This, the first of our regional blogs, is authored by the technology and financial journalist Dominic Basulto. Dominic is a New York native, has been a senior editor at Corante since day one and has written for a number of online and offline media companies. Send tips or story ideas to: basulto@gmail.com.
About this weblog
Here we'll report daily on the latest tech and business developments in New York City. Impossible we concede: comprehensive coverage of the city's every story. What we hope you'll find: tips, tidbits and perspectives you won't find elsewhere. As well as unique insights, original interviews and more that should be of interest to New York's vibrant community of technologists and those who track, invest in and report on them.
The New York Post reports that Eliot Spitzer is fighting to make New York movie theaters more accessible for the visually and hearing impaired. In an agreement reached with eight national theater chains - including AMC, Loews and Clearview - 140 theaters across the state will now offer extras such as "rear-window captioning" and headsets that offer descriptive narration of films. Currently, only a handful of theaters in New York City offer captioned or narrated films. Eliot Spitzer explains the rationale for the move: "Movies are an important part of popular culture. Every adult and child should be able to enjoy a film with family and friends, especially during the holiday season."
Over at Tech Central Station, Johan Wennström argues that a congestion pricing scheme for traffic in New York City would become an unwelcome burden for New Yorkers. Pointing to examples from London and Stockholm, where congestion pricing schemes are already a fact of life, Wennström makes the case against congestion pricing:
"Is this really something for the Capital of the World? Manhattan is still recovering from 9/11. This is perhaps the worst time to carry through a system that would be a burden to New Yorkers...
On the eve of Bloomberg's re-election, he proclaimed that New York is back in business after the World Trade Center attacks. Why make it harder for the city to recover by imposing a toll system which, if following the international pattern, will only hurt merchants and consumers alike?"
In a blog post that references the "media elite" and last week's alcohol-fueled Open Source Media party in Manhattan, blogger Scott Sala of SlantPoint makes an impassioned case for blogging about local - not national - politics:
"...I have no interest in hobnobbing with the blog elite - though free top shelf liquor is always welcome. I've been heartily engaged in local politics because I see that the true citizen journalism frontier, where change can be made and stardom is not a primary goal...
Somewhere post-Bush43-squared I lost the mission. National political blogging was saturated and amounted to a lot of blathering and repetition, and a whole load of the top tier hunkering down and elbowing out the rest. It got predictable. I began to cite the source of 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier bloggers simply on content - that's from Drudge, that's from Malkin, that's from Glenn...
The local stuff is so much more the Wild West of blogging with a mission that is in your face. The people you write about meet you. The feedback is greater. The field is WIDE WIDE open. And frankly, in my position, the battle is very uphill (a Republican in NYC) - and I like it like that...
This isn't a hobby. This is a fight. I'm not an objective journalist, but an online activist. I ride the phantom line between journalism and advocacy, not quite an op-ed writer, but a digital evangelist in a strange land."
"Rather than trying to read the tea leaves of public records to figure out voters' tastes and leanings, they [the Bloomberg campaign staffers] had the money to simply call and ask about them directly. They called hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in what top strategists in both the Republican and Democratic Parties said was one of the most ambitious pollings of an electorate ever undertaken.
They stored the answers in a vast computerized database to develop sophisticated psychological portraits of city voters - identifying eight never-before-identified voting blocs based on people's shared everyday interests and concerns, not on their broader racial, cultural or ideological differences... The extensive polling gave Mr. Bloomberg's campaign a deep understanding of the city's voters, and allowed it to tailor mailings, electronic messages and prerecorded telephone calls to voters' specific interests as never before."
Among the groups identified: FANS (Fearful and Anxious New Yorkers), MIDDLE AGES (middle class moderates) and CULTURAL LIBERALS. Surely, it didn't take millions of dollars to identify FANS and CULTURAL LIBERALS, did it? Nevertheless, we'd be interested to know what the other five groupings were... Maybe the JET SETTERS (really wealthy Manhattan folk who love the Jets)?
Tired of getting patted down during routine "subway searches" by the NYPD? Embarrassed by what's lurking at the bottom of that briefcase? There's help on the way - the New York Daily News is reporting that the NYPD has imported the latest and greatest in bomb-detection equipment that will be much less intrusive for subway search victims:
"The portable devices - ranging in size from a hand vacuum to a large computer printer - are programmed to detect traces of homemade peroxide bombs as well as military-grade explosives... Officials say the devices are less intrusive, yet more thorough, than a hand search. Cops pass a cloth swab over the handles or zippers of a bag, insert the swab into the device and get a reading within eight seconds."
In addition, a $2.9 billion bond act that will finance transportation projects statewide - including part of the Second Avenue subway and a link between the Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Terminal - was approved by New York State voters yesterday. $450 million of the money will be used by the MTA to finance construction of the first segment of the Second Avenue subway (East 63rd Street to East 96th Street).
It's election day, and while there's not any real drama about the outcome of the New York City mayoral race, there are a few interesting political tidbits floating around about the race between Bloomberg and Ferrer:
Last week, Micah Sifry, the eCampaign Director for Andrew Rasiej, posted an exhaustive and honest analysis of Andrew Rasiej's unsuccessful bid for NYC Public Advocate. There's a lot to chew on in Micah's analysis, including a realistic appraisal of how the Internet helped - and didn't help - in advancing the campaign of Andrew Rasiej. Going forward, there's still hope for a new era of "open source politics" -- but only if the local tech community does a better job of pitching in:
"Another one of the unconventional premises of our campaign was the idea that young, “wired” individuals who work and play in the new technology economy would rally to support one of their own, a candidate who “gets it”—that is, who demonstrably understands the power and potential of networks and transparency in politics. Indeed, we started with lots of support and good will from key Internet organizers from the Dean, Clark, Kerry and Kucinich 2004 presidential campaigns along with “A-list” technology opinion-shapers like Doc Searls and David Weinberger...
But the fabled tech community turned out to be mostly a fable when it came to actually embracing Andrew’s campaign and setting aside time to spread its message. Yes, about 100 local and national bloggers linked to the campaign. But few made an extended commitment to pitch in..."
Thanks, Micah - you fought the good fight in pushing along the public debate about the role of Public Advocate in New York City and in explaining the link between technology and participatory democracy!
