San Francisco unwired: Boondoggles by the bay.

• Author: Cavanaugh, Tim
• Position: Citings

WHEN CELLULAR carriers attempted to outfit San Francisco with new antennas, the city government nixed the proposal out of unfounded concerns that the towers would give brain cancer to children. When dot-com mania gripped and enlivened the city, the local legislature fought the boom with on-the-fly zoning regulations and efforts to close the "loopholes" that allowed businesses and workers to set up shop in town.

But now the city's executive and legislative branches appear to have found a communications technology they can get behind: the kind that requires government fact-finding studies, has no visible means of paying for itself, and may necessitate the creation of a wasteful new bureaucracy.

Back in September, city supervisors Tom Ammiano and Chris Daly proposed a $300,000 study to find out whether the city should provide residents Internet, cable TV, and telephone services.

More recently, Mayor Gavin Newsom marked his first State of the City address by proposing a citywide WiFi network that would secure residents' inalienable right to down load porn with out paying for a Web connection.

"We will not stop until every San Franciscan has access to flee...