Posted: 3/7/2010 12:56:53 PM EDT
Just found out I'm from Google, Kansas. http://cjonline.com/news/local/2010-03-01/topeka_to_be_google_kansas Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten signed a proclamation Monday calling for Topeka to be known for the month of March as "Google, Kansas — the capital city of fiber optics." Bunten told city council members about the proclamation prior to a special meeting of the council held at noon at City Hall to hear the first reading of a proposal that wasn't linked to local efforts to convince Google to make Topeka a test site for an ultrafast Internet connection. Bunten asked the seven council members on hand if they had a problem with his issuing the proclamation, which also encourages Topekans to recognize and support continuing efforts to bring Google's fiber optics experiment here. None objected. "I support pushing the 'send' button," Councilman Jeff Preisner said. Bunten told reporters afterward that the proclamation was "more 'fun' than anything else." He said he hoped it would set Topeka apart from other cities vying for Google's attention, which include Grand Rapids, Mich., and Baton Rouge, La. Bunten noted that Topeka's efforts to attract Google drew the attention of the New York Times, which published an Associated Press article about it. Bunten said he had heard the suggestion to change Topeka's name to "Google" from Jim Ogle, general manager of WIBW-TV Channel 13. Ogle told the council Monday about how Mayor Joan Wagnon in August 1998 issued a proclamation temporarily changing Topeka's name to "ToPikachu" in recognition of the nationwide kickoff here of the "Pokemon" media franchise, which features a fictional species of creatures named "Pikachu." Ogle said that if Topeka could change its name "for a small doll that sounds like I sneezed," it could certainly do the same for Google. City attorney Jackie Williams told the council that legally, the city couldn't change its name to Google for a short time period and then change it back. However, he said he saw no legal problem with Bunten's issuing a proclamation calling for Topeka to be referred to as "Google." The council discussed the possibility of taking a vote to show support for Bunten's proclamation. But after Williams told members their rules would prevent any such vote until next week, Bunten said he'd just go ahead and issue the proclamation. That proclamation recognizes Think Big Topeka, a new local group that on Feb. 11 initiated a campaign to gain support for the Google campaign. Think Big Topeka organized a Facebook group in support of the movement that has more than 10,000 members. Also on Monday, Shawnee County Web administrator David Eldridge said the county that day had begun an online survey it would conduct through Saturday at www.snco.us/survey to determine interest in Google's ultra-high speed Internet service. "We will use it to better understand local interest and may use portions of it in an application to Google to bring the fiber experiment here," he said, adding that the county wouldn't share personally identifiable information. At Monday's special city council meeting, members Preisner, Karen Hiller, John Alcala, Sylvia Ortiz, Larry Wolgast, Deborah Swank and Richard Harmon heard the first reading of a proposed ordinance seeking an exception to the city's liquor ordinance to allow the consumption and possession of alcohol from 10 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. March 17 in a barricaded area on the sidewalk adjacent to The Office, 124 S.W. 8th. The Office is located at the northeast corner of S.W. 8th and Jackson, the traditional starting point for the St. Patrick's Day parade held annually beginning at noon March 17. The council had planned to hear the first reading today and then act March 9 on the requested exception, which could have been enacted upon publication in the city's official newspaper on March 15. But after the council voted last week to cancel today's regular meeting, city officials realized that would push back the first reading of the proposal to March 9, meaning it would have been considered by the council on March 16 and — if approved — enacted on March 22, well past St. Patrick's Day. Monday's special meeting was scheduled with the sole purpose of hearing the proposal's first reading. The meeting began at 12:04 p.m. and ended at 12:09 p.m., said city clerk Brenda Younger. |