Based on as yet unreleased poll numbers, The Politicker is predicting a huge landslide victory for Michael Bloomberg in this week's mayoral election: 60% to 28% over Fernando Ferrer. The comments to the post on The Politicker are especially illuminating - the question is not whether Ferrer will win or lose - it's whether Freddy will keep it respectable and hit the 40% mark.
Dawn Eden, who writes the "Blog On!" column in the Sunday New York Daily News, is a bit puzzled as to why so many liberal bloggers in New York City are "soft" on Mayor Bloomberg. After conferring with other bloggers and political pundits, a few theories emerge as to why "Bloomy-bashing blogs" are having such a tough slog of it:
"Liberal bloggers focus on national politics to the exclusion of local issues" [Daily Gotham]
"Political organizations... lack an understanding of blogs' power" [Daily Gotham]
"The majority of Ferrer's constituency is not online" [onNYTurf.com]
There might be another reason: Bloomberg has assembled a state-of-the-art, well-financed campaign steamroller that has very little chance of being defeated. Be like Mike and maybe you won't get run over.
According to media mogul Barry Diller, the high cost of compliance with some of the more onerous provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) is having a significant negative impact on U.S. businesses. While Diller agrees that senior executives should be held accountable for the reliability of their companies' financial statements, he took particular exception with Section 404, which he called "ridiculous" and "incredibly wasteful." In short, says Diller, "Congress has a duty to revisit Sarbanes-Oxley, to see what was smart about it and what wasn't, and conform it to sensible and current practice,"
Well, it looks like the terror alert level in New York just got ratcheted up a notch -- there's a "credible threat" that terrorists plan to attack the New York subway system using tactics and lessons learned from the London subway bombings. According to the New York Daily News, the terrorists plan to hide the bombs in baby carriages and briefcases and strike sometime during the Columbus Day holiday weekend:
"Up to a dozen terrorists planned to come to the city and assemble into cells of suicide bombers who would attack the subways - hiding explosives in strollers and briefcases. The terrorists envisioned a series of attacks that would be "London-scale, not World Trade Center-scale." They'd be terror strikes instead of spectaculars."
What's troubling is that a tipster in Iraq (not New York) apparently gave the information to U.S. officials, leading to the arrest of two potential terrorists in Baghdad (not New York). So, there's one cynical way to view all of this: President Bush's approval ratings have been sinking fast, and he has been facing increased criticism about the handling of the war in Iraq. So what if - and this is just idle speculation of one blogger - the Bush Administration wanted to scare the public back into submission by exposing a dastardly terrorist threat striking at the heart of the New York subway system? And what if that threat were being generated by terrorist thugs in Baghdad? Wouldn't that make the whole war in Iraq seem once again important and timely?
The New York Post got us all excited this morning with the first sneek peak at the new subway cams. (see pic) According to the Post, contractors have been busy testing the cameras at a platform along the West 86th Street No. 1 line station in Manhattan and the 161st Street-River Avenue station, near Yankee Stadium.
As of Monday afternoon, though, it's unclear how things stand. Crain's New York is linking to an AP wire report stating that a deal between the NYPD and a private sector security and surveillance equipment maker has been scuttled. The report says only that the pilot project with MSGI was "improperly authorized" by an NYPD inspector. (In corporate lingo, that's known as "rogue spending.") The shares of MSGI have been on a rollercoaster ride over the past two trading days -- on Friday, rumors of the new subway video surveillance system deal sent shares up 41%. On Monday, shares closed 17% lower as investors reacted to the bad news of the aborted deal.
MSGI offered only a dry formal statement via e-mail: ''While MSGI has received no notice of cancellation from the NYPD Transit Police, we understand that the project is on hold so that the issues relating to internal police protocol can be properly addressed... There was a degree of miscommunication within the Police Department.''
According to the New York Daily News, New York State Senator Frank Padavan has launched a new Web site ("Get Back to the Train") that includes a petition for New York subway riders to call on the MTA to roll back recent fare hikes. The logic behind the petition is simple - the MTA should do its part to help commuters cut back on gas consumption, and lower fares could be just the ticket to help motorists kick the car habit:
"Restoring transit fares to their 2004 levels would save transit riders $38 million - an average savings of about 7% off the cost of a monthly commuter rail ticket - and encourage them to leave their cars at home... An immediate fare cut would save money, encourage the use of alternate transportation and lend to a better, cleaner, more cost-efficient New York."
The cash-strapped MTA, as might be expected, responded by stating that there was no way that it would consider a fare rollback. That's the unfortunate thing about "temporary" fare increases to balance a budget shortfall -- they are rarely, if ever, rolled back to previous levels.
Over at Tech Central Station, I wrote a follow-up on Andrew Rasiej's unsuccessful campaign for New York City Public Advocate ("The Technorati Candidate"). Despite a technology-centric platform that seemed to resonate with tech-savvy voters, the Rasiej campaign team nevertheless barely managed to win more than 5% of the popular vote:
"In the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore found out that it was possible to win the popular vote, and still lose the electoral vote. In last week's Democratic primary for New York City Public Advocate, Andrew Rasiej found out that it was possible to win the blogger vote, and still lose the popular vote.
For the two months leading up to the primary election on September 13, Rasiej captured the hearts and minds of bloggers like no other candidate since Howard Dean with a technology-centric campaign that included a plan for citywide wireless Internet access, a video blog (in addition to a regular blog), and a plan for making 911 calls from the NYC subway. On the day preceding the election, in fact, "Rasiej" ranked as one of the ten most popular search terms on the blog search engine Technorati. Anyone convinced of the power of the blogosphere to determine the fate of political careers (Trent Lott, anyone?) would surely have guessed that Mr. Rasiej was on the cusp of sweeping into office with a broad new mandate to revolutionize politics."
Alas, it was not to be. So... will the blogosphere ever be able to elect one of its own? Are candidates like Howard Dean and Mr. Rasiej on the right track, or are all bloggers collectively participating in some kind of mass delusion?
"Government workers are far more likely to drive cars to work in Manhattan than private-sector workers... 33% of government workers drove to work in Manhattan compared to 11% of private workers. The reason: many government workers have free parking... If government workers commuted by public transportation or other means at the same rate as others, there would be 14,000 fewer cars coming into the Manhattan central business district each day."
