Kimberlee McKee, president of the Downtown Akron Partnership (DAP), spoke with us about her vision for the new Connect Akron Wireless Network, which will cover a 10-square-mile area of the central city and will serve between 80,000 and 90,000 Akron residents and over 30,000 downtown workers when complete later this year.
Q: DAP refers to this wireless corridor as a “living room.” Can you expand on that?
A: Downtown is the center of the community. It represents the heart and soul of the area. It is often described as the community living room – a place where all people, regardless of income, race, age, gender, etc. – can feel at home.
Q: DAP also anticipates more people downtown as a result of the network. How so?
A: It is our hope that the introduction of the wireless network will encourage businesses and other development, attracting students from the University of Akron. As more students take advantage of residential opportunities downtown in the coming years, we hope they will spend their free time at coffee shops, restaurants, the main library, the Akron Art Museum, Lock 3 Park and all of the resources downtown has to offer. The wireless network is a wonderful feature to help encourage students to incorporate downtown in to their daily lives.
Q: Does DAP have any specific plans at this point for drawing on the wireless network to promote downtown Akron?
A: In June we launched a redesign of our website, www.downtownakron.com, featuring interactive maps, a comprehensive calendar of downtown events and links to our social networking outlets to better serve downtown visitors. Recently Downtown Akron Partnership’s marketing efforts have been more toward email blasts and social networking. With the wireless network in place, more people than ever will have unrestricted access to all of the information DAP provides about downtown Akron.
Q: How might communications change during major downtown events, such as FirstNight?
A: We’ve been approached with ideas on ways to maximize the impact of the wireless network downtown such as digital kiosks and Bluetooth marketing. Moving forward, we will continue to work with the groups that are developing these ideas and possibly market downtown activities through these mediums.
