San Francisco to announce free WiFi initiative?

Updated

This could be really big, if true. Though we’re sure it will take time, and that SF Mayor Newsom (pictured here) will have a fight on his hands from jealous carriers. But he’s been known to go it alone before (remember, gay marriage), so this should be interesting.

The Merc is about to shrink its bureau space in San Francisco, and we were thinking it would harder to work there during visits if other colleagues bagged all the available wired broadband connections. We’ll be eager to hear more.

Will we really be able to just show up in SF, put our laptop on any table, and start working? That would be rad, and would be sure to lure a bunch of eager, empty-pocketed start-up folks to open shop south of Market — and maybe help SF outdo the southbay part of Silicon Valley.

From Business 2.0 blog:

Word on the San Francisco street is that Mayor Gavin Newsom will hold a press conference tomorrow, detailing his plans for a citywide WiFi network–adding fuel to our speculation that Google is readying a national broadband network with the hopes of giving away WiFi to everyone in America. A local startup called Feeva has already set up two San Francisco hotspots, including one at the public library and another in the Union Square shopping district, for which it partnered with Google. No word on whether Google is involved in the muncipal WiFi project, but we know that the search giant still has a relationship with Feeva.

Check out this story for more evidence that something is to come, and how Milpitas currently enjoys the status of Bay Area’s most-wifi’d city. And if Newsome doesn’t do anything, the issue might become a thorn in his side.

Update, 8/17: Here’s the SF web site on the initiative, and here’s the Merc’s coverage (free registration) in today’s paper.