Andrew Rasiej, who ran a valiant campaign for Public Advocate against incumbent Betsy Gotbaum with a technology-centric platform, ended the night with a little more than 5% of the vote. The final tally in the race for Public Advocate:
Betsy Gotbaum: 48.04%
Norman Siegel: 30.36%
Michael Brown: 9.09% Andrew Rasiej: 5.17%
Jay Golub: 4.78%
Damon Cabbagestalk: 2.56%
It was a disappointing finish (did Michael Brown even participate in the debates?), but all is not lost, according to Andrew Rasiej:
"I don’t consider this to be anything other than a victory speech…We changed the whole notion of what the Public Advocate’s office could be…It doesn’t matter what the percentages are, we created a real debate about what the Public Advocate’s office could be and we raised a lot of important ideas…In case you didn’t hear, today the New York Parks Department announced that they will be giving free Wi-Fi in most of the city’s parks today...
I don’t believe that one politician can solve the problems of 8 million people, but I can certainly buy everyone here a drink…let’s drink to our future, let’s drink to our city’s future, and let’s drink to the future of idea(s)!”
In his campaign for New York City Public Advocate, Andrew Rasiej has highlighted the ability of technology - in all its forms, not just wireless Internet access - to empower ordinary citizens and to make government more responsive and more transparent. Technology is not some kind of wonder drug that will make all the ills of society disappear overnight -- we're all a lot more aware of that after the dot-com collapse. Yet, nobody can deny that technology provides some powerful tools to make everyday life easier.
Over at Flickr, Esther Dyson explains why the Andrew Rasiej campaign, which has made technology a centerpiece of the debate over Public Advocate, is so important to the future of New York. Not just to the future of elitist, tech-savvy New Yorkers - but to all New Yorkers:
"His message is much more than WiFi for the People. He wants transparent and responsive government, which should lead to people feeling they *can* make a difference and getting motivated to do so. The Net and broadly available WiFi are just a means to that end. As someone once said, "Your responsibility does not end with complaining." Andrew is taking up the cudgel and trying to prove all that stuff - the empowering Internet, the changing balance of power, citizen involvement - can actually happen not just in Silicon Valley among the elite, but in New York City among real people...."
On September 13, New York will have a choice -- do they want to elect a Public Advocate who favors the status quo -- or do they want to elect a Public Advocate who really gets it?
In the last Public Advocate debate, there was a bit of disagreement among the candidates as to what should be the proper role of the Public Advocate in New York City. Is the role of the Public Advocate to act as a watchdog over the Mayor and city agencies? To act as an ombudsman for the people of the city and to protect their interests? Or to serve a more expanded role -- to find new ways to empower New Yorkers through technological innovation? (e.g. citywide wireless networks that would provide low-income New Yorkers access to the Internet)
In a best case scenario, the Public Advocate should be able to empower ordinary citizens to use technology as a lever to move the vast, imposing rock of public bureaucracy. Consider the case of LaLa Wang and MLX.com... In 1993, the company created a single, open real estate marketplace where buyers, sellers, renters, landlords, and brokers could find one another. The open marketplace gave consumers more choices and made apartment hunting less expensive and time-consuming. That is, until the entrenched real estate interests (i.e. large brokerage firms) in the city got together to throw up roadblocks to the further operation of MLX.com. The New York Department of State eventually got involved, enforcing an outdated Apartment Information Vendor licensing law to prevent MLX.com from offering to renters many of the services that it originally intended to offer. (For more details on the case and a link to a public petition to state and federal officials, check out LaLa's Website).
In the first type of role (as Mayoral Watchdog), the Public Advocate probably would pass on this type of case since it doesn't involve either the mayor or a city agency. Moreover, the role of Watchdog would focus on cases of gross malfeasance or wrongdoing, not on cases of a fossilized bureaucracy.
In the second type of role for the Public Advocate, the case of MLX.com might have been accepted -- but more likely, there would be 8 million other citizens also clamoring for attention, and the case of MLX.com would simply be moved to the end of the queue. Is it really the job of the Public Advocate to solve the problems of all 8 million New Yorkers? With a $3 million annual budget, that's not too likely.
Now, consider what would happen if the Public Advocate took a proactive role toward technology and understood its ability to empower citizens. In the case of LaLa Wang and MLX.com, it would be clear that government bureaucrats were acting to suppress innovation in the real estate market -- innovation that benefits consumers. Instead of interfering directly, the Public Advocate would provide the types of technological tools and resources that would enable a company like MLX.com to take on the entrenched interests. The Public Advocate would also have an eye out for ways that city agencies could become more efficient and productive through technology.
Just in time for the September 13 primary, Gotham Gazette has a handy endorsement grid to figure out who's backing who in the mayoral race. As might be expected, The
New York Times is backing Fernando Ferrer in the Democratic primary, as is New York Magazine. But there are a whole lotta endorsements that are less obvious. In fact, sometimes it feels like George Bush's "coalition of the willing," whose ranks were swelled with a bunch of stalwart - yet largely unknown - nations.
Look at who's lined up behind Mayor Bloomberg -- the only newspapers to back Bloomberg thus far have been the Ecuador News, the Ecua Times (yo, Ecuador in the house!) and Sing Tao (the newspaper, not the beer). Granted, a whole host of everyday people who make the city run on a daily basis - plumbers, taxi drivers, construction workers, electricians, paramedics, doctors, building workers, security guards and civil servants - have also lined up behind Bloomberg, but what does it say when no major New York newspaper has endorsed Bloomberg?
As noted in an earlier post, the New York City Office of Emergency Management has dispatched an urban search-and-rescue team to Mississippi to help out with the post-hurricane disaster recovery process. Our hearts and minds go out to the brave members of New York Task Force 1, which will be spending the weekend at Camp Shelby in Mississippi taking care of business while the rest of us grill burgers and spend some time at the beach. On this Labor Day weekend, let's not forget the men and women of New York Task Force 1 who are working so that we don't have to.
the OEM site also has details on how to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
It's not quite as dramatic as humans defeating robots in a Terminator flick, but Gothamist points out that human train operators are returning to the L subway line, displacing the robot operators. In other words, it's the end of the robo-train experiment:
"Hipsters, rejoice: An arbitrator said the L train conductors must go back to work because removing them violated a labor agreement. The MTA had removed conductors from L trains, in hopes of taking advantage of technology (the special, shiny robot trains) and trying to reduce costs (and start removing "excess" conductors from other train lines), giving riders the One Person Train Operation instead during nights and weekends - and then all the time later this year."
The New York Times calls it a "significant defeat" for the MTA since the third-party ruling means that the MTA will be hard-pressed in the future to eliminate the jobs of conductors from other city subway lines.
