By Lookout Staff

December 3, 2015 -- In a pilot project, the City of Santa Monica has connected an affordable housing building to the City’s fiber optic network, an attempt at closing the “Digital Divide” between those who can’t afford the internet and those who can.

City officials marked “Cyber Monday” by connecting a Community Corporation building to CityNet, the City’s fiber optic network. It was the first time the City has attempted to do so, and was the start of its new “Digital Inclusion" pilot program.

The project offers broadband to residents at speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second, providing “the fastest residential broadband in the nation,” said City spokesperson Jory Wolf.

City Manager Rick Cole called the project “one example of how the city is creating a city that works for everyone.”

Santa Monica – which has a population of about 90,000 -- is one of the nation’s wealthier cities but is also home to a significant portion of low-income residents and families, officials noted.

“The City has made a powerful statement by taking concrete steps to close the Digital Divide,” said Sarah Letts, executive director of the Community Corporation of Santa Monica, which oversees low-income housing.

In Los Angeles County, nearly half of the households with earnings of less than $30,000 a year do not have access to the internet at home, Letts said. She said studies show that without internet access at home, students suffer lower graduation rates.

Gary Carter, the city’s Community Broadband Manager, said there are two “digital divides” for U.S. cities -- wired internet access to low income versus high income households, and “everyone’s access to broadband speeds on par with more economically developed countries.”

He said the pilot project is meant to tackle both problems, and also serve as a model for delivery of modern-day services.

Santa Monica’s 100 Gigabit network, he says, is what every U.S. city should offer today.

Last year, the Digital Cities Survey ranked Santa Monica the fourth most advanced digital city in its population category, but the beach city failed to make the top ten this year.