Washington Market Park Gets 'Wi-Fi' But It's With Concerns by Carl Glassman "Wi-Fi" arrived unnoticed in Washington Market Park last month. Short for wireless fidelity, Wi-Fi allows for wireless Internet access on specially equipped laptop computers. Wireless access will soon also be available in 10 other city parks. But Washington Market Park's board of directors did not taking lightly the technology's potential impact on Tribeca's beloved oasis, before voting last month, 6-1, to approve it. The park's board, made up of elected community volunteers, met with two officials from Borough of Manhattan Community College to consider accepting Wi-Fi in the park as a "gift" to the community. The college's wireless signal already reached just outside the school. "There are kids on the steps [leading to the park] using their laptops," said G. Scott Anderson, BMCC's vice president for adminstration and planning. "It just seemed easy for us to push the signal out into the park." But the prospect of Web surfers among the frolicking tots and blooming spirea did not please everyone on the board. Some board members were concerned about people visiting pornography sites or secretly uploading photos of children. The strongest protest came from Charles Komanoff, who objected to the encroachment of technology into the park. "It's an isolating, separatizing and atomizing experience," Komanoff argued. "Alright, the world is going that way, but we've got a little bastion here and for my park, I'd rather keep that stuff out as long as I can." "We're sucking a little bit of the oasis from our park," said Fraya Berg, the board's president, who later voted to allow Wi-Fi access. Joan Himmelhoch disagreed with the idea that computers and parks don't mix. "It still will be a green space and you still can look at pretty flowers while you're sitting there with that laptop," she said. "It's not different from reading a book." Namshik Yoon, the city Parks Department's chief of operations for Manhattan, said that Wi-Fi had not caused troubles in other parks. "Everyone has certain hesitations about computers and technology," he said. "We wrestle with that on a regular basis. But I see people using and enjoying it, and it doesn't seem to be detrimental to the atmosphere." Most board members seemed reassured by a promise from BMCC's Anderson that the school will pull Wi-Fi from the park if it causes problems. But Komanoff was not mollified. "These changes go in one direction- more access, more electronics," he said. "You don't take those things away from people once the beachhead has been established."