Crain's New York has the details on New York's emergency response to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. In addition to sending an urban search and rescue team (New York Task Force 1) to Mississippi, New York government officials are also urging New Yorkers who want to help to make donations to charities such as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army or the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City (which gives the donations to disaster relief agencies).
"We have all seen the devastating images of the damage that Hurricane Katrina has caused in the southeast United States. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the people in the area who have been impacted by this disaster, and we are eager to do everything possible to help. New Yorkers will never forget the extraordinary support we received following the dark days after 9/11 and how much it meant to our City."
The race for Public Advocate is heating up, with challenger Andrew Rasiej inviting his rivals - including Norman Siegel, Jay Golub and Betsy Gotbaum - to participate in a series of "People's Debates" in all five boroughs. (Thus far, only Gotbaum has not committed to participating in the debate, claiming that she has already fulfilled the two-debate quota mandated by the city's campaign finance law.) As one might expect, given the Rasiej campaign's focus on technology, the debates will be streamed via the Internet for any interested voters, says the New York Daily News.
WNBC carried the second Public Advocate debate Sunday morning, in which three challengers for the Public Advocate position (Andrew Rasiej, Jay Golub and Norman Siegel) took on incumbent Betsy Gotbaum for an hour of informal debate. What was surprising, perhaps, was that Andrew Rasiej was the only candidate who even mentioned what role technology could play in making the office of the Public Advocate more efficient, more productive and more powerful. After a laudatory op-ed piece in the New York Times praised Rasiej for his visionary Wi-Fi plans for the city, you would think that at least one of the other challengers would attempt to co-opt this theme.
As many readers of this site know, the Andrew Rasiej campaign has been front-and-center in promoting technology as a way of empowering everyday New Yorkers to solve their problems and deal with New York's massive bureaucracy. The public advocate, by promoting ideas like a citywide wireless Internet network, could act as a more powerful watchdog over the Mayor and the city agencies, enabling everyday citizens to have an active stake in what happens at City Hall.
Overall, the debate raised a number of significant issues about the scope and scale of the Public Advocate's office. One thing became clear within the first 25 minutes -- Andrew Rasiej is the only candidate who has done any serious thinking about the role of technology (namely, wireless Internet access for the entire population of the city) in overcoming the shortfalls of the Public Advocate position. Most New Yorkers don't even know what the position is, or that the Public Advocate would become acting mayor if (god forbid) something ever happened to the Mayor.
Yo, Osama, take a look at this: the NYPD has just added two high-powered sniper rifles to its arsenal. It's all part of an effort to beef up protection of the area's ports and waterways. Make no mistake about it, these weapons are ready to rumble -- each rifle is five feet long, weighs 37 pounds and can probably pierce an armor-plated tank at long distance. CBS News calls the rifle "without a doubt, the most powerful weapon you can buy." The New York Post has the details:
"The .50-caliber rifles — each selling for $10,000 and using 6-inch bullets that cost $4 a pop — were bought several weeks ago after months of tactical wrangling by Commissioner Ray Kelly and his top brass over whether the controversial weapon was needed in the Big Apple. The rifles can be fired from a police helicopter and pierce the hull of a boat to stop it from a distance of 1,000 yards..."
As reported last week, the Republican party is trotting out William Weld as a potential challenger to Eliot Spitzer in New York's 2006 gubernatorial election. Weld is the former governor of Massachusetts, but has little or no name (or face) recognition in the Empire State. Sure, he's buddies with Rudy Giuliani and other members of the Republican administration, but in New York, at least, he's terra incognito for many voters. What marketing campaign will Republican strategists dream up to promote William Weld for 2006? Word on the street is that Weld plans to raise between $40 million and $75 million for the gubernatorial bid, and that will buy a lot of airtime.
Maybe Mr. Weld should consider a a Snoop Dogg promotion, similar to the one that the famed rapper has with Chrysler's Lee ("Mocha Cocca") Iacocca:
"The 80-year-old Iacocca and Snoop Dogg, who made his name rapping about sex and marijuana, appear as golf buddies in the ad, scheduled to begin airing Saturday. Snoop Dogg wears an argyle sweater vest, while Iacocca dons a pastel plaid hat. At the end of the TV spot, Snoop Dogg says: "If the ride is more fly, then you must buy." Iacocca responds: "That's what I hear."
Ad Rants explains why the pairing of Iacocca and Snoop Dogg is so successful:
"With the usual old guy/young rapper dude culture clash, the post hopes to appeal to those under 40, many of whom have no idea who Iacocca is."
The New York Times is reporting that the MTA is close to signing a $200 million deal with Lockheed Martin to create a comprehensive security system for the city's bridges, tunnels and subway stations:
"According to people with knowledge of the talks... Lockheed Martin will lead a team of contractors in creating an "integrated electronic security system" that will include closed-circuit television cameras, motion detectors and "intelligent video" software that can automatically determine if a package has been left on a train or if a person is in a restricted area."
Joining Lockheed Martin in the deal will be a number of other contractors, including Rochester-based Lenel Systems International and Sweden's Slattery Skanska.
According to the article, the same Lockheed Martin unit has been hired by the governments of Albania and Uzbekistan to work on large-scale security projects. Hey, if it's good enough for Albania, it's good enough for New York City.
Washington Technology reports on a high-tech war game at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point that featured an unusual enemy: Internet scammers. The Wall Street Journal called the exercise "good guys masquerading as bad guys pretending to be good guys." (If you think about the Citigroup ads for identity theft, this makes much more sense) It was all part of a larger effort to make West Point cadets more aware of phishing scams that appear to have originated from a well-known source.
There's clearly a lot of training yet to do -- "We got an 80% click rate on the first test e-mail, sent to 400 West Point cadets... Subsequent exercises with as many as 3,000 cadets produced lower response rates, but the rates did not drop sharply." (In all fairness, though, the phony e-mails included the name of a West Point colonel, and everybody knows that you don't disobey a direct order from a higher-ranking officer)
The top-ranking Internet security official of New York state also reported similar findings in tests of 10,000 state employees in five departments. The government employees were especially susceptible to "spear phishing" attacks, in which the scammers targeted a specific organization. Basically, if people working in the cubicle next to you get the same message as you do, and the e-mail appears to be coming from your boss, it's an easy trap to fall into...
The MTA is obviously taking the hint that it hasn't done nearly enough to protect the city's vulnerable subway system, especially in light of the terrorist bombings in London.
