New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the expansion of his broadband network initiative Thursday morning, which will provide up to 40,000 new households with free or discounted internet and cable access.
The mayor first announced the initiative — coined Big Apple Connect — at a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) complex in Brooklyn last September, vowing to connect public housing residents across 200 developments with access to free broadband. The program provides NYCHA residents with bundles consisting of free in-home high-speed internet, including a modem and a router, basic cable TV with a cable box and remote, and common area Wi-Fi hotspots.
The initiative will expand to an additional 67 NYCHA developments, according to the mayor’s office. In total, the city will be providing free or discounted broadband access to 202 NYCHA complexes, reaching approximately 300,000 New Yorkers by the end of the year.
The expansion will include 14 new developments in the Bronx. That’s compared to 25 new buildings in Manhattan, 20 in Brooklyn, five in Queens and three on Staten Island.
At a press conference in the Bronx on Thursday, Adams praised members of his administration for their work on the initiative.
“I know that throughout the years you have been denied, ignored, promises made, promises not kept,” he said. “This is the promise we made. This is the promise we kept.”
NYCHA is the largest public housing authority in North America and home to 1 in 16 New Yorkers, according to the agency. It was created in 1935 to provide affordable housing to low and middle income residents, and encompasses more than 177,000 apartments within 335 housing developments. There are 71 NYCHA buildings in the Bronx.
Adams said the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated social, educational and health-related issues among NYCHA residents due to disparities in reliable internet access, asserting that the expansion of Big Apple Connect will close that gap.
“Broadband…
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