Those who control city purse strings often have no vision
I took part in a roundtable discussion on the Government Channel last night on Wi Fi, and its implications for Fayetteville. Moderated by KUAF’s Kyle Kellams, participants also included Bill Ramsey from the Chamber of Commerce, Shelli Bell from the Telecomm Board, Dale Riggins of the Fayetteville Fire Department, Bill Phelan of the Fayetteville Police Department, and James Grigsby, a Wireless network consultant.
I think the folks I was sitting with did an admirable job of making a technical subject easy to digest. The roundtable will be run again on Monday at 9am, and next Saturday at noon. Those living outside Fayetteville can call 444-3434 for a copy.
The program will no doubt also end up on being replayed on Community Access Television. For that matter, it should probably be played on the Jones Network.
As I was sitting there, one inescapable conclusion seemed to arise from it all: the ones most comfortable with the emerging technologies, and most likely to show us all how to benefit from it, are not the ones with their hands on the purse strings. No, all too often, the ones controlling the money are those who have no vision or imagination.
While other cities contemplate city-wide Wi Fi - as many in Fayetteville are - there are real fears that Fayetteville may limit itself to the square, or Dickson Street, and fondly imagine that it is “cutting edge.”
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According to the Morning News, the Green Party submitted signatures to the Secretary of State’s office this week, hoping to have Rebekah Kennedy placed on the ballot against Mark Pryor. Like Blanche Lambert Lincoln, Pryor is the occasional Democrat who represents Arkansas in Congress.
2008 may be the year for the Greens in Arkansas.
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Watching “CSI Miami” this week, and a scene played itself out which has been played out hundreds of times before on the CSI shows - and the Law and Order franchise, plus other cop shows. Without attorney present, a criminal confesses to a murder.
After which, a legal pad is usually thrust in their direction, and they are instructed to write out their confession - all without an attorney being present. As much as I enjoy the show, I can’t help thinking, “Boy, I bet you don’t have a very high conviction rate.”
Comments
There may be some of the same production money in CSI and Law N Order but DON'T confuse the two formats.
Law n Order writers have quite a fest over issues of Miranda rights, 4th Amendment, and numerous other police vs. US issues. The good guys don't always win either. Dick Wolf keeps most of his focus on real issues.
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If you think CSI is betraying American Jurisprudence be sure to catch "24" on FOX. You will never see or hear of a search warrant, a courtroom. The hero is always after the ill-defined "terrrorists" and as is usual, in preparing a dumbed down populace, time is of the utmost importance, not our legal system. This is true because they have roughly 40 mins to present the danger and solve it in between hamburger and car advs.
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Posted by: eLwood![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/streetjazz/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 1, 2007 04:50 PM