This morning, community leaders, elected officials and local residents gathered outside the Verizon Building at the corner of Swan and Franklin Streets to launch a campaign to address the digital divide in Buffalo.
Verizon has been offering its FiOS service to many of Buffalo’s suburbs, including Amherst, Tonawanda, Kenmore, Orchard Park, Hamburg, West Seneca and Lackawanna, but it has left the City of Buffalo out. This service provides faster Internet and better video programming over fiber optic cables that run directly into consumers’ houses. The “Don’t Bypass Buffalo” campaign is asking Verizon to bring this service to the residents of the City of Buffalo.
Not only would this service benefit local residents, but also the redevelopment of the city as a whole. Buffalo is home to many institutions of health care and higher education that rely on improved technology. It is essential that they have access to this service as well.
This campaign is being supported by a delegation of elected leaders and coalition members from the Community Action Organization, the Coalition for Economic Justice, VOICE Buffalo, the Communication Workers of America 1122, AFL-CIO, PUSH Buffalo, Citizen Action and the NAACP. Representatives from these groups and concerned citizens will be joining together to promote the cause of bringing FIOS to the city.
For more information, contact the Coalition for Economic Justice at (716) 892-5877.