Sometime in the near, near future Pleasanton will be launching its free WiFi zone in the downtown area. The cost of the network? $45,000.

Last Saturday at the San Ramon Farmers Market, I ran into Scott Perkins – Vice Mayor of San Ramon. I asked Scott some questions about the proposed San Ramon City Center Project.

Scott talked about the cities plans to handle the traffic increase, the controversy over building heighth and funding it without a bond issue. I thought Scott made a lot of sense and I plan to follow up with a short interview for our blog.

I mentioned to Scott that the one thing I would love to see in the City Center would be a FREE WiFi Zone in San Ramon. Scott’s response was that he would love to see it also if someone would pick up the $150,000 price tab. His argument was that he would have to reduce the police force by one officer or the parks department by two in order to fund the project.

Well, Pleasanton did it for a third of the figure that Scott threw out off the top of his head. And if you read the press around the project you learn that the business owners and civic leaders of Pleasanton agree that FREE WiFi is good for the community and for business.

Hopefully before the last yard of concrete dries on the City Center, the leaders in San Ramon will get on board with FREE WiFi. By then we will also see what Pleasanton’s track record is and whether it does make good economic sense.

by John Harper 

I was over at one of my favorite hangouts in Pleasanton, CA on Friday - Tullys. Tullys is a great place to hang out and get some work done. Especially, if you get a soft ice cream and pour a couple of shots of espresso over it. Tully's has FREE WiFi access, though I think the FREE WiFi zone is now operational in downtown Pleasanton.

I was at Tullys to meet up with Rhonda Fee and Karen Bartholomew, a couple of blogging converts that needed a pointer or two on blogging. The biggest table with a power outlet near was being occupied by this gent - Brian Clark. Turns out that Brian is the VP Planning & Sales for Virgin Amercia Airlines.

Well, given that I retired from Delta AirLines last August, we started talking airlines and then blogging as Brian informed me that Virgin America had a blog on their site. After taking a look, I informed Brian that you really couldn't call what Virgin America has on their site a blog. We kicked blogging around a bit, the airlines a bit more and then Brian had to make some calls and Rhonda, Karen and I needed to have our chat.

One of the points of interest in the conversation with Brian was his mention of the resistance VA is getting from unions. I found that interesting as Delta is mostly non-union and most of the low-cost startups are non-union.

I'll be keeping an eye on the VA site to see if they get the okay to fly and if they figure out blogging and what it can do to help them connect with their customers.