Free Public Access to the Internet Opens in East Bay.

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 1995--The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), and Smart Valley, Inc., are pleased to announce the opening of a public computer terminal offering free Internet access.

The unveiling of this Smart Valley Inc. Public Access Network (PAN) site will take place at a press conference on Monday, September 11, 1995 at 12:30 p.m. at the MTC-ABAG Library, 101 Eighth Street (at Oak), across from the Lake Merritt BART station in Oakland.

The MTC-ABAG terminal is the fifth PAN site to go online and the first in Alameda County.

The Public Access Network encourages community involvement by making the Internet available to individuals with limited or no access to electronic services and applications. The PAN project provides free, high speed access to the Internet's World Wide Web at public locations such as schools and libraries.

To simplify searching the vast amount of material on the Internet, "The PAN Islands" homepage categorizes information through a set of graphics that are fun and easy-to-use, with eight islands representing areas of interest such as community, government or business. Over 500 Internet sites are represented by the islands.

"Many people know about the Internet, but few have had the opportunity to see and use it for themselves," said Dr. Harry J. Saal, president and CEO of Smart Valley, Inc. "Providing the public with access to today's state-of-the-art information services will help reduce the socio-economic barriers to technology and allow us to reach our goal of providing the Bay Area community with a true public resource."

For regular patrons of the MTC-ABAG library, this new site will provide online access to transportation and other planning resources. For other East Bay residents, the PAN site will offer free electronic access to the growing sources of information on the Internet.

"ABAG is involved in the PAN site as part of our mission to make government and government information more accessible to all citizens," said Terry Bursztynsky, ABAG's Director of Online Services.

"We're excited about being able to give our patrons access to much more information," said Joan Friedman, Head Librarian for the MTC-ABAG Library.

Teresa Hackler from Smart Valley will join Bursztynsky and Friedman at Monday's press event to answer questions and to demonstrate the site. MTC is the regional transportation planning agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Created in 1961 and representing 104 member cities and counties, ABAG is the land use planning agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, and provides demographic, financial, administrative, training and conference services to local governments and businesses.

Following the demonstration, press and other guests will be invited to view an extended demonstration of local government web sites in the MetroCenter auditorium at 1 p.m. and to attend the monthly meeting for abagOnline at 1:30 p.m.

CONTACT: Association of Bay Area Governments

Michelle Fadelli, 510/464-7922

or

Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Lysa Hale, 510/464-7785

or

Smart Valley

Kathie Blankenship, 408/562-7795