Copied and pasted (exactly) below from an attachment to the City Manager's weekly newsletter, is a list of the top 10 reasons to pick Middletown for the Google broadband project. 

City of Middletown

Top 10 reasons to select Middletown for Google Broadband Project

1.     Broadband availability: Middletown is at the hub of nearly 300 miles of fiber in Butler, Warren, Preble, Clermont, Montgomery and Hamilton counties.

2.     Population:  at 51,000 people, we are small enough to quickly mobilize resources to implement this project but at the same time we have the resources of a larger metropolitan area.

3.     Location: we are located in the middle of a 19 county growing metroplex of 3 million people.  The Cincinnati-Middletown and Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Areas are anticipated to merge in 2013, making it the 15^th highest population center in the Nation.

4.     Opportunity: Site Selection magazine has ranked Cincinnati-Middletown sixth in the country in a list detailing the top metro areas in the U.S. for new and expanded corporate facilities in 2009. Cincinnati-Middletown is the only large metro in Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana to make the list.

5.     Community support:  Middletown has a reputation for extraordinary community support. In regard to this grant, we have already been nominated by one business and anticipate several more nominations.

6.     Local educational and medical institutions. We are proud to be home to Miami University Middletown, a premier regional campus located within 20 miles of Miami University’s main campus. Miami University recently received a $15 million gift to create an Interactive Media Studies Program.  Miami University Middletown is entering into a unique collaboration with Atrium Medical Center and three other higher educational institutions to create an expansive health care curriculum. 

Serving as a cornerstone to our health care system, newly constructed Atrium Medical Center provides high quality family-centered care and advanced technology supporting a full range of services in this 279-bed hospital with a Level III Trauma Center.

Municipal technology opportunity: The City of Middletown is the best of both worlds in terms of local government.  It is has all of the aspects of a friendly small town and all of the conveniences of a modern big city.  We own and operate an airport and a transit system.  In addition to the full range of city services, we also operate our own water and waste water plants including a wireless automated meter reading system; and has a highly skilled emergency response team interested in new technology applications. The city recently offered 2 new bus lines to shuttle students between university campuses. The City is preparing to  be  a high-speed rail station stop on the Cincinnati-Dayton-Columbus- Cleveland rail corridor.

7.     History of innovation and next generation projects:  AK Steel, a fortune 500 company founded in Middletown, is on the leading edge of technology with one of the largest steel research centers in the country. AK’s Middletown Works plant, employing nearly 2500 people, is proudly located in Middletown.  The City is at the forefront of sustainability and green initiatives and has several sustainable new buildings including a new silver LEED certified office building.  The city was recently selected as a test market for a new green Verizon store.  We are exploring alternative energy generation opportunities and have plans for projects in this regard.

8.     Ability to make a big impact: as an older, industrial Midwest community, we have been hit hard by job loss but still have a great deal of pride in our community. The Google project will impact every area of our community in a positive way.

9.     Spirit of collaboration: Middletown would welcome the opportunity to partner with Google. We know that by collaboration we achieve. The City has partnered with other cities for a joint economic development district; we partner with developers and builders; with regional, state, and federal agencies, and with our businesses. By working together we create the future.

Did I mention that this was a "top 10 list"??? 

If you are interested in this and want to learn more, here is a link to Google's project overview

To that end, we have done some work toward completing the application and have composed the attachments to garner community support. Google has noted that community support is an important part of the application and project. If we do apply, we will also ask Council for individual letters of support, a proclamation or resolution of support. The applications are due at the end of March.