King County (of which Seattle is a subset) sells naming rights to giant park to install Wi-Fi: The county spent $165,000 to unwire Marymoor Park, a sprawling 640 acres on the banks of Lake Sammamsih. It's a great multi-use park, and Microsoft will pay $100,000 for a year's worth of naming rights to stick MSN on the portal. (Oddly, it's the closest large park to where a lot of Softies live, so they'll be advertising to their employees, among many others.) You can take their money, but a county executive spokesman apparently swallowed their marketing pill, too: "It's a perfect fit, because MSN creates virtual communities, and parks are all about community."
Portland, Oregon, votes to franchise citywide wireless network: Along the lines of Minneapolis, commissioners voted four to zero to find a contractor to build the network privately and assume the risk. In exchange, the city would be a major customer. The bidding should start in August, and a network could be online in parts by mid-2006.
West Hollywood puts free Wi-Fi across a section of the heart of the city: If it's successful in luring folks in, it will expand it. The article suggests that this expansion could "possibly mak[e] it the first Wi-Fi city in the nation," but there are already towns around the size of W. H. that have Wi-Fi throughout.
North of LA, Santa Clarita adds free Wi-Fi in its central park: The costs on this project are pretty reasonable: $7,000 setup and $200 to $300 per year for administration. If it benefits the community, the town will expand coverage. Central Park is used as a staging area for brush fire crews, so it's a perfect place to have Wi-Fi.
Coeur d'Alene tribe (Idaho) covers reservation: Sixteen Vivato panels are being used to cover the 538 square miles (about 23 miles on a side if a square) on the edge of the Rocky Mountains.