MOVE OVER, ONE CLEVELAND: The City of Philadelphia has started to plan a public wireless network infrastructure covering the entire city.

The Daily News' columnist "Urban Warrior" says:

Mayor [John] Street may well have laid out Philadelphia's version of Sputnik.

The mayor, who is known as a technology buff, wants to turn all of Philadelphia's 135 square miles into a seamless wireless network, creating one of the largest Internet hot spots in the world.

No other big city has done this.

And Street, who thinks the city can bring in enough money through grants and licensing fees to pay for the $10 million estimated cost, has appointed a 14-member committee to work out the specifics.

While the Daily News loves the idea, the Inquirer business page isn't so sure.

So while Philly is a long way from actually installing the first big citywide wi-fi system, it's already succeeded in creating the first local media controversy about one. This could be a precursor to the first real political controversy about public wi-fi... something for wireless enthusiasts here to pay attention to.

Here's a Washington Post story that has some other details and looks around the country for comparable ideas, including One Cleveland, whose Lev Gonick is quoted thusly:

"We like to say it should be like the air you breathe -- free and available everywhere," Gonick said. "We look at this like PBS or NPR. It should be a public resource."

It turns out that I know one of the Philadelphia planning committee members, so I'll see what else I can find out.