Smart System Proposal

"Middletown could install a ‘smart city’ network in its downtown. What would that mean?"

"MIDDLETOWN —
Middletown will consider adding a technology network to its downtown that would make it more responsive to its citizens’ and visitors’ needs while also helping officials make decisions about those areas from data they collect."

"Such “smart cities” initiatives have started in places like Monroe, Dayton, Fairborn, Cincinnati and Columbus. The nodes in the system can help cities communicate with visitors about things like open parking or even help police determine the direction of gunshot reports"

But downtown Middletown isn't Fairborn, Columbus or Cincinnati as to downtown activity. At any given time, one can go downtown and find a parking space here. Columbus, Cincinnati and Fairborn, with Wright-Patt in it's backyard, is more congested. Apples and oranges comparison IMO.
Perhaps this new system will help the police in gunshot direction. That may be feasible.

"The data gathered in these initiatives can be used for public safety, infrastructure, and public works. In short, an app on a user’s smart phone would connect to a node to send and receive data."

Is this really needed? How often would this be used?

"For Middletown, O’Donnell and Kellams outlined a proposal that would deploy 50 nodes in the proposed area that would have a benchmark cost between $1 million to $1.5 million for equipment, construction installation, and commissioning and maintenance."

A lot of money for another system that may or may not be needed for a town of this size and for a downtown area that is lacking in normal activity and interest. Not sure if the investment in a million+ is worth the outcome or reward. Would this die on the vine in a few years and the city would be out another million dollars?

"City officials are also interested in possibly expanding the area to include Smith Park and the Middletown Regional Airport because they are venues that attract large community events."

How about trying it in the downtown area first before thinking about expanding the service. And what is there it learn about large community events that hasn't been learned after all these years? A tad bit antzy, aren't we?

"Much of these initiatives are modest such as traffic cameras and traffic signal coordination and other public safety or public works applications. Others offer free wi-fi services in specific areas of the city or public buildings"

Already have signal coordination. Already tried cameras for revenue purposes in the past. That was illegal. Would there be that many people using wi-fi services in the downtown area where this is being proposed to justify the cost? Or will we spend a million bucks for fifty people to benefit?

"Councilwoman Ami Vitori said Cincinnati Bell already has three nodes covering four blocks in the downtown area and that places such as Miami University Middletown and St. John XXIII Elementary School already have fiberoptic connections."

And what have the Cincinnati Bell nodes done for the downtown area to date? Who uses this service and how many people benefit from this? Is this costing the city any money?

"Some cities have used this to manage their stadium infrastructure to help people have the best fan experience and utilize their smart phones in a confined area with huge numbers of people. O’Donnell said many stadium venues in soccer’s English Premier League are being retrofitted with this technology because of fan experience and the ongoing trend of two-way data streaming from mobile devices."

We have Barnitz Stadium here and high school football and soccer. We are not the big time. Sitting in the stands, are there really that many people using their smart phones to "enhance their game experiences" or are they just watching the action on the field? Would you say there are "confined areas" or "huge numbers of people" at any given high school or soccer game here in town? The venues this guy is talking about are on a professional level with professional level crowds on hand, not high school game crowds.

"Cincinnati has multiple initiatives deployed such as a communications network along the downtown Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar route which established for communciations networks for public citizen wi-fi access as well as citizen usage/traffic data."

But this isn't Cincinnati and this city does not need the communications networks that a larger city needs.

"Dayton and Fairborn use these systems in conjunction with their city apps users download to their smartphones or if people opt to use the city’s public wi-fi system. This enables cities to collect data on in their city and can gauge various infrastructure needs based on actual, real time usage."

Is this city that large that we can't monitor this without this new system? This isn't Dayton either. Is collecting infrastructure data in this city that insurmountable that we need this?

"Kellams said Fairborn used their system to assist local retailers to adjust their business hours based on traffic counts that was collected. Dayton has used a similar system to assist with traffic management."

Traffic counts in Middletown? The traffic isn't that overwhelming that it needs to be monitored that closely and the business owners in this town already know when peak business times are. They know they can just look out of the window (or monitor foot traffic) to adjust business hours based on traffic counts. The traffic in this city is not so overwhelming as to warrant this scrutiny is it?

"“We agree that this is a very exciting project for the City of Middletown, and think it can position Middletown well for its future,” O’Donnell said."

Well certainly O'Donnell thinks it's exciting for Middletown. He is in the business of selling this million dollar system and comes natural for him to say that it "positions Middletown well for the future".......but does it really????

Is this a good fit for the type of town we have or the amount of activity that we have in this city? This is a lazy, laid back town compared to larger cities. The amount of activity here pales in comparison to larger towns. The sidewalks roll up at 9PM here. No need to pretend we are a vibrant active city that attracts people from miles around. That ended decades ago. We are a sleepy quiet little blue collar town now with very little going on in the way of activity after suppertime. This new proposal will do little to change that and will cost the city a million+ to find that out if they decide to proceed. Think long and hard before you waste more money folks. If money is burning a hole in your pocket, a million bucks could be spent in a more fruitful way and benefit many more people along the way. JMO