$25.3 million broadband project aims to bring high speed internet to Huntington Park

On Wednesday, Huntington Park’s Mayor Eduardo Martinez, the City Manager, City of Huntington Park Public Works and project developers showed up at Robert Keller Park to celebrate the groundbreaking of a $25.3 Million High-Speed Broadband Project that aims at providing community members faster internet speeds. 

According to the city, the project is designed to close the digital divide and support education, public safety and economic development across the community.

The project is funded by a $25,358,952 grant from the California Public Utilities Commission and will bring 42 miles of last-mile fiber and 11 miles of middle-mile fiber to the city, delivering internet speeds of up to 5,000 Mbps.

In an interview with CALÓ News, Vice Mayor Jonathan Sanabria of Huntington Park said this project is an attempt at breaking the digital divide in the community where many struggle to access affordable and reliable internet service. 

“There's an important part of making sure that we treat broadband as a public good. And what I mean by that is that if the city and the state and all these government entities are investing in this infrastructure, that we make sure that we deliver the service to our community members at cost,” Sanabria said. “Meaning that we should be in the business of making money off of this and keeping it as affordable as possible, making sure that everybody has true access.”

Sanabria said the city is anticipating for the project to be completed around early 2027.

“These are the types of projects that we need to bring to our community that are going to enhance the infrastructure that exists. It's going to take the city into the 21st century because it's not only going to be [for] residents. Our businesses are now going to have access to this. Our government itself is going to have access to high speed [internet],” Sanabria said. “When you have high speed broadband, it opens up doors to do various different things.”