Air. Water. Phones. Electricity.
The internet.
The Harp administration Monday released a two-year plan to move the city to seeing access to that last item — the web — an essential utility in New Haven. Just like other utilities that keep us alive and connected.
Its two-year “Digital Inclusion Plan” aims to do that through a “dig once” ordinance that would make it easier to include fiber-optic conduits alongside other utility wires and pipes in underground trenches; a pilot free public wi-fi program in Newhallville; and a request for proposals for a private company to work alongside the city “to make affordable Gigabit-class broadband available to all New Haven homes and businesses over privately or publicly constructed infrastructure.”
The plan aims to close a digital gap that leaves people of color and lower-income New Haveners with less high-speed internet access.
Click here to read the administration’s 16-page plan and report.