The MTA apparently has had access to a massive war chest of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds, but has spent only a fraction of it. Now there's talk of installing hundreds of subway surveillance cams throughout the subway system, similar to what London already has. This is an election year, so "it's a safe bet that at least some of the cameras will be up before Bloomberg faces re-election in the fall, and certainly by year's end."
The New York Times is apparently jumping on Andrew Rasiej's wireless bandwagon... According to the Times, Andrew Rasiej, running for Public Advocate against incumbent Betsy Gotbaum, has decided to rev up the campaign with a series of TV ads on NY1. For the next ten days, Andrew will be educating the city about the virtues of a citywide wireless Internet network and focusing on his campaign's major theme: "the need to integrate technology more fully in New Yorkers' lives."
Time is running short, though: the latest poll figures show Gotbaum garnering 38% of the vote, with Rasiej a disappointing third with less than 10% of the vote.
Police officers searching for bombs in the New York subway system are now equipped with bomb-residue detection wands. Or, as we like to call them, magic sticks. Officer.com (via the New York Post) has the details:
"Transit officers began training yesterday with bomb-residue detection wands - the kind that have become familiar at airports - as part of a bid to improve the NYPD's program of random searches. The wands have a cloth tip that can be rubbed on bags to tell if a bomb is in a bag, or if bomb components have come in contact with the surface."
It's like a player from the Red Sox being signed by the Yankees... Roger Clemens, anyone? Former Massachusetts governor William Weld has decided that he now wants to become governor of New York. The U.S. hasn't had a two-state governor since Sam Houston, but Weld is hoping that his platform of "tax cuts and social liberalism" will play on the New York political stage. The Republican camp - including Rudy Giuliani and Karl Rove - is desperately looking for someone who can take on Eliot Spitzer now that George Pataki has decided to run for president. So, these political strategists are receptive to the idea of Weld, a native New Yorker, running for office. Even if he is a New England carpetbagger.
New York City is slowly but surely moving to a system of pre-paid parking cards for its single-space parking meters, says Newsday. Instead of packing quarters, it's now possible to pick up cards in $20 and $50 denominations. Currently, cards are available online at the NYC Department of Transportation Website, by calling 311 or by visiting a City Store.
For those following the NYC Public Advocate race between incumbent Betsy Gotbaum and a host of challengers including Andrew Rasiej, a videoblog ("The Private Advocate in Her Private Office") from the Rasiej campaign team might be interesting -- it shows young voters being kicked out of Gotbaum’s office simply for asking for her public schedule:
"What is in Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum’s public schedule that would drive her to kick young people our of her office who were interested in asking her questions? That’s the question begging to be answered after the Public Advocate refused yet again to disclose her public schedule – this time to a pair of young New York voters—Rasiej interns going “double top-secret undercover”– who paid a visit to her office in downtown Manhattan to find out where Gotbaum would be in public next."
While we agree that the Public Advocate should be a highly visible position, and while we generally endorse the Andrew Rasiej campaign in its "Where is Betsy?" activities, me thinks that if a bunch of kids holding digital video cameras showed up at your office in the middle of the day asking for your whereabouts, the results would have been much the same.
Eliot Spitzer doesn't like it when people smack each other around, according to Newsday. His staff, bored with hunting down white collar Wall Street evildoers, must have cooked this one up. Apparently, Eliot Spitzer went after radio station Hot 97 for its "Smackfest" promotion, in which women engaged in "violent slapping" for concert tickets and cash. Making matters worse, said the Spitzer camp, the images of these violent slaps were then posted on the Hot 97 Website. After much posturing and negotiating, Spitzer managed to wring out a $240,000 settlement from Hot 97's parent company, Emmis Communications.
In what the New York Post is calling the War of the Roses, Jeanine Pirro, a high-profile prosecutor from Westchester County, announced plans to challenge Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton next year as the Republican candidate for U.S. Senator. It'll be the catfight to end all catfights, with Pirro pounding away on one issue: that Hillary is more interested in the U.S. presidency than in serving New Yorkers. On the tech front, Pirro will likely play up her role in Westchester's Internet stings of would-be child molesters.
A Pirro-Clinton matchup is not guaranteed, though. Pirro still needs to outpoll Edward Cox -- a son-in-law of former President Nixon -- in the GOP primary before taking on Clinton. Moreover, Pirro's husband could be a real liability, given that he's served time in federal prison for tax fraud and has been linked to Mafia informants.
Last week, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman gave a glowing endorsement to the campaign of Andrew Rasiej, one of the candidates for New York City Public Advocate. As has been noted here on the Corante New York site, Andrew has been at the forefront of a number of important issues facing New Yorkers in the coming election -- like citywide Wi-Fi networks and 911 calls from the subway. The idea of using technology to solve societal problems, says Friedman, is exactly what makes Rasiej special. Like Howard Dean before him, Rasiej has recognized the power of technology to reach into any sphere of life and make it more efficient and more powerful:
"The technological model coming next - which Howard Dean accidentally uncovered but never fully developed - will revolve around the power of networks and blogging. The public official or candidate will no longer just be the one who talks to the many or tries to listen to the many. Rather, he or she will be a hub of connectivity for the many to work with the many - creating networks of public advocates to identify and solve problems and get behind politicians who get it."
As might be expected, the article by Friedman generated quite a bit of commentary throughout the blogosphere. For awhile, in fact, the article was the #1 most-emailed article on the New York Times website. A big hat tip to the Rasiej campaign team!
Apparently, Ryan Sager of the New York Post doesn't approve of Eliot Spitzer's crackdown of payola in the music business:
"Maybe Attorney General Eliot Spitzer should simply pay radio stations to mention his name on a daily basis as he gets ready to run for governor. That way, at least, we'd all be spared wastes of time and money like his recent investigation into music-industry payola..."
Sager questions whether Spitzer's crackdown on payola is nothing more than a tempest in a teapot: "The real question New Yorkers should be asking themselves is whether any of what Sony did is actually wrong or harmful to consumers. Payola is as old as recorded music itself. In fact, it's older..." In other words, it's business as usual, so stop with all the naivete. There are so many other ways for musical acts to reach consumers that radios no longer have a monopoly on what's popular. Cracking down on payola only leads to bland, faceless Top 40 formats, says Sager, where DJs no longer have any authority to determine what's played.
