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Reuters Alex Vybourg (L) and Will Luzadas of audio visual integration company SpeakerGuy Inc. look at a projector screen they installed in a home in Manhattan Beach, California July 29, 2014. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

By Deepa Seetharaman

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Seattle audio and video technician Todd Mueller showed up last year for what might have been a routine job except for one thing: Amazon.com Inc was taking notes. As he mounted a flat-screen TV on the wall, an Amazon employee studied how he covered his shoes and used a blanket to protect the hardwood floor.

After at least two years of study, Amazon is ramping up efforts to offer repair, installation and other services online, tackling a fragmented but potentially rich U.S. market that may be worth an estimated $400 billion (236.89 billion).

Amazon's experiment with services goes back to at least mid-2012 in its hometown of Seattle. It's now expanded the tests to New York and Los Angeles, six service providers who worked and talked with the company told Reuters.

More locations and services are coming soon. As soon as mid-August, Amazon will take as much as a 20-percent cut from services booked through its website, though timing and figures may change, according to providers and several hard-to-find pages on Amazon's website devoted to local services.

Providing services would be a new frontier for Amazon, which hopes to enter one of the few remaining consumer sectors yet to succumb to Internet commerce. Its foray into the area comes as investors worry about Amazon's growing spending on initiatives with uncertain pay back.

It's unclear how Amazon can create an online exchange for services where others like Angie's List have failed to gain traction for years. While services like Yelp and Craigslist show what's available, getting a job done still often involves an old-fashioned telephone call.

The biggest challenge would be attracting enough small businesses to the site, Wunderlich Securities' Blake Harper said. Angie's List's spending on marketing - almost half its total revenue - to attract customers and retain providers has kept it in the red, analysts said.

"While the company has impressive logistical capabilities, it is lacking the local business information, reviews, and sales force, among other attributes, to begin to compete in the market," Harper said in a June 11 note, of Amazon. "We have a healthy respect for Amazon's ruthless competitive nature, but expect the local market to be much more difficult for them to scale than the ecommerce business."

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Analysis - Amazon quickens push into tough local services market

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The City of Rochester celebrated Wednesday the story of how a drinking fountain came to be exactly 25 years ago.

The Miss Jane Pittman drinking fountain sits outside the Sibley Building at the Liberty Pole.

In 1988, Midge Thomas needed a drink of water to take some medication, but found no free drinking water available in downtown Rochester. Thomas, the widow of the late Dr. Freddy Thomas, spearheaded a movement to get a public drinking fountain downtown.

"The symbol represents the time years ago when there were separate drinking fountains. We wanted this fountain to be more meaningful than just having a drink of water. It talks about the history of this country of America," said Thomas.

The fountain is named after the fictional character in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," a 1971 novel by Ernest Gaines about the life of a slave girl. The novel inspired a made-for-TV movie in 1974, where Pittman was played by actress Cicely Tyson.

Thomas said when the fountain was dedicated, Tyson was invited to attend the dedication, but asked for a $800,000 attendance fee. Ernest Gaines, author of the novel, appeared instead for free.

Wednesday was also proclaimed Midge Thomas Day in Rochester.

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25 Years Ago, A Drinking Fountain in Downtown Rochester Became a Movement

Hollister officials last week took two steps in what Mayor Ignacio Velazquez referred to as part of efforts to address infrastructure needs in the city.

City officials launched a sidewalk repair program that involves low-interest loans to fix buckling walkways and other issues throughout the city, which maintains a priority list with thousands of needed sidewalk repairs. The council at the same meeting heard a presentation about a Complete Streets draft plan to address safety and walkability needs, when funding becomes available, for key thoroughfares that include Nash, Tres Pinos and Sunnyslope roads, along with McCray Street.

The sidewalk program discussion, though, incited the most interest from council members who often hear from their constituents about repairs needed to walkways and roads. The council unanimously approved allocating $100,000 toward a sidewalk repair program. Residents can obtain deferred loans at a 2 percent interest rate for up to $10,000 in order to fix sidewalks, repairs of which are the responsibility of homeowners.

Previously, the city would respond when it could and do some repairs, such as grinding, to problematic sidewalks, according to City Manager Bill Avera. With the sidewalk repair program, the city expects to wean residents away from getting assistance from the city with sidewalks in disrepair, within six to seven years.

Councilman Victor Gomez called it a good idea as a transition mechanism.

Eventually this is something that we're going to have to tackle and be proactive on, Gomez said. Eventually we're going to have to get to the point where if somebody's sidewalk is in disrepair, we get on top of it.

The mayor called the sidewalk program part of the beginning to some of the infrastructure needs we have throughout the city.

Velazquez said he had gone out looking at sidewalks with a city engineering official.

Some of these look more like steps, Velazquez said.

As for the other infrastructure matter on the agenda, officials heard a presentation on the so-called Complete Streets Plan overseen by the planning department. Residents were involved with workshops that helped to formulate the draft plan.

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City hones focus on buckled sidewalks, unsafe roads near schools

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