Jack Whitley, a technology exec at Replacements. Ltd., is on the committee advising City staff on its response to the Google RFI. He came up with a list of things Greensboro offers Google. You can read an edited version after the jump.

[partial list; redacted to maintain competitive advantage]

Why Greensboro is Good for Google

by Jack Whitley

Ease of Right Of Way Access For City Fiber Backbone – The new Painter Boulevard Urban Loop roadbed encircles entire city, and passes close to key infrastructure and institutions. With this urban loop roadbed being new, legacy right-of-way issues (and legacy cabling infrastructure issues) would be minimal.

Gigabit Internet Business Incubation + New FedEx Cargo Hub - Greensboro offers an excellent test market to measure the effect of gigabit symmetrical internet access on regional business and industrial growth and recruitment, when combined with the new, state-of-the-art FedEx cargo hub at Piedmont Triad International airport.

Comparative Measurement Opportunities for Educational Institution Uptake - Greensboro's seven universities and colleges are implementing diverse technology education initiatives including community college technical training, the recent completion of a new, university-level nanotechnology campus, and a new university-level law school located in the Greensboro, NC downtown area, 30 miles from its main campus. With Google gigabit fiber, it would be possible to measure how seven different educational institutions (along with elementary and secondary schools) could take advantage of a 100-fold increase in symmetrical broadband Internet connectivity. Would the increase make UNC-G's switch from Lotus Notes to gMail more effective? Would gigabit real-time interactivity encourage the move to gMail and Google Docs among other educational institutions, both public and private? Would symmetrical gigabit broadband allow the new joint-effort nanotechnology campus to share large data sets more easily with other research centers, speeding innovation in areas including critical new green jobs technology?

Measuring Local GDP Improvement (vs. Peer Cities) due To Gigabit Internet - Due to the steady loss of traditional manufacturing base in the greater Greensboro area, the city has fallen behind peer cities Raleigh and Charlotte in terms of economic activity and opportunity for its citizens. The advent of gigabit internet service in Greensboro would offer the ability to measure how ultrafast internet connectivity could structurally change the dynamic of a local economy vs. peer cities without such access.

Excellent Test City for Local Google AdWords Lift via Gigabit Internet - One Greensboro, NC mid-market online retailer, Replacements, Ltd., is spending $2.5 million per year via Google online programs, and has partnered as a beta tester for many innovative Google programs during the past six years. Greensboro would be an excellent test city for measuring the incremental increase in activity in Google's revenue generating programs once gigabit internet was implemented.

Topography – The topography in Guilford County is relatively flat, with loam and clay soils. Climate is moderate.

Much more where that came from...

Comments

[Ross Myers]

Thanks for sharing...did you redact or did Mr. Whitley?

[Bubba]

Most of Whitley's ideas make sense, but I wonder about the Google Ad Words claim.

Who else besides Replacements is a big Ad Words user on more than a local basis?

[Roch101]

If this is in the possession of the city, it is subject to release, without redaction, by NC public records law.

Sam Spagnola seems to make good use of Ad Words. I see his ads often.

[Andrew M]

Off topic I know. But for a city that is supposedly the most wired in the country, Raleigh's response to Google Fi has been underwhelming at best. PS. The new googlegreensboro site looks much better.

[Bubba]

"Sam Spagnola seems to make good use of Ad Words."

I'm thinking about users like Replacements, who want to reach much larger audiences than those in North Carolina alone, with many different campaigns running at the same time.

[Ross Myers]

From their website:

Founded by Bob Page in 1981, Replacements, Ltd. (located in Greensboro, NC) has the world's largest selection of old & new dinnerware, including china, stoneware, crystal, glassware, silver, stainless, and collectibles. Our 415,000 square foot facilities (the size of seven football fields!) house an incredible inventory of 13 million pieces in more than 300,000 patterns, some over 100 years old! We add thousands of items to our site each day, so click on the categories above that match your interest, and spend some time with us online!

