022, 6 p.m.
Expanding broadband connections across the city. That is a key goal of City Hall’s new Strategic Plan for Equitable Economic Development or SPEED.
Public housing and other low-income areas in Richmond have long lacked connection to high-speed internet service, just like many rural areas in Virginia and across the country.
For the first time, the plan acknowledges the situation that largely affects Black and brown communities and became glaringly evident when public schools in this city and elsewhere went virtual during the pandemic.
The SPEED proposal that is to be approved by City Council this month does not indicate where the funding will come from. The main element of the initiative calls for working with private companies, such as Comcast and Verizon, to come up with ways to ensure that every home and business can connect to the high-speed data highway.
Other goals included in the five-year plan that Mayor Levar M. Stoney introduced last week call for continuing the hot pace of development to create new jobs and generate new revenue and prepare more young people to graduate from college.
