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Google Providing Free Wi-Fi in Garfield Park, South Shore Cultural Center

By DNAinfo Staff on March 25, 2014 12:55pm

 Google will provide free Wi-Fi access in Garfield Park and the South Shore Cultural Center, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office announced Tuesday.
Google will provide free Wi-Fi access in Garfield Park and the South Shore Cultural Center, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office announced Tuesday.
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Flickr/ryochiji and Flickr/reallyboring

CHICAGO — Google is providing free Wi-Fi access in Garfield Park and the South Shore Cultural Center, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office announced Tuesday.

"This partnership with Google supports our efforts to boost wireless services to public places in neighborhoods across the city," Emanuel said in a statement. "Increasing the access to high-speed Internet in Chicago homes, businesses and public places like our parks helps our residents to stay better connected and fortifies our reputation as a tech-savvy city."

In Garfield Park, the signal will extend to the tennis court, artificial turf area and the Garfield Park Conservatory.

Access at the South Shore Cultural Center will cover the main building and the area around the beach house.

"This is core to our mission, to make the world's information universally accessible," Google Chicago's Jim Lecinski, vice president of customer solutions, said in a statement. "We know that the Internet has the power to not only connect people around the world but also bring together communities like the Garfield Park and South Shore which have so much to offer."

The plan is part of the city's broader push to improve Internet across the city. Last year, the city installed free wireless Internet at five city beaches. The city also entered a deal with a private company to install eight miles of fiber-optic cable aimed at improving speeds.