[RecycleBill]

Finally, someone is on the right wavelength. Now we only need that one thing that no other city can do. (Who knows, maybe it's in the redacted part?)

[Ross Myers]

Please post the redacted parts.

[Ed Cone]

Ross, I agree with Steve Moore, quoted at your link, and have tried to push the What's In It For Google meme from the start.

Some of the items on the list, while specific to Greensboro, might be repackaged by other cities and thus reduce the unique value of our official application. It seems to me that we should be careful about tipping our hand before the applications are filed.

[Ross Myers]

1. Once we post the idea in an open forum it becomes Greensboro’s and any one else that incorporates it into their proposal will be following our lead.
2. Ideas beget Ideas.
3. Every application will be pretty much like everyone else’s. I believe a great way to to separate ourselves from the pack is through the process of how we complete the app as well as what is included in final draft.
4. By wearing our community assets on our sleeves we open the possibilities for other businesses besides Google to consider our community as home.

[Ed Cone]

Good points, although I'm guessing the part about others following our lead doesn't matter -- if you've got the attribute, you've got the attribute, and that's what Google cares about.

The really important one, imho, is that ideas beget ideas, and we want to get as many good ideas as possible into our application.

Let's keep talking about this.

[Jim Caserta]

How many of the attributes would be things Google could not find out using...Google?

I agree with Ed, though, that highlighting a particular aspect of your city, that another city might also have, but is not highlighting is an advantage of redaction.

[Ross Myers]

Hi Jim...How would you suggest we handle input on aspects to highlight from the community in open brainstorming sessions?

[Ed Cone]

Ross, it might be easier to discuss some of the details from the list in person. I plan on being at the library tomorrow night.

I completely agree with the the idea-generation concept you espouse, and I also value transparency, just trying to proceed with caution in a high-stakes competitive situation.

Meanwhile, I don't want to make it seem like there's some incredible bombshell that's being concealed -- we're talking valuable but not earth-shattering...

[Roch101]

Can't you email whatever was redacted to Ross?

[Ed Cone]

I'd have to talk about that with Whitley first, and then I'd need to agree on terms with Ross.

Which would be fine, but just talking to him tomorrow seems easier.

[Roch101]

This is a public record. I have requested and received a copy from the City. Email me, Ross, and I'll send you a copy. [email protected]

[Ed Cone]

We talked about it at last night's meeting, as promised. Ross already had it.

[Roch101]

Good. If anybody else needs it, email me. It is for the public without having to agree to Ed Cone's "terms."

[Ed Cone]

The author shared the document with me, and asked me to be careful about what I put on the public web because the document is part of a competitive process.

I honored that request, and would ask others to do so as well.

The fact that it can be obtained does not mean that it's as easy to find as a simple web search, and it seems wise to keep it that way for another week.

[Roch101]

Sure, the fact that a request to see it was met with conditional terms bothered me. You know how I am about open government. So, while I completely understand that you are not the government and have entirely different obligations, there was no need for Ross to have to be encumbered with unnecessary conditions in order to obtain the doc.

[Jim Caserta]

Would the GSO gov't be required to share a document with a non-resident of GSO? When Ross asked me, I refrained from answering because, if I were Ed, I would not send the info to me, because my horse is Winston-Salem, not Greensboro. Why cant we have a two or three horse stagecoach? Posting to the web would make the info available to people with potentially no right to it. Does someone in China have standing to make a FOIA request in the US?

[Ed Cone]

The only thing I would have asked before sharing my copy of the easy-to-obtain public document is that it not be published in its entirety at an easily searchable website.

That makes competitive sense to me, and it also honors the terms on which I was sent the document.

[Roch101]

The law, JC, binds the government, not the requester. Whether I, you, the New York Times, or Baidu requests a document from a North Carolina municipality, state law applies and the municipality must respond the same.