LA Mayor James Hahn (with former Soviet President Gorbachev)-------- Tropos 5110 Outdoor Wi-Fi Cell

Mark Wolf is the Director of E-Government in the Office of Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn. He spoke today with Unwired LA about a public forum that will be held between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm PST on Monday, February 7, 2005, at the Marvin Braude Constituent Service Center at 6262 Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys, California.

The purpose of this forum is to update community members about the progress thus far of Mayor Hahn's Wi-Fi and Beyond Los Angeles Executive Advisory Panel, to discuss the Mayor's recent initiative involving the leasing of City infrastructure assets for wireless deployment, and to receive input from the public about the kind of wireless Los Angeles they would like to see built for their benefit.

This location was chosen for this event in part because it is already the site of a "hot zone" where free Wi-Fi access from the Los Angeles Wi-Fi Community Network is available to everyone with a Wi-Fi-enabled computer or other device.

You can access today's Unwired LA audio interview with E-Government Director Mark Wolf by clicking here.

Representing the City of Los Angeles at this event will be Doane Liu, Deputy Mayor for Operations, and members of the Wi-Fi and Beyond Los Angeles Executive Advisory Panel.

To listen to exclusive Unwired LA audio interviews with members of the Wi-Fi and Beyond Los Angeles Executive Advisory Panel, click below on the names of the members:

Rich Grimes, EVP at Wireless Capital Partners

Todd Richmond, Managing Director of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California (USC)

Rajit Gadh, Director of the Wireless Internet for Mobile Enterprise Consortium (WINMEC) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Morley Winograd, executive director of the Center for Telecom Management at the Marshall School of Business at USC and the chair of the Executive Broadband Panel

Thera Bradshaw, general manager of the City of Los Angeles' Information Technology Agency (ITA)

Most of these interviews can also be accessed by way of the LAVoice.org web site, in an article entitled Geek Peek – Eavesdropping on L.A.'s Wireless Brain Trust.

To view a map showing the location of the street light sites to possibly be leased out by the City of Los Angeles for telecommunication purposes, click here.

To access the City of Los Angeles Information Technology Agency (ITA) Request for Information "Leasing of City Assets for Telecommunication Purposes," issued on January 21, 2005, click here.

To access the City of Los Angeles "Addendum to Request for Information—Leasing of City Assets for Telecommunication Purposes" extending the deadline for submitting questions about this RFI from February 2, 2005, to February 11, 2005, click here.

To watch and listen to this reporter advocating for a ubiquitous, universal deployment of broadband Internet access throughout the San Fernando Valley as a mayoral candidate during the 2002 Los Angeles Secession Election, click here.

To listen to a preview version of this reporter addressing the Wi-Fi and Beyond Los Angeles Executive Advisory Panel, on February 7, 2005, at the Marvin Braude Constituent Service Center in Van Nuys, California, click here.