In September, the City of Chattanooga announced a public competition to name the free and secure Wi-Fi Network that will soon be available in city-owned spaces and city-owned buildings throughout Chattanooga. NoogaNet was the clear winner with 755 votes, or roughly 48% of the vote. In second place was ChattaFi with 398 votes (25%). After that, Chattanooga Public WiFi had 176 votes (11%), Chattanooga Connect had 130 votes (8%), and ChattaWifi had 108 votes (7%).
Citizens made over 900 total suggestions and 559 different names. A committee of community members narrowed the names down to five to be voted on by the public at large. The committee included the following members:
· Lakweshia Ewing- Biz Boom Apps, LLC (Committee chair)
· James McKissic- Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs
· James McNutt- Chattanooga Library
· Andrea Perry Lyons- First Things First
· Dennis Clark- Hope for The Inner City
· Shawn Kurrlemeir-Lee- Hamilton County Read 20
· Wayne Brown- Hamilton County Council of PTA
· Jennifer Crutchfield- WTCI-PBS
· Sean Ruff- Intern, City of Chattanooga
The five were voted on by the community for three weeks. The poll was closed on Tuesday, with a total of 1,568 unique votes.
“By providing free, secure, and ubiquitous WiFi in the public buildings and spaces the City of Chattanooga owns and operates, we will take one more step forward in addressing digital equity in our community,” said Mayor Andy Berke.
Phase one of the initiative is currently underway and includes the rewiring of city-owned public buildings to ensure ubiquitous and secure Wi-Fi access. These buildings include all 18 Youth & Family Development centers, Head Start centers, neighborhood Fire Halls, City Hall, the City Annex, the Development Resource Center (DRC) and more. After the initial phase is complete, the City will begin to wire city-owned public spaces, such as parks, for free Wi-Fi access.
The City of Chattanooga is committed to capitalizing on Chattanooga’s technology and innovation assets. In addition to taking inventory of City buildings and spaces to provide more Internet-accessible locations, Mayor Berke formed a Gig, Tech & Entrepreneurship task force, refocused The Enterprise Center, announced the creation of an Innovation District, and began addressing digital equity.