EDITORIAL:Web access a good thing

There's a reason they call Burbank the Media Capital of the World.

With its movie and television studios, it's the epicenter of the entertainment world.

But let's face it. The real media these days is very much driven by cyberspace and the Internet, which is changing the way we receive our entertainment, do our jobs and communicate with each other.

Burbank has a chance to use this technology to affirm its prominence as this Media Capital while narrowing the digital divide. It has a chance to make cyberspace public space, ensuring that everyone, from Warner Bros. executives to out-of-work actors, has access to the Internet from anywhere in the city through a wireless connection.

Imagine a city where you could go anywhere, open up your laptop and begin surfing — for free.

That could be Burbank, if it extends wireless Internet access to the whole city; a move city officials are contemplating.

The idea is that the city, which already offers wireless Internet service in some areas, could build a wireless network, offering it in all areas, covering the cost out of the general fund. With city departments already toying with such technology for its own employees and with a fiber-optic infrastructure already in place locally, the idea is not farfetched.

It's still early, but estimates suggest it may not be cost-prohibitive, officials said.

If that's true and if officials could work out any potential glitches in it, it would be a boon for Burbank, establishing it as a pioneer among cities offering such a service and affirming itself as investor in new technologies that benefit the city's stakeholders.

The ability for visitors to the city, residents, students, healthcare workers, studios and city officials to tap into such a network could create smoother communication, more commerce, more learning and, in the end, more access to a 24/7 digital world.

That has tremendous potential, if used responsibly, to tap the good potential of the Internet — to make it a tool for learning and communication to benefit the community.

In essence, why can't such access be akin to a public library, or a park or even a public utility — essential functions in cities, which residents should have access to?

It's a question being asked across the country, as other cities contemplate publicly funded digital access. Philadelphia is among cities serious about going wireless, with a goal of free access over a 135-square-mile wireless "mesh."