Mirroring the leftist cities of San Francisco, NY, London, and Portland Oregon, the City of Myrtle Beach is continuing to make Myrtle Beach a smart city. A meeting was held on the issue yesterday.
What is a smart city? According to National Geographic Resource Library: A smart city, “is a city in which a suite of sensors (typically hundreds or thousands) is deployed to collect electronic data, from and about people and infrastructure, so as to improve efficiency and quality of life.”
It is a methodology for city government to collect data on every action and transaction that occurs inside the city limits on both tourists and locals.
The city has already engaged a Smart Cities Council made up of key city employee heads.
The Myrtle Beach Smart Cities Council is an internal working group made up of 13 staff from nine departments inside city government. They officially began meeting at the end of April. They discuss economic development strategies, what kind of technology or research they would like to bring to Myrtle Beach.
5G Health Concerns Called Conspiracy Theories
A professor of radiology at New York University explains that 5G refers to the latest version of wireless communications available to the general public in 2019.
It is through radio frequencies (RFs) that cellular data is transmitted when you are using your phone to communicate with other devices. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), calls and other functions are connected through a series of base stations called “cells” that cover certain geographic regions. Myrtle Beach will attempt to widen the “cells” capacity inside the city limits. Health activists raise concerns about living in constant contact with these ongoing transmissions. Governments have labeled these concerns “conspiracy theories” much like they labeled anti-covid vaccination concerns as conspiracies since Pfizer first initiated those jabs.
Henk De Feyter, Ph.D., assistant professor of radiology and biomedical imaging at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, says 5G uses a higher radiofrequency than previous wireless communication technologies, such as 4G and 3G. In general, he says, the technology works the same way, by producing electromagnetic waves so that information can be sent and received. That’s what sets it apart.
City Promises New Benefits
Staff at Myrtle Beach have also recommended the creation of a 311 office by the start of 2024.
People will be able to call the 311 Office and get their questions answered without having to bounce around from place to place.
Additionally, they want to implement virtual management with the 311 Office, so that chatbots can answer people’s questions instead of calling
Howard Waldie, the city’s Chief Innovation Officer, hopes to develop an app called “Myrtle Beach 101” that can not only answer questions, but can also be used by residents and visitors to report problems.
The goal of a smart city is to use advanced 5G and other technologies to improve quality of life and businesses.
The city touts these efforts could include smart trash cans.
Residents and businesses could soon have self-cleaning trash cans, reducing the number of manual emptyings required by public works.
As this Fall school year began Monday, acoustic detection systems that detect gunshots were installed near Myrtle Beach schools.
With Jennifer Hotai, Co-Founder of auseVerse and Grand Strand Web3 Guild, the city aims to make the city more advanced.
The Downside – overreach, where these movements always go
The City of Myrtle Beach’s entire presentation with pictures can be read and seen here.
London England was among the first to employ the smart city concept.
After touting the benefits, London Mayor Sadiq Khan installed Ultra low emission zone recognition cameras throughout his city.
The cameras capture non electric cars driving through a camera check point. Residents are now charged $15 every day they drive through one of these cameras. The cameras only charge residents once daily and not every time the resident passes additional checkpoints. However, residents are upset about the $15 to $16 daily fee.
Citizens are now actively disabling the cameras throughout the city.
Look for London to make full scale arrests on those residents who have previously disabled and who continue to disable these cameras.
UK citizens are furious Sadiq Khan is installing ULEZ (Ultra low emission zones) recognition cameras throughout London. Those who can’t afford electric or late model vehicles will be fined £12 pounds ($15) every time they drive past them.
— Pelham (@Resist_05) August 21, 2023
Citizens are fighting back by taking out… pic.twitter.com/RMecPuvBtA