A friend provided a lead to look into a future ‘Smart City’ in the United States.

Fires and other “natural” disasters have occurred in areas planned to become Smart Cities.

That’s the pattern of ‘coincidences’ that keeps happening everywhere.

For instance, the Turkish tourist city of Canakkale.

Turkish Tourist City on Fire, Another ‘Smart City’?

The future Smart City I’m referring to is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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Myrtle Beach officials took steps this year towards a Smart City.

A local report in June 2023 coined the term ‘Meta Beach.’

WMBF reports:

A Smart Cities Council has been created. It’s an internal working group made up of 13 staff members from nine different departments. They officially started meeting toward the end of April. During the meetings they talk about economic development strategy, what are some kind of technology or research they want to bring to Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach staff has also recommended the development of a 311 Office, at the beginning of 2024.

The 311 Office will be a place where people can call and get their government services answered and they don’t have to be bounced around from place to place to get an answer.

They also want to implement virtual management with the 311 Office so that chatbots can answer people’s questions if they don’t want to call

Myrtle Beach Chief Innovation Officer, Howard Waldie, is also hoping to develop a “Myrtle Beach 101″ app to not only help people answer questions but can be a place where residents and visitors can alert the city to issues.

“So, there’s obviously a public safety component, but I mean it could be endless. It could have augmented reality at some of our hot-spot visitor destinations or also hot-spot destinations for our residents,” Waldie said. “That tells you the story of a park or tells you the story of Myrtle Beach’s history during World War II.”

The goal of a smart city is to use advanced technology to help improve the quality of life and businesses. That could include smart trash cans.

“City staff are actually calling this the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” a WMBF News reporter said in this video report.

WATCH:

If “Fourth Industrial Revolution” sounds familiar, it’s directly from the World Economic Forum playbook.

“Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres,” WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab wrote in 2016.

“Myrtle Beach city leaders announced the possibility of turning the area into a ‘Smart City’. City leaders say a new wave of advanced technology would change the way the community operates for the better,” WFXB FOX TV wrote.

From WFXB:

In order to carry this plan out, they would bring sensors into the region to electronically collect data about people and infrastructure.

Some new resources the city could see include, smart trash cans, and acoustic gunfire detection systems.

The idea has already been pitched to the Myrtle Beach City and Horry County Council.

The next steps include continuing to make partnerships and seeking grants to fund this advancement.

“Myrtle Beach, SC just announced that it’s going to become a SMART city beginning 2024. My sister lives there and is now getting nervous. Not looking good. We, THE PEOPLE have to say NO!!!,” Twitter user dg2020 said.

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MyrtleBeachSC News wrote:

Mirroring the leftist cities of San Francisco, NY, London, and Portland Oregon, the City of Myrtle Beach is continuing to make Myrtle Beach a smart city. A meeting was held on the issue yesterday.

What is a smart city? According to National Geographic Resource Library: A smart city, “is a city in which a suite of sensors (typically hundreds or thousands) is deployed to collect electronic data, from and about people and infrastructure, so as to improve efficiency and quality of life.”

It is a methodology for city government to collect data on every action and transaction that occurs inside the city limits on both tourists and locals.

The city has already engaged a Smart Cities Council made up of key city employee heads.

The Myrtle Beach Smart Cities Council is an internal working group made up of 13 staff from nine departments inside city government. They officially began meeting at the end of April. They discuss economic development strategies, what kind of technology or research they would like to bring to Myrtle Beach.

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