We're developing a strange fascination with gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer. Love him or hate him, he's just more interesting than George Pataki. It's already clear that Spitzer will provide considerably more blog fodder than just about anyone else during the gubernatorial campaign because he's not afraid to take on the Establishment (with a capital 'E').
Anyway, Spitzer was in Schenectady this week, trying to win over New York's high-tech leaders. The easiest way to do that, of course, is to bash the governor over the head while he's not looking. According to Spitzer, the governor has shown little or no vision for how to develop New York's high tech sector:
"We are not capitalizing throughout the SUNY system, through our private universities; we're not capitalizing on the opportunities presented by bringing together educational systems and the economy and government to build the foundations we need for our economic growth."
Of course, some would beg to differ with Spitzer: both the nanotech and semiconductor industries have heaped generous praise on Pataki, with many giving the governor credit for making upstate New York a destination site for new R&D work. For now, it looks like Spitzer will try on his new "friend of high-tech" persona in places like Albany - if it helps him, he may bring the act to places like Long Island and New York City.
Andrew Rasiej, candidate for the office of Public Advocate, continues to come up with innovative new ways to address everyday problems in the city. Yesterday, Gothamist pointed to a new Website created by Andrew Rasiej's campaign team: We Fix NYC. The site will track and document potholes in order to "build a photographic map of where they are and how long it's taking the city to fix them..." Information is then posted to a Google Map.
So, if there's a pothole in your neighborhood, here's what to do:
"Reporting a pothole is easy. Just take a picture with your cell phone or digital camera, and then send the photo to potholes@wefixnyc.com. Make sure to include the address or intersection where the pothole is located, otherwise we won't be able to mark it on our map."
It's not official yet, but it appears that Governor George Pataki will not seek re-election in 2006, clearing the way for a possible presidential bid in 2008. The decision by Pataki also means that Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is the clear frontrunner to win election as governor next year, especially since both former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Governor William Weld have basically taken themselves out of contention as a replacement candidate for Pataki.
The New York Daily News claims that the MTA is maintaining a "secret database of people stopped and questioned for filming or photographing bridges and tunnels as part of the agency's efforts to thwart terror." Apparently, the database is under the auspices of the MTA's Interagency Counter Terrorism Task Force, but it's not exactly clear how this information is shared with the Department of Homeland Security or other anti-terrorist agencies.
While we applaud the MTA for doing its share in protecting the bridges and tunnels of the city, it's still a bit creepy to think that the MTA - an agency that can't seem to make the subway trains run on time - has tasked itself with assembling a secret dossier of information on individuals. What's next, the US Postal Service creating a top-secret file of individuals known to have received correspondence from Iraq or Afghanistan?
Slate takes a probing look at whether random subway searches conducted by the NYPD are legal. The answer? It depends. There is one basic test that these searches must pass:
"According to legal precedent, a random search is acceptable if it fulfills special needs like public safety. If New York's subway screenings are challenged in court, the city's lawyers could argue that the program's primary purpose is to protect the city from terrorism."
However, as Daniel Engber goes on to explain, proving this is sometimes harder than it sounds. Roadblocks used to screen drivers for drug-related crimes, for example, have been struck down as unconstitutional, as have random bag searches at last year's Republican National Convention in NYC.
Bottom line: even meeting the first test ("special needs") is not enough if the searches are deemed to be an invasion of privacy or if the police unfairly singles out certain people for the screening. And, as Michael Bloomberg found out this week, lawyers can really turn up the heat when bad things happen to good people -- such as when a group of British tourists were handcuffed and forced to kneel on a Broadway sidewalk in the blistering summer sun. As these Sikhs from Britain found out, parts of New York City have become real tourist traps during the summer...
Eliot Spitzer has temporarily shifted his focus from Wall Street to the music industry, cracking down on what he calls "bribes" and "payoffs" paid to influence decision-makers who determine what songs are played on the air. The New York Times has the details of the legal settlement between Sony BMG Music Entertainment and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, in which Sony BMG Music Entertainment agreed to stop providing extravagant gifts, free trips and other giveaways in exchange for airtime for its artists on radio stations.
Expect more on this over the coming months: "The settlement... is the first in a broad investigation by Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, into incentives that record companies offer to radio stations in hopes of getting airtime that will raise their artists' profiles, increase a song's ranking and, of course, drive up sales."Among the other companies targeted by Spitzer: Universal Music Group, the EMI Group and the Warner Music Group.
If nothing else, we now know why Jessica Simpson and J. Lo - both represented by Sony BMG - get so much airtime in key rotation slots.
Craigslist New York went live five years ago, giving New York Magazine the perfect opportunity to reflect on how Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, has impacted a variety of different sectors and markets -- from reality TV shows to vintage furniture to, of course, real estate. The site receives more than 50,000 posts (not visitors) per day. New Jack City is now New Craig City.
The explosions in London today - coming just two weeks after suicide bomber attacks in the London Underground - remind us again of just how difficult it is to protect any city's transportation system. Earlier this week, the New York Daily News had an update on the MTA's "first wave of major anti-terrorism projects," including the installation of high-tech surveillance systems to protect the underwater tunnels leading into Manhattan:
"The systems will be able to detect intruders entering the 14 subway and commuter rail tunnels leading into Manhattan - sending alarms and images to Metropolitan Transportation Authority police and anti-terror staff in command centers, sources said. Cops would be dispatched immediately to thwart any possible attack."
It's a solid step forward, but the article hints that the MTA has been dragging its feet on the whole process. Despite having access to more than $500 million in funding for anti-terrorism, the MTA has spent only a miniscule fraction of this money -- money that can be used to protect New Yorkers.
Over at Newsday, John Valenti points out that it may soon be possible for New Yorkers to take six-hour defensive driving courses online if legislation drafted by a Long Island politician is signed into law by Governor Pataki. A similar system is now in use in 15 other states, including California, Florida and Texas. The online course would cover standard defensive driving topics: driving techniques, road signs, accident avoidance, alcohol and drug awareness and regulations.
The New York Times takes a closer look at who's watching the city's 14 underwater subway tunnels. Somewhat surprisingly, given their vulnerability, nearly half of the tunnels have not been continuously guarded by the NYPD since 9/11. With the recent terrorist attack in London, though, the police department is scrambling to come up with a solution that will prevent intruders from entering the tunnels. Devising a full-blown strategy won't be easy, warns the Times:
"The question of how best to safeguard the tunnels is among the most vexing for the police and transportation officials struggling to address the many security challenges posed by the country's busiest mass transit system. It involves decisions about money, personnel and technology."
