Wi-Fi Theft In Sunset Park Leaves Park Goers Disconnected

Sunset Park goers will have to live without internet for a while.

The park’s Wi-Fi repeater — a device that boosts the Wi-Fi signal to a larger area — was stolen from the roof of the comfort stations early on Thursday, May 26, according to Tony Giordano of the Sunset Parker Facebook group.

The equipment had to have been broken off, and rendered useless, in order for the thief to walk away with it, according to Tony.

“We imagine it was a rather dumb person — the kind that breaks a car window for $4 of change and leave the owner of the car with $150 damages,” said Tony. “We imagine they are now very frustrated since it has no value except to the company that installed it and has a linkage to it.”

The equipment, which is funded by the 5th Avenue Business Improvement District, costs $60,000 and and another $13,000 a year  is required for maintenance.

Renee Giordano, who runs the BID and is married to Tony, has been working to get this free Wi-Fi set up for four years until the plan finally came to fruition last year.

“The real difficulty was a very personal one for Renee,” said Tony. “She had to go to hundreds of stores and property owners to try to get them to allow the use of their buildings for the equipment (small boxes in some cases the size of a half a loaf of bread).”

The Giordanos say they believe this theft is a “fluke.” To ensure it doesn’t happen again, a security box will be purchased to house the repeater when it is replaced.

Some local businesses, like Johnny’s Pizzeria, that benefited from the free Wi-Fi have already offered to help pitch in on the replacement. Fortunately, the BID has contingency funds for this type of event, according to Renee.

We are told the Wi-Fi should be back up by mid-June.