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Matthew Padilla is spending time at Classon Playground in Clinton Hill, not on the swings or the slide, but on the Internet.

"Play games, hear music," said Padilla of his favorite uses of the Internet.

Padilla is taking advantage of the new Wi-Fi hot spot at the playground, allowing those with laptops to get wireless access to the Internet.

"It's fun," said user Christina Franklin. "You can come out and go on the Internet and do whatever you want instead of staying in the house all day."

Elected officials and community leaders gathered Friday to launch the service. It comes in response to a report commissioned by the City Council last year that said a majority of the city's low-income residents remain without broadband Internet access and computer skills.

City Councilwoman Gale Brewer chairs the council's Technology in Government Committee.

"We've been talking in the committee hearings for about six or seven years on how we can get more hot spots into neighborhood parks that are particularly under served areas," Brewer said. "So this is like a dream come true."

"If you have access to a computer, you can sit in this wonderful playground, you can get your toes wet in the sprinkler, and you can gain access to the Internet," added Councilwoman Leticia James.

The location was chosen by the Child Development Support Corporation, a local community service organization. They were assisted by the not-for-profit group NYCWireless, which advocates for and enables the growth of free public wireless networks.

"We come in and consult on how to get it set up," explained NYCWireless Executive Director Dana Spiegel. "We have volunteers that actually do the installation, and they we provide support on an ongoing basis to make sure the hot spot is operating properly."

There is one step that still has to be taken.

"Our next goal is to get entities that would want to partner with us so that we can put in the hands of the youth in our community access to the world by giving them a laptop," said Marcia Rowe-Riddick, executive director of CDSC.