The folks at the NYPD have been busy reading Philip K. Dick novels this summer, we see. On Thursday, the NYPD unveiled a new $11 million high-tech crime-fighting center. CBS 2 picks up on the sci-fi/futuristic look of the center: "Mixing elements of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s media empire and the science-fiction film “Minority Report,” the New York Police Department has created a high-tech nerve center to provide officers instantaneous data about crimes, suspects and even convicts’ tattoos."
"The crime center looks fancy, sort of like a TV control room meets what Hollywood thinks police departments look like (but usually only in futuristic films, like Judge Dredd). Mostly, as much as this is good for the NYPD, this also sounds like the Mayor's answer to CompStat, which was Mayor Giuliani's claim to dramatically decreasing NYC crime."
This weekend, Governor George Pataki will be testing the waters in Iowa for a possible presidential bid in 2008, says the New York Times. Iowa, of course, is one of the key states for any Republican aiming for the party nomination. Governor Pataki said in an interview that it was "far too early to decide on a presidential race," but that he would start to finalize his political plans around the end of September.
In response to the early morning terrorist attack in London, Mayor Bloomberg held a security briefing with Governor Pataki and Police Commissioner Kelly to announce upgraded counterterrorism measures to protect the city's transit system. As a show of strength and solidarity with New Yorkers, the mayor also rode the subway from Grand Central Station to City Hall.
According to 1010 Wins, Bloomberg also called the London terrorist attack a "despicable, cowardly attack'' and offered his support to help Britain catch those responsible.
On the surface, perhaps, the condition of the city's parks and the prospects for economic growth in the city would seem to be two wildly divergent topics. Economists and city planners would prefer to focus on quantifiable facts and economic data. Yet, as anyone who has ever picked up Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point" knows, little things can make a big difference, and small quality of life issues can rapidly have a compounding effect on the life and vibrancy of any urban area. To take just one example from Gladwell's book -- former Mayor Giuliani and members of his administration read the book, eager for insights on how small quality of life issues (the infamous squeegeemen, graffiti, broken windows, etc.) could build into something much bigger in a very short period of time. That's when Giuliani & Co. decided to attack graffiti in the city and to shut down the squeegeemen. Each night, they would meticuloulsy scrub the New York subway cars for any signs of graffiti, even going so far as to develop a new graffiti-resistant paint for the subway cars. The idea was to break the morale of the graffiti artists and to inspire hope and pride in New Yorkers.
So, flip the clocks forward to the present time. Now it's not graffiti or squeegeemen, it's public parks that are infested with drug needles, condoms and bodily excrement. Yesterday, Timothy Williams of the New York Times wrote a heart-wrenching account of how City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe is turning his back on some of the parks in the city, like University Woods in the Bronx. The article was chock full of money quotes, like Mr. Benepe arguing that the University Woods park was really just a "vestigial landscape." When pressed about the poor shape of some of the city's parks, Mr. Benepe basically just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Let nature take its course."
Daily Gotham was all over Benepe yesterday, taking him to task for his cavalier approach to city parks. Echoing Gladwell's notion of a Tipping Point, Daily Gotham warned that "those little problems Benepe would like to ignore will become entire neighborhoods in the Bronx, Harlem, Flatbush and Flushing." (Thanks, Dorothy)
Government Technology points out that Mayor Bloomberg and Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) Commissioner Gino Menchini have launched a new online database of registered City lobbyists and their clients.
According to Mayor Bloomberg, the new database ("NYC Lobbyist Search") is good news for concerned citizens:
"This is a big victory for open government. The lobbying industry has nearly tripled in the last five years, but access to its public records has been severely limited... We have created a user-friendly database that will put information about the activities of lobbyists, previously available only in paper form, at the fingertips of anyone with access to the Internet... This is a major step forward in our work to make government more transparent..."
Gothamist points to a Daily News story about the MTA's plans to use satellite technology and electronic message boards in order to give New York City bus riders real-time information about the arrival of buses. Basically, satellites will track buses as they navigate the traffic-clogged streets of the city, relaying real-time information to curbside electronic message boards posted at bus stops across the city. (London and Paris both offer this feature, apparently, so it's not rocket science.)
A new report ("Stuck at the Turnstile") from the Public Advocate's office says that more than 25% of all subway MetroCard swipes have failed since the MTA replaced tokens with MetroCards in 2003. That's one in every four. Conspiracy fans will be heartened to know that the incidence of a "mis-swipe" is much higher in poor neighborhoods -- by some estimates, nearly 50% of all swipes fail in low-income neighborhoods. (The B/C subway stop on 116th Street in Harlem is, apparently, one of the worst places to use a MetroCard)
What's funny (funny sad, not funny ha-ha) is that if you ever ask a MTA station booth attendant (a disappearing breed) for help with a MetroCard, they look at you like you have the IQ of a piece of sushi and explain that the card is not working because you don't know how to swipe the card properly. This technique as a humiliation method is particularly effective during peak commuting hours, when the station booth attendant is speaking into his or her station microphone the way that a parent speaks to a small child, telling hundreds of swarming commuters around you that you lack the intellectual firepower and technological know-how to move a piece of plastic through a standard MTA cardreader.
Oops! The New York Post points out that the MTA forgot to close down the conductor's booth during a trial run of the Robo-Train: "The L train's single-operator maiden voyage, with MTA bigs aboard, was going without a hitch yesterday — until a group of skylarking teens invaded the empty conductor's booth."
And, of course, the New York Post just happened to be there to photograph the scene...
"At first, we thought that the proprietors of the Chelsea Market, which occupies this entire block, were worried about organized criminal activity (”the mafia”). Then, prompted by remarks made by a news crew from CNN, we thought that the Chelsea Market was run by the mafia. …our current hypothesis is that the Chelsea Market is (also) the homebase for a federal anti-terrorist (”emergency response”) team."
City Council speaker Gifford Miller is using Web sites the way earlier generations of politicians used free mail. Whether it is to rally support against the West Side Stadium or to promote a "17 Seats" initiative to reduce class size in New York City public schools, Gifford Miller is putting up Web sites to educate voters about important issues. Normally, such use of the Internet would go unnoticed; however, skeptics point out that the campaign season has already started and speaker Gifford Miller is really using the Internet sites as part of his mayoral campaign.
