
{"id":9079,"date":"2010-02-18T11:11:11","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T19:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=9079"},"modified":"2010-02-18T11:11:11","modified_gmt":"2010-02-18T19:11:11","slug":"do-you-have-a-need-for-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/02\/18\/do-you-have-a-need-for-speed\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you have a need for speed?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Margot C. Lester<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been hanging around Facebook or listening to WCHL, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve probably heard that Google\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s looking for a town (or maybe more) to test-drive it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00c3\u00bcber-high-speed Internet. Google will offer networks via an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153open access\u00e2\u20ac\u009d model, meaning that customers have access to several service providers. The initial stage of the program will run the super-fast service only to homes.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Since most of us have migrated off dial-up (haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t we?), you may be asking yourself, do we need faster Internet? Yes, says local broadband activist Brian Russell, who started a Facebook group to encourage the Chapel Hill and Carrboro town governments to submit a request for information to be considered for the pilot program. Besides making it faster and easier to watch YouTube videos of cats playing the piano or to catch up on the Olympics you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve missed while actually showing up at your job and working, there could be business applications once the service is extended for commercial use.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This speed of bandwidth would do a lot to attract companies to our county,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Russell asserts. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fiber is an infrastructure incentive that can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be lost or taken [away] when a company fails.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Molly Ingersoll has an even grander view. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a product manager on Google\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s alternative access team.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In the same way that the transition from dial-up to broadband made possible the emergence of online video and countless other applications, ultra high-speed bandwidth will lead to new innovations \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including streaming high-definition video content, remote data storage, distance learning, telemedicine, real-time multimedia collaboration and others that we cannot yet imagine,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ingersoll said via email. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If the Internet has taught us anything, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that the most important innovations are often those we least expect.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the biggest immediate benefit of winning the bid would be a cost savings for local governments. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fiber to the home requires the installation of cable in public right-of-ways,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Russell says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is already being done in our community right now. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most expensive part of an end-to-end fiber network. Attracting a big company like Google to finance it would be a major win, both in innovation potential and money saved.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Chapel Hill and Carrboro officials have indicated an interest in pursuing the project. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The type of service described by Google is a great opportunity for the Town to help facilitate the delivery of technological services to its residents,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s information and technology manager Andy Vogel via email.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is well within the scope of what we currently do and could easily co-exist alongside of our current fiber network.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Carolina Fitness expands<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nCarolina Fitness quietly opened a new facility on Elliott Road last month. Owner David Gillespie expects more hoopla any day now when the final five pieces of a fat-busting, muscle-building Matrix system have been installed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as early as month\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s end. The new club will be the first on the East Coast to have the new circuit training apparatuses. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s better than anything I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever seen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gillespie says. Lest Carrberians feel left out, Gillespie says he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to revamp the gym\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Carrboro location too. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be putting in 50 new pieces of cardio and doing a total facelift. We want to have the two best clubs in the area.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the down economy, the gym business has thrived.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People need stress relief,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gillespie says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are a lot of business people and upper management in Chapel Hill and Carrboro who know the importance of fitness. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll make the financial adjustments to keep their gym memberships.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Besides, Gillespie continues, Carolina Fitness is a good deal. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Monthly membership\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only $29.95. That gives you the best club in town at a very affordable rate.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office vacancy up<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nLast week, Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt and others attended a presentation by office market consultant Ernie Bleinberger. The news was mixed. About 300,000 square feet of the total 2.2-million-square-foot office inventory is vacant, with 450,000 more square feet approved but unbuilt and another 200,000 in the planning stages. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our vacancy rate has grown when compared to previous years, but we have added close to 200,000 square feet in the last year and an additional 70,000 in the last two years,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Dwight Bassett, the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economic development officer. <\/p>\n<p>Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absorption rate, the change in occupied office inventory, is 80,000 square feet annually. A higher absorption rate indicates that more space is leased than vacated. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our goal is to grow our absorption rate and thus our overall office market,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bassett says. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Goodmon Awards nominations still open<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nGive some props to a local business or partnership that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made the Triangle a better place to live by nominating them for a Goodmon Award. Sponsored by Leadership Triangle and named after business and community icon Jim Goodmon, the awards recognize outstanding achievement in improving the quality of life in our region. Nomination forms can be downloaded at leadershiptriangle.org. Entries must be received by Feb. 23. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Splinter Group announces new projects<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nCarrboro-based advertising, marketing and design firm The Splinter Group announced a handful of new clients and projects recently. The firm landed the Burlington Aviation account and will create a new brand identiy, ad campaign and website for the Alamance County flight-training company. The Group also is redesigning the website for carolinaperformingarts.org, creating a new site for The Crunkleton and developing a name and logo for a new beer that Carolina Brewery is crafting for the Durham Bulls. The firm recently completed branding and opening marketing for two new businesses in Chapel Hill: The Chocolate Door and Flyleaf Books.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chatham Development Briefing scheduled for March 9<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nOn Tuesday, March 9 from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m., the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Chatham Chambers of Commerce; Greater Chapel Hill Association of Realtors; and the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham Counties will host the fourth annual breakfast briefing at the Governors Club. Admission is $25 for chamber members and $35 for non-members. Register online at <a href=\"http:\/\/carolinachamber.org\/\">carolinachamber.org<\/a> or by calling Laura Morrison at 357-9989.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Margot C. Lester If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been hanging around Facebook or listening to WCHL, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve probably heard that Google\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s looking for a town (or maybe more) to test-drive it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00c3\u00bcber-high-speed Internet. Google will offer networks via an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153open access\u00e2\u20ac\u009d model, meaning that customers have access to several service providers. The initial stage of the program will&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9079"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9081,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9079\/revisions\/9081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}