Mayor Stephen Cassidy and the San Leandro City Council this week presented a check for $15,000 to the Boys and Girls Club to fund a connection to the Lit San Leandro broadband network.

The project will enable the Boys and Girls Club, located at 401 Marina Blvd., to tap into San Leandro’s growing high-speed fiber optic system.

“While our high speed fiber network is accelerating the growth of businesses in San Leandro and generating new jobs, it can also benefit distinguished nonprofit organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club,” said Mayor Cassidy.

“We are very excited to see what the future will bring as we discover the power of this new technology,” said Bob Glotch, executive director of the San Leandro Boys and Girls Club.

The city’s contribution comes from the Broadband Connection Incentive Program, which provides matching funds for businesses and community organizations connecting to high-speed Internet networks.

The Boys & Girls Club and Lit San Leandro also are investing funds in this project, the total cost of which will be approximately $29,000.

The San Leandro Main Library was connected to Lit San Leandro in 2013 and is now providing high-speed Internet access to the community via public access computers and free Wi-Fi.

Lit San Leandro is a public-private fiber optic network, which offers data transmission speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second — 2,000 times faster than the average U.S. connection.

Lit San Leandro was conceived by Dr. J. Patrick Kennedy, a San Leandro resident, and president and founder of OSIsoft, one of the city’s largest employers.

The network is presently comprised of an 11-mile fiber loop, with work under way to expand to 18 miles in 2014.

The project will be completed by the end of April.

For additional information, please contact Jeff Kay, Business Development Manager, at (510) 577- 3319 or jkay@sanleandro.org

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