Mayor Rawlings-Blake Submits Google Fiber RFI for Baltimore
Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake sent Baltimore City’s completed Request for Information (RFI) to Google to help bring Google Fiber for Communities to the City. Early this month, the Mayor enlisted the support of top business and technology leaders and organizations to assist in Baltimore’s grassroots effort to attract Google Fiber for Communities an initiative that asks American cities and municipalities to compete for up to a billion dollars in fiber optic network infrastructure delivering speeds nearly 100 times faster than most internet connections.
“Baltimore is the best and most appropriate City in America for Google to invest in new blazing---fast internet infrastructure,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “Our history of innovation and invention, as well as the overwhelming business and community support behind the RFI is evidence that Google should choose Baltimore for the home of this exciting new technological advancement.”
On March 11th, the Mayor named Baltimore technology entrepreneur Tom Loveland as a volunteer “Google Czar” charged with working with the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and Neighborhoods to complete RFI for the City. Mr. Loveland is the CEO of Mind Over Machines, an IT strategy and application design firm, and co-founder of Gerretson LLC, a cybersecurity firm. In response to the passage of the "tech tax" in 2007, he led a lobbying and grassroots effort that resulted in the unprecedented repeal of the "Tech Tax" before it took effect as law. The Daily Record recognized Loveland as an Influential Marylander in 2009 and an Innovator of the Year in 2008.
Mayor Rawlings-Blake also enlisted the support of the Greater Baltimore Committee and the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore to assist the grassroots campaign to lure Google to Baltimore by recruiting additional support from larger corporations and institutions. Under Armour agreed to supply in-house marketing capabilities to assist the effort.
Mayor Rawlings-Blake recorded a YouTube video that was featured on BmoreFiber.com, a grassroots website designed to lure Google’s initiative to Baltimore. Her video is one of many recorded by elected officials, as well as business and community leaders to lend support to the city’s effort. Residents can visit http://www.bmorefiber.com/ to find out more about Baltimore’s effort to bring Google to Baltimore, and to join the conversation about this important initiative.
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