It takes politics to really screw up a technology project.

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City Council won't be voting on Mayor Street's signature wireless Internet initiative any time soon because members only recently received copies of the hundreds of pages of contracts that they must approve.

The administration had hoped that Council members would approve the effort in a committee vote Friday, which would have cleared the way for a final vote as early as March 23. But the meeting adjourned without a vote after legislators said they needed more time to read the convoluted series of agreements involving the city, the quasi-independent Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, the city-created nonprofit known as Wireless Philadelphia, and the Atlanta-based Internet firm EarthLink, which is to build and operate the network.

A deal between the city and Wireless Philadelphia to have the nonprofit manage the initiative and administer social programs aimed at helping low-income people access the Internet.

A deal between Wireless Philadelphia and EarthLink under which EarthLink would build, operate, and own the wireless network and promise the nonprofit a share of its proceeds.

A deal between the city and the industrial development authority that lets the authority rent access to city-owned lightposts to EarthLink for use in mounting the network's 4,000 wireless transceivers.

A deal between the authority and EarthLink under which EarthLink would rent lightpost access for roughly $74 per lightpost a year.

The hearing will resume March 30, meaning the earliest a final vote could come is April 13. Under the agreement between EarthLink and Wireless Philadelphia, either party could walk away if Council does not approve the effort before summer recess.