Google Releases Update on the Fiber Project

Released by: Alma Brown, Communications Manager, 494-8554

The City of Peoria learned today that Google has chosen Kansas City, KS as its first pilot city for their Fiber To The Community project. We in Peoria congratulate Mayor Joe Reardon and the citizens and businesses of Kansas City in being selected for this great project. We are also happy that Google selected a Midwest community.

Peoria put together a strong application that would not have been possible without the enthusiasm, excitement and dedication of hundreds of supporters. Mayor Ardis wishes to extend his deepest thanks to all the individuals, organizations and companies who came together to work on this tremendous project. We are confident that Peoria's application made it hard for Google to choose.

We are also confident, however, that while not selected in this initial round, the future of high-speed internet in Peoria is bright. When Google co-founder Sergey Brin made the announcement this morning, he said, "We are rolling out communities, starting with Kansas City." Google also says it will be "looking closely at ways" in which it can add more cities to its fiber project soon. We are confident that Google will learn a lot during their Kansas City pilot and will quickly widen their network to include Peoria. The enthusiasm Peoria displayed could also attract another company that wants to deploy high-speed internet.