The return of the catapult!

Hey, you didn't think Mrs. White would be satisfied with a measley $5 Million did you?

The sudden collapse of EarthLink's deal to provide all of Houston with wireless Internet access is actually a lucky break. Houston made out nicely in the final settlement: EarthLink paid $5 million for defaulting on the deal.

Houston's plan B — free Internet service "bubbles" in 10 underserved areas — instead offers a laboratory in which to test the practicality of citywide Internet service. At the same time, the bubbles will bring online many residents whose lives can be improved dramatically by the free access.

It's an exciting opportunity, and Houston should take full advantage. Starting with Gulfton — the dense, low-income location of the first "bubble" — the city needs to provide hardware, training and marketing so neighborhood residents can hit the online landscape at a run.

Citywide wireless is an attractive notion. Fortunately, its flaws surfaced before the Houston build-out began. As other cities also discovered, universal access includes many more costs than EarthLink and other companies calculated. Who pays for maintenance and infrastructure if the operator later backs out? Whose service standards should be met? And while it seemed egalitarian, Houston's goal of wiring nearly the entire city was impractical, involving service to vacant lots and other dead zones.

The Internet "bubbles" will give Houston the chance to analyze these and other issues. The project should also prompt serious thinking about problems that will become pressing several years from now. Among them: the impact of unlimited computer access on residents' lives; how to keep unsupervised children from downloading improper content; how to relieve workers stressed by being accessible and on call virtually 24 hours per day.

So now the call is for computers, training and infrastructure to be provided to everyone in the neighborhood? All on the taxpayer dime of course. Because, Houston's not suffering from trinket governance that's harming the City's ability to provide basic services?

There are currently serious concerns about the City's ability to fund anti-crime programs, and Mrs. White wants to roll out the catapult to send an entire neighborhood to Circuit City?

And, why the sudden turnaround on Citywide Wi-fi? Just a few short month's ago Mrs. White was still singing its praises:

Meanwhile, Mayor White is right to be on the lookout for an alternative offer - preferably from a company with a business model that includes giving Houstonians citywide Wi-Fi in a timely, reliable manner.

When the entire wi-fi idea was rolled out I termed myself "cautiously optimistic" but that quickly turned to pessimism when I realized that the wi-fi would be a huge cost driver with limited benefit. The current plan is being sold as a group of wi-fi "bubbles" that provide connectivity to people who probably don't have wi-fi capable systems to begin with.

Of course, the answer is not to blanket the business centers with a wi-fi bubble (you know, someone who could pay for the service and fund its expansion) Nope, the calls now are for the City to spend even MORE money (money it doesn't have) to pay for computers, wiring and infrastructure for a system that's going to be generating exactly zero revenue.

All of this comes at a time of rising costs due to both contractual and market related reasons and a time when Houston should be looking to shore up central services and tighten its belt in anticipation of a weak National economy that's beginning to creep around the edges of the local economy.

Not smart. Fortunately for Mrs. White the Chron's arhival system makes it difficult for most readers to track her ramblings.