This is your Afternoon Report—a new series we’re trying out in which we offer a quickie post-meridian rundown of some minor developments in the always-happening streets of the Mission District. Got ideas or suggestions? Let us know what you think by sending an email to info@mission.com.
Weights and WiFi
This post is coming to you directly from the Mission Recreation Center, which joins 31 public spaces that got free city-supported WiFi today.
Google gifted the city’s Department of Technology $600,000 to create the 32 WiFi hotspots, which are popping up in rec centers like this one, city parks, as well as public plazas like Union Square and Civic Center Plaza. The official launch of these new hotspots, in the network dubbed #SFWiFi, comes a year after Ruckus Wireless granted the city $700,000 to provide coverage to parts of the Embarcadero and Market Street.
In the Mission, we’ve got hot spots at the Mission Rec Center and Dolores Park, though the park won’t come online until the big renovation project is complete, planned sometime for 2015 (we hope).
So far, the WiFi seems to work pretty darn well. I haven’t tried to stream Netflix yet, but for checking email and composing this post on WordPress, no complaints. Watching a YouTube video proved mostly doable. As the Examiner notes, the average speeds are expected to be “10-15 megabits per second download and 7-10 Mbps upload. However, The City did say some locations are seeing download speeds as high as 30 Mbps.”
Will this change the very nature of public spaces? Stefanie Yee, who works the front desk of the Mission Rec Center, doesn’t think so.
“Everyone here comes to work out,” said Yee, who explained that she had yet to see any laptop-toting freelancers looking for a workspace. “A lot of people have internet at home.”
Her co-worker behind the front desk, Karla Espada, completely disagreed. She thinks a lot of people could really use the free service. Indeed, it’s an open question. After a request by Supervisor Eric Mar in July, the city’s Budget Analyst is investigating the size of San Francisco’s “digital divide.”
“Community-wise, there’s a lot of people who don’t have internet,” Espada said. “Having free WiFi will be great.”
Sitting in the outdoor playground of the rec center, I’ve seen old men playing ping-pong, teenagers dribbling a basketball, tough guys lifting weights and doing sit-ups. So far, I’m the only one with a MacBook clicking away.
Waits and Work Opportunities
There’s a job fair happening right now at City College’s Mission Campus. It’s slated to end at 4 p.m., so if you’re looking for work, get your resume ready and your business casual slacks on now. Though if the turnout is any indication, things could go late. At around 2:30 p.m., an hour and half after the fair had started, there was a massive line of nearly 200 people snaking through City College’s courtyard (below). Mission Local talked to many job-seekers waiting in line—stay tuned for more on this hugely well-attended event and what it says about our local economy.
