Pork Chops and Email? Nummy
Written by S. Scauzillo
for the SGV Trib and Pasadena Star News

Monday, 18 July 2005

JOHN MOSKO has found a way to combine his strong entrepreneurial bent with his knowledge of Web design. The 30-something manager and co-owner of Lisa's Coffee Shop, a hole-in-the-wall in Covina, began offering free Internet access to customers last October.

The service, called Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), allows customers with wireless-enabled laptop computers to surf the Web or check e-mail free of charge while gulping down coffee-shop eggs and bacon.

Mosko, who honed his computer skills at Ohio State University and later as Webmaster for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, said more young business owners are offering Internet services. In fact, his is the first and only (as far as I know) private establishment in Covina offering free wireless Internet hookups (see www.wififreespot.com).

"It is a value-added service for our customers," he explained to me Friday while we sat across the booth with his laptop computer attached to a plug-in Wi-Fi antenna the size of your thumb. "It differentiates us from the run-of-the-mill Denny's and Coco's."

Lisa's is not a hip coffee bar. There are no lattes or iced coffee concoctions sold there, but rather, "greasy spoon" American food sprinkled with Mexican specialties sold to regulars -- mostly retirees, but some mortgage bankers and city-hall workers -- who love the friendly atmosphere, home-cooked menu entrees and personal service.

Since being asked to manage the coffee shop by the owner, Mosko has seen a steady increase in customers including "lines out the door" on the weekends. Obviously, his success is not all due to the Wi-Fi hotzone, but the Buckeye transfer is pushing the envelope of an emerging technology that some city redevelopment agencies recognize as a tool for luring more restaurants, bars and even hip hotels into dying downtowns.

Philadelphia and Seattle are two of the most "unwired" cities in the United States. Long Beach, Cerritos and Fullerton have recently added Wi-Fi mesh zones as ways to attract more businesses and urban professionals with spendable incomes.

Says Fullerton's redevelopment project manager Rob Ferrier, the city's Wi-Fi hotzone, which encompasses a 2.5-square-mile downtown stretch of Harbor Boulevard, has drawn in new restaurants and coffee bars which in turn have attracted people with laptops who are as addicted to e-mail as caffeine.

"Soon, it (Wi-Fi) will be like cell phones, which started 10 years ago with a small number of people using them. Today, can you imagine anyone who doesn't have a cell phone?" Ferrier told me.

Once again, the San Gabriel Valley is behind the curve. Even haute Pasadena rejected a plan to set up a citywide Wi-Fi zone, leaving that option to private business. The ridiculously high price tag of between $3.1 million and $5.5 million influenced the council's decision.

Perhaps Pasadena doesn't need public investment in Wi-Fi. As anyone can tell, Old Pasadena is doing fine without a city-financed Wi-Fi network. Some Pasadena establishments, such as Lovebirds Cafe on Colorado Boulevard east of Lake Avenue, already offer it, according to wififreespot.com. (Note: Starbucks offers the service but for a nominal charge.)

While the debate goes on: private vs. city, cities like Cerritos and Long Beach are making progress. But what about smaller cities? To me, Wi-Fi could be a lure for cities struggling to plant new businesses in century-old downtowns. By offering the free Internet service, cities can seed new growth, just like redevelopment agencies currently do by offering developers property buy downs and tax breaks. Covina, Temple City, Azusa, La Puente and San Gabriel are just a few cities that could use an edge in restoring old shopping districts.

I like the city of Fullerton's approach. It spent only $55,000 (not $5 million) for radios and repeaters that spread the signal roughly from Lemon to Drake avenues, from its downtown Amtrak station to its nearby community college and cluster of struggling restaurants. After a year, the city will ask local businesses to help pay the network's operating costs (about $12,000 a year).

In addition, the Fullerton school district is taking advantage of the downtown hotzone and those at local libraries. Schools began distributing wireless laptop computers to 1,000 students in grades 3 to 8.

Mosko offers his regular tech-savvy customers free web links on the restaurant's Web site (www.lisascoffeeshop.com). Likewise, the city of Fullerton and its school district are working together, using 21st century technology to advance the quality of life for their residents.

Technology and people are not mutually exclusive. Just ask John Mosko. Or better yet, go have a plate of his famous pork chops one night and also check your e-mail.