LA council meetingset for Nov. 29

This month’s statewide special election and Thanksgiving holiday have changed the regular schedule and agendas of Los Altos City Council meetings in November and December. The council typically meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. This month the council’s second meeting will be held Nov. 29.

Upcoming items on the agenda include fire contract negotiations with the Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District, accepting the Sewer Master Plan and appropriating $89,000 for sewer capital projects, according to the city clerk. Residents are also expected to turn out to weigh in on the results of the Los Altos High School permanent parking survey. Incoming councilmembers and mayors have traditionally been sworn in during the last meeting of the month. This year, they will be sworn in Dec. 6. Outgoing Councilmen King Lear and John Moss and Mayor David Casas will also be honored.

MV gives go-aheadfor free Google Wi-Fi

The city of Mountain View in partnership with Google will install as many as 400 transmitters on streetlights to provide free Internet access to residents.

System testing could take place as soon as June, following the city council’s go-ahead last week for the world’s most popular search engine to proceed with plans to offer free wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi.

In return, Google stands to profit from advertising through the additional exposure. Google will pay Mountain View $12,600 annually and $3,000-$4,000 per year in installation and maintenance costs.

Some pundits see Google’s move as part of a plan to extend free Wi-Fi nationally. But Minnie Ingersoll, Google Wi-Fi product manager, called the action “a community outreach program.”

“We plan to build something exciting here, now that the city has approved our proposal,” Ingersoll wrote in a blog.

The council approved the plan Nov. 15, which included entering into an agreement with PG&E related to the connection of wireless transmitters on streetlight poles.

- Town Crier Staff Report