Chamber, City jump on Google initiative

The City Council last night agreed with the Chamber on the importance of Google’s just- announced ultra high-speed broadband initiative. Just yesterday, the Chamber formed an ad hoc group to examine the feasibility of making San Luis Obispo one of the locations for Google’s new fiber optic trial. Google plans to launch an experiment that may make Internet access better and faster for everyone, and plans to install its broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Google networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today. If San Luis Obispo were successful in its application, our community would become known as of the most wired and interconnected in the nation. This would be a powerful economic development branding element and could attract entrepreneurs, which is essential to our vision of growing more meaningful, head-of-household jobs. The City agrees that this initiative could be a great potential opportunity and is also exploring the possibility of making San Luis Obispo a site for this fiber optic trial. Already, the idea to bring the initiative to SLO has spread online. There are nearly 1,200 Facebook fans of the "Bring Google Fiber to San Luis Obispo, CA!" page.

Seismic deadline extended for projects in development

At the urging of the Chamber, the City Council last night extended the seismic retrofit deadlines for three projects in the development review. The redevelopment projects include the Chinatown Project of Copelands' Properties, LLC, the Garden Street Terraces of WestPac Development Corporation, and the Naman Properties on Chorro Street that house the Visitors Center. Each includes unreinforced masonry buildings that need to either be retrofitted or removed as part of a larger redevelopment project that would be of significant benefit to the community. The previous deadline of July 1, 2010 was extended five years if certain conditions are met. The Chamber’s Seismic Task Force has been working on the complex issue of retrofitting since 1992. Since then, 75 percent of the affected buildings have been retrofitted with many having been remodeled or restored as part of the retrofitting.

Rappa ousted at Habitat for Humanity

Insiders report that the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity this month decided to not renew the contract of its executive director, well-known community leader Penny Rappa. Rappa served eight years on the city council, started working part time for Habitat in 2003, and became the executive director in 2006. Insiders say that after board members declined to renew her contract, they asked her to stay on temporarily to help with the transition. She declined.

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