Memories Of Upper Kirby

[trymahjong]

I've been in NYC a couple of months and an interesting article appeared--what should NYC do with their old phone booths----wifi hotspots were proposed- Google might help out. Of course the scale of NY is a kazillion times what I was thinking might be a cool use for the UK phonebooths I see out and about in the Upper Kirby management district.

The UK phonebooths are only decoration as far as I know-- Maybe an IT company is out there waiting to join in on that type of endeavor. It seems like a cool idea.

I only have my smartphone so couldn't get website to copy and paste but here's the article.

Instead of bulldozing its pay phone booths, New York City wants to outfit them as free Wi-Fi hot spots. It's an idea that was first tossed around by the Bloomberg administration in 2012 as a way of turning the city's thousands of largely unused phone booths into something of general use. Two years later, Mayor Bill de Blasio has rekindled interest in the plan and outlined an ambitious vision for transforming the outdated technology into "one of the largest free Wi-Fi networks in the country."

Rather than divide the hot spots up piecemeal, the city is looking for a single firm or partnership to run the entire system. Now Bloomberg reports that Google might be looking to get in on the action. According to documents from the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Google attended an informational meeting in May about the project. Cisco, IBM, and Samsung were also present.

Google's interest in the city's phone-booth Wi-Fi, as Bloomberg points out, fits with the Internet giant's larger efforts to bring fast and efficient connectivity to various regions of the world. Google Loon, perhaps its best-known venture in this arena, is an ambitious effort to create "Internet for everyone" (and perhaps to collect the kind of data only heard of in science fiction) using huge balloons that float in the stratosphere. Google Fiber, another such project, is bringing ultra-high-speed Internet to a handful of cities and metro areas across the U.S.

New York expects whomever wins the proposal to pay it a minimum annual compensation of $17.5 million or 50 percent of gross revenues, whichever is greater. The selected provider will not be allowed to charge for Wi-Fi but will be able to attach fees to traditional phone service (excepting 911 and 311 calls). Most of the money generated would come from advertisers, who love seeing their billboards plastered along streets and sidewalks at eye level for passersby.

At any rate, the important point is that this proposal has sat around for so long that people feared it might never happen. But with tech firms like Google showing interest, it just might get off the ground after all.

[Dakota79]

Those red phone booths used to have actual pay phones in them when they were originally installed. Wifi spots would be a great idea.

[JJxvi]

I was going to say it would be a lot easier to convert actual phone booths to wifi since they already have the phone infrastructure to wire them up rather than just decorative, but if the UK phone booths had phones in them I guess they have that too.

Edited August 7, 2014 by JJxvi

[Luminare]

They are all located in Upper Kirby and a i think there is one in Montrose. They are just for decoration. I have no idea why though. Is this area really heavily British influenced??? I don't think so. If you look inside of them it will show just how fake they are. These are nothing but large street lamps as some light up at night. They are pretty tacky though. I just don't get it... I love London and their phone booths, but if I want to go into a phone booth like that I would go to freakin England!

 

Edit: As for your answer to hotspots. That's what Europe has done with a lot of their old phone booths. A lot of booths in London are becoming that way. I've been too Germany a couple times and all of their old phone booths have been turned into T-Mobile Hotspots. Their is, again, no point of really doing this in Houston since we don't really have phone booths like these from the period nor do many places have consist street pedestrian traffic to make them well used.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Luminare

[Dakota79]

The came about when UK was looking for a way to market themselves without being called Montrose or River Oaks area. Since Kirby was the spine of the area, and they didn't want to associate with lower Kirby (Astrodome) in those days and all the seedy hotels. They decided "let's call it Upper Kirby". UK for short. The red phone booths actually had pay phones in them when they were originally installed. It took a few years but the realtors and press began calling it that too. As the area improved, they added a management district to it so they could control and fund the improvements (burying power lines etc). It's been a huge success, IMHO.

[Luminare]

I've loved everything that they have done so far...just ax the faux british stuff. They don't really need it anymore plus having the initals "UK" doesn't justify having these things. It's probably the weakest justification of all.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Luminare

[Avossos]

This topic would be great in the "upper Kirby" neighborhood thread I proposed...

[Specwriter]

This topic would be great in the "upper Kirby" neighborhood thread I proposed...

 

That is where I recall seeing the phone booths, the upper Kirby area, though IIRC the phone booths were there before the district was "created."

[Dakota79]

That is where I recall seeing the phone booths, the upper Kirby area, though IIRC the phone booths were there before the district was "created."

[Dakota79]

Yea. That's exactly what I said. They named the area UPPER KIRBY. Then years later (maybe 10) they creates the management district.

[Specwriter]

Yea. That's exactly what I said. They named the area UPPER KIRBY. Then years later (maybe 10) they create the management district.

 

Sorry, Dakota. I did not read your earlier post carefully before my last post. I agree entirely. The Upper Kirby district does appear attractive without being sterile. Except for the loss of some street trees from the widening of the roadway, I believe the improvements are a big success.

[kennyc05]

I think the phone booths are cool.

[Specwriter]

I think the phone booths are cool.

 

Best phone booth ever was the one in the opening sequence of the TV show "Get Smart." You baby-boomers will know what I am talking about. 

 

I wonder how many phone booths Super Man ruined. Did he ever destroy a London phone booth?