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05/28/2019 01:44 PMFor some, a day at the park means disconnecting from the daily grind. Others may not be so eager to leave those connections behind. To ensure everyone can enjoy the Town of Essex’s parks, wireless networking or wi-fi will soon be available at the Grove Street Park and the Main Street Park.
The initiative is the brainchild of First Selectman Norm Needleman, who sees the addition of wi-fi as another way in which the town can become more welcoming and user friendly.
“As a result of listening up at the capital about expanding broadband, I realized how important offering wi-fi at our public parks is,” said Needleman. “People use it all the time, it has become almost as important as electricity so, I think it is something that we need to offer making Essex more tourist friendly, as well as resident friendly.”
According to Finance Director Kelly Sterner, the cost for the project is minimal. The town hired Novus Insight, Inc., to install the outdoor access points spots at the parks. Grove Street playground and park will use the existing wi-fi from the Town Hall via the installation of an additional access point near the tennis court area. Main Street Park, in downtown Essex, will have the equipment for the wi-fi installed in the basement of the public restroom area. Once these two parks are up and running with wi-fi, the plan is to do the same in Ivoryton at the green.
No password will be required for the wi-fi access; connections will automatically bring users to a page that requires users to agree to a disclaimer that all wi-fi use will be in accordance with the law and for legitimate uses only.
“The goal of this project is to give our parks a more friendly, functional feel,” said Sterner.
“We are very excited about this addition to our parks,” said Parks & Recreation Director MaryEllen Barnes. “We have heard of some other towns doing this and it has been very welcomed and successful, so I am glad that Essex will be offering this soon to its visitors.”
She added, “I think this will be a big benefit to our parks and make them more user friendly, offering another amenity. Hopefully this will encourage more people to come and utilize the parks, especially during the nice weather. In addition, having wi-fi at the parks will be very beneficial to town when we are running events, allowing us to communicate better and keep connected.”
The hope is to have all the work completed for this project at the Grove Street Park and the Main Street Park sometime in June.