Southeastern Louisiana University’s campus is lined with trees but in the middle of mother nature, students and teachers can now hook up wirelessly to the web.

However, the high tech hotspot doesn’t end there, it reaches into Hammond’s downtown and other spots across the city. SLU’s Mike Asoodeh said, “Stop by, use our wireless system but of course at the same time, maybe some shopping, but at the same time see our beautiful city.”
 
Hammond is know for it’s small town beauty but community leaders such as Bill Joubert with the SLU Business Development Center said, “This is the one piece that we’ve been waiting for to tell the world we are not a sleepy little town, we’re a very progressive, very technologically advanced community.”
 
Post-Katrina, brining new business into Hammond is a top priority and creating a fully wireless city will help in that effort. Hammond leaders are also hoping it will bring tourists into the city who normally travel through on Interstate-12.

Alexis Ducorbier with the Hammond Chamber of Commerce said the city will soon begin a marketing campaign aimed at drivers, “We are going to be having some billboard advertising and things like that trying to lure people here to stop.”
 
The belief is that if people stop in Hammond they might stay a while said Joubert, “It begins to create a magnet if you would so that folks that know, the business community that knows there’s a wireless connection will flock here in hopes of catching an e-mail and getting all those things done and while their here of course they might fill up their gas tank, they might go to dinner, get lunch, something like that.”
 
Right now, access is limited to Downtown Hammond, the University and by the mall. City leaders are hoping more sponsors will come forward in the near future so they will be able to expand the coverage area to cover the entire city.

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