To Google with love: 705 letters join the application for Google Fiber

Those that have been following Long Beach’s bid for Google Fiber know that today was the last day for municipalities to formally announce their interest in hosting the company’s 1GB Internet experiment.

According to the Google Blog “more than 600 community responses… and 190,000 responses from individuals” were received as of 10 a.m. this morning. Cities have through today to respond to the request for information, and Google will post the “final numbers” tonight.

Google opened the application process to last month asking who wants to bring ultra high-speed broadband to their community. Nationwide cities large and small have been vying to outdo each other with stunts like renaming campaigns, YouTube videos, public rallies and hundreds of Facebook groups and pages.

Long Beach City Council voted unanimously on a motion brought by Councilmember Robert Garcia directing the City manager to apply as a host for Google’s new service. In addition, Long Beach residents rallied to express support for Google Fiber, leaving comments online through Facebook (Fiber for Long Beach) and Twitter (#LBGoogle).

“The community really came through with an outpouring of support,” said Garcia, who organized a successful online letter-writing campaign. “I’m really proud of us, and excited about this potential opportunity.”

More than 700 letters (705 to be exact) from Long Beach residents and business-owners were submitted on Garcia’s website. The letters were attached and sent in with the Long Beach application for Google Fiber this morning.

“This is a great opportunity for Long Beach, and I’m thrilled at the community support shown by these letters,” said Garcia. “There’s no guarantee we’ll be selected, but it’s great to see so much enthusiasm for leadership on technology in Long Beach.”

Google stated on their website that they will review the responses to determine where to build. ”As we narrow down our choices, we’ll be conducting site visits, meeting with local officials and consulting with third-party organizations. Based on a rigorous review of the data, we will announce our target community orcommunities by the end of the year.”

So, that’s it, Long Beach. We’ve made it known. We want Fiber! And, now we wait, because, if selected, we’ll never have to wait on the Internet again.