Should Long Beach commit $183 million to hook up every single residence in the city to a high-speed, fiber-optic internet connection?

That’s one of the big questions posed in a report the City Council recently received from Long Beach’s Technology and Innovation Commission. The report, more than a year in the making, focused on the city’s digital divide and what officials should do about it.

“It almost has become taken for granted in a lot of the community how integral (digital access) is to having a productive and prosperous life,” said Robb Korinke, Technology and Innovation commissioner, “whether it’s doing school work, job hunting, starting a business.”

The report, citing U.S. Census data, said 28 percent of Long Beach households don’t have a broadband internet connection, and 16 percent don’t have any internet connection at all.

Those without internet access — largely low-income, people of color and those who speak English as a second language — face increased barriers to success, the report said. Many job applications, for example, are now online only, and students could struggle with their homework if they can’t perform internet research.

Shrinking those numbers as much as possible, Korinke said, will require a multi-faceted approach.

Korinke on Wednesday said that some of the report’s recommendations, such as providing more digital literacy training, are “low-hanging fruit” for the city, while others would require much bigger investments.

Expanding the city’s fiber network, for example, could come in several forms: The city could undertake a $17 million effort to lay fiber that would connect every city-owned building. Or the council could approve a $183 million proposal to extend the network to residential neighborhoods — giving every home in Long Beach access.

“Can you fully close the digital divide without doing that?” Korinke said, referring to the $183 million idea. “We realize it’s a massive investment, but that would be one sure way to try and close it. The city will have to weigh all the benefits against that cost.”

The report’s recommendations included:

Promoting digital literacy by offering free training and IT support, and establishing technology centers in digitally disconnected areas — primarily in West and North Long Beach;

Increasing access to device and broadband connections by promoting existing resources, such as Frontier and Spectrum discount programs, expanding city-owned Wi-Fi hotspots, opening up internet access at schools and libraries, and piloting a mobile hot spot and device checkout program; and

Increasing the city’s infrastructure — including the number of towers in under-connected areas — by either funding construction or offering incentives to internet providers to do so.

The report, submitted to the council last month, is one product of city action that came in the wake of a Long Beach Media Collaborative series on the city’s digital divide in 2017.

Read the series:

Part One: The harsh realities of living in Long Beach without the Internet

Part Two: Students without internet at home must do homework on the road

Part Three: Is access to the Internet a civil-rights issue?

Part Four: Who is working to put computers into the hands of low-income students?

Part Five: Can state lawmakers regulate a rescue from the digital divide?

Part Six: The smartphone provides on-ramp to modern world, but not a cure-all for digital divide

Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez, who has been among the biggest supporters on the nine-member panel of finding ways to address the digital divide, said that all of the report’s recommendations are worth exploring further.

“They all work together,” she said of the proposals. “It talks about offering low-cost internet — I think that’s what we saw in the (report’s) survey, is a lot of families felt they couldn’t afford to pay for internet.

“Then, if we solve that,” Gonzalez added, “once they do get the technology — whether that’s hardware or Wi-Fi — how do we work with nonprofits to create a better literacy in the technology?”

Because of the complex nature of those questions, Gonzalez added, she will spend $50,000 of her own office’s funds to hire a consultant that will help determine the next steps.

“Hopefully in the next few months, or six months,” she said, “we can come up with specific recommendations as to what the city may need to provide.”

For Korinke, city action is an urgent matter.

Beyond just shrinking the inequities those without internet access face, he said, the 2020 Census will rely more heavily on online responses than ever before.

So if Long Beach doesn’t act soon, Korinke said, its disconnected communities risk being undercounted in the Census, which could reduce the amount of federal funds available for them.

“I think that there’s a lot of urgency to it,” he added. “That being said, I’d be happy if we had a plan in place in six months.”