New York City Far From Wireless

"...the idea of being able to gain a wireless connection to the Internet anywhere has exploded. Philadelphia will become the largest single population to implement a network later this year. Sixteen other American cities have already awarded contracts to companies, almost all of them small and independent, to provide free or low cost wireless broadband for public use.

New York City lags far behind all of these municipalities. "'Politicians [here] don't know the difference between a server and a waiter,' said Andrew Rasiej, who ran for public advocate last year on a platform of providing municipal wireless broadband. 'This is a city that made most of its money in the Industrial Age, and the people who control most of its power structures are Baby Boomers who don’t know much about technology.'"