Zito Media at City Council
By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director
Zito Media Communications is building a string of fiber optic rings throughout the county, and will be getting a $200,000 loan from the Bradford Office of Economic and Community Development to build the infrastructure in the Bradford area.
"All of the significant communities in McKean County will be connected to a fiber optic ring and within those communities; local fiber optic rings will be constructed in order to serve the business community in those communities," Jim Rigas of Zito told City Council Tuesday night.
In March, the McKean County Commissioners entered into a construction and ownership agreement with Zito Media to establish a 79-mile fiber optic system throughout the county and parts of neighboring counties.
The system will run in a loop through eight municipalities, including Bradford, Smethport, Kane, Eldred, Lewis Run and Port Allegany and seven “points of interest” including Bradford Regional Airport and the Lafferty Hollow Industrial Park.
Rigas said technology has made it possible to bring high capacity to rural communities and build a business plan that makes sense, which is important for economic development
OECD Executive Director Sara Andrews said "This opens up the doors for other companies to come into the community that we aren't able to recruit because we don't have the capacity."
It will help future economic development as well as existing industries, she said.
Steve Zwerin of Zito added that none of the big telecommunications companies want to build telecommunications infrastructure here, and would rather concentrate on bigger cities.
Mayor Tom Riel said that during a recent meeting of the county's "leaders of industry," everyone was in favor of this.
Council also entered into a loan agreement with Greg Buckner for his Bradford Crematory.
Buckner said the biggest holdup in getting the business started was getting a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection.
He expects the business to be up and running by August.
Also, the OECD will be applying to the state Department of Community and Economic Development on behalf of American Refining Group for a $200,000 loan so the refinery can build a maintenace storage building and water recovery project.
In other matters, council is making changes to the city's regulations for plumbing and plumbing licenses.
Riel explained that people who didn't know what they were doing were applying for plumbing licenses in other cities and bringing them here, and they had to be honored.
"No more Cracker Jack plumbing licenses in Bradford," he said, and added that the changes are long overdue.
Also Tuesday, council approved on final reading the ordinance saying that people have to clean up after their dogs.
"People should be warned to carry a pooper scooper or a cup or a plastic bag," Riel said. "It's kind of a shame that council had to do this but it's something that had to be dealt with."
After the ordinace passed, Dr. Brian MacNamara asked "Do you call the police if someone …?"
"If it's your yard and it upsets you," Riel said, "Yeah."
WESB/WBRR News Director
Zito Media Communications is building a string of fiber optic rings throughout the county, and will be getting a $200,000 loan from the Bradford Office of Economic and Community Development to build the infrastructure in the Bradford area."All of the significant communities in McKean County will be connected to a fiber optic ring and within those communities; local fiber optic rings will be constructed in order to serve the business community in those communities," Jim Rigas of Zito told City Council Tuesday night.
In March, the McKean County Commissioners entered into a construction and ownership agreement with Zito Media to establish a 79-mile fiber optic system throughout the county and parts of neighboring counties.
The system will run in a loop through eight municipalities, including Bradford, Smethport, Kane, Eldred, Lewis Run and Port Allegany and seven “points of interest” including Bradford Regional Airport and the Lafferty Hollow Industrial Park.
Rigas said technology has made it possible to bring high capacity to rural communities and build a business plan that makes sense, which is important for economic development
OECD Executive Director Sara Andrews said "This opens up the doors for other companies to come into the community that we aren't able to recruit because we don't have the capacity."
It will help future economic development as well as existing industries, she said.
Steve Zwerin of Zito added that none of the big telecommunications companies want to build telecommunications infrastructure here, and would rather concentrate on bigger cities.
Mayor Tom Riel said that during a recent meeting of the county's "leaders of industry," everyone was in favor of this.
Council also entered into a loan agreement with Greg Buckner for his Bradford Crematory.
Buckner said the biggest holdup in getting the business started was getting a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection.
He expects the business to be up and running by August.
Also, the OECD will be applying to the state Department of Community and Economic Development on behalf of American Refining Group for a $200,000 loan so the refinery can build a maintenace storage building and water recovery project.
In other matters, council is making changes to the city's regulations for plumbing and plumbing licenses.
Riel explained that people who didn't know what they were doing were applying for plumbing licenses in other cities and bringing them here, and they had to be honored.
"No more Cracker Jack plumbing licenses in Bradford," he said, and added that the changes are long overdue.
Also Tuesday, council approved on final reading the ordinance saying that people have to clean up after their dogs.
"People should be warned to carry a pooper scooper or a cup or a plastic bag," Riel said. "It's kind of a shame that council had to do this but it's something that had to be dealt with."
After the ordinace passed, Dr. Brian MacNamara asked "Do you call the police if someone …?"
"If it's your yard and it upsets you," Riel said, "Yeah."
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Comments
Can I republish this article on Solomon's words?
Jim
shurfine40@gmail.com