Miller's spokesperson responds: "Using the Internet is an appropriate and innovative way to keep New Yorkers informed about issues debated in city government and to give them a vehicle to voice support for a better education for their children and for critical budget priorities over a bad West Side stadium idea. Gifford Miller thinks that's the best of democracy - citizens connecting directly with the people they elect."
Internet software firm Intermix has reached a tentative settlement with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer after being accused of bundling together spyware with its downloadable software offerings. As in other cash settlements that Spitzer has squeezed out of other companies, Intermix did not admit any wrongdoing or liability. By paying cash and agreeing to a few changes in its business practices, Intermix essentially removed the "overhang" from Spitzer's spyware investigation on its share price.
Under the preliminary agreement reached with Spitzer, Intermix will pay $7.5 million over three years to New York State. The company will also permanently stop distributing unwanted software programs that automatically redirect users' Web browsers to Internet sites.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has been eager to create an image as an invincible crime-fighting machine, especially when it comes to cleaning up Wall Street. Last week's acquittal of ex-Bank of America broker Theodore Sihpol on 29 counts of illegal trading in mutual funds, though, surely put a dent in Spitzer's armor. It was, after all, the first major courtroom loss for Spitzer -- and a potential sign that Spitzer is overreaching his prosecutorial authority. For more on Spitzer and his political ambitions, check out the article that I wrote over at Tech Central Station: The Attorney General Who Would Be King.
The New York Times ran a piece about the candidates campaigning against Betsy Gotbaum for the position of NYC Public Advocate. Andrew Rasiej has become one of the frontrunners, thanks in part to a tech-friendly platform that has grassroots appeal:
"Mr. Rasiej also talks of the need to expand computer use and high-speed information technology. He also said he would seek to create wireless Internet access throughout the city and in the subways. "I think this office has the most potential of any office on the New York City landscape," Mr. Rasiej said. "If only the imagination of the person in office could be expanded."
Gotham Gazette adds to its Campaign 2005 coverage with a handy 26-question quiz to check whether you're "civic-minded" or "gossip-minded." If you know the names of at least four candidates who are running for Mayor, have a handle on NYC tax issues and have ever placed a call to the city's new 311 line, odds are that you're at least relatively civic-minded. If, however, you know which celebrities attended New York City schools or care about Mayor Bloomberg's dinner parties, you're probably not.
Campaign contributions via the Internet could be the difference maker for many New York politicians during the current campaign season. City Council speaker Gifford Miller, for example, has already pulled in $675,000 via online credit card contributions for his mayoral bid. This is apparently a city-wide trend: "Almost five times as many credit card contributions have been made so far this campaign season in New York compared with the last citywide election four years ago."
What's interesting is the psychology of the campaign contributors -- most of them would balk at the notion of writing a check, finding an envelope and licking a stamp, but think nothing of tossing around a hundred bucks if they can put on their credit cards.
There's egg on the face of mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner, who has been front and center in the fight to keep Wal-Mart out of the city. (The New York Post has dubbed him "Mr. Anti-Wal-Mart") It turns out that Weiner has pocketed more than $30,000 from two families with close ties to the big box retailer. That's not good news, considering that he's one of the sponsors of "Wal-Mart bashing" legislation that will be voted on in the House of Representatives this week.
Is the timing of the Wal-Mart revelations a coincidence? Probably. As the summer heats up, look for the candidates vying for Bloomberg's mayoral post to ratchet up their campaign vitriol. Try to stay clear of any drive-by mudslingings.
On Memorial Day, the New York Post splashed a "Big Brother" story about the NYPD across the front page:
"Big Brother really will be watching. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has told top police brass that he wants to put up about 400 surveillance cameras on high-crime and high-traffic streets to catch crooks in the act, even if cops are not there. In the next few weeks, police officials are expected to give Kelly a list of roughly 50 areas where they think cameras should be placed."
Jason Calacanis points out that Andrew Rasiej, candidate for New York City Public Advocate, recently added a campaign videoblog to his growing arsenal of online tools. As a preview of things to come, the Advocates for Rasiej site has posted a short two-and-a-half minute campaign video that was shot using a handheld mini-DV camera.
Andrew Rasiej, candidate for New York City Public Advocate, recently sent out an e-mail announcing a new feature on his campaign blog:
"In the coming days I will be launching a new feature on my website -- IDEAS4NYC. Each week we will post a question on a different issue, and ask you to give us your specific solutions. We'll share the results on our blog. And we'll take the best ideas and add them to the policy agenda we are developing."
It looks like Rasiej is having some initial success with the online campaign blog -- according to papers filed with the Campaign Finance Board, he's already raised $72,000 in just two weeks. All the more impressive, since Rasiej is not taking any donations over $100.
Aren't there enough ways to play the ponies in NYC, without the need for online horse wagering? It seems like there's an OTB facility within a fifteen-minute walk anywhere in the city. Plus, hasn't telephone betting been legal for years? But, no, that's not convenient enough, according to proponents of online betting:
"Horse racing experts on Tuesday touted online betting as a way to increase revenue and pump life into an industry that has seen better days in New York. They testified at an Albany hearing on the future of racing, saying the state should revamp its laws to allow people to point, click and bet."
According to one horse owner, the move to online betting is essential in order to "attract younger people to the game." (Just what we need, a younger generation weaned on online poker and online horse betting) OTB execs in New York are also griping that online betting is legal in New Jersey, ultimately draining jobs and taxes out of New York state.
According to the New York Post, the "L" train will be run by one operator (instead of two) late at night and on weekends starting June 19. It may not sound like a big deal, but it actually means that the MTA is one step closer to realizing its conception of a "robo-train" controlled completely by computers. A number of New York City Council Members, though, could try to derail the plan by warning about the threat to public safety.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has been bustin' the chops of New York's insurance industry bigwigs, and now they're fighting back with a vengeance... Recently, the CEO of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America claimed that Spitzer "has bypassed due process and used McCarthy-like tactics to wage 'corporate terrorism' against the insurance industry even while ignoring his own alleged conflicts of interest..."
And there's more: "Spitzer has discovered the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. It wasn't Saddam Hussein; it was Spitzer's corporate terrorism, the threat of an indictment, the threat of going to jail." Ouch.
Mary Hodder of Napsterization is the latest blogger to hop on the Andrew Rasiej bandwagon:
"Andrew is a really smart, thoughtful guy, who I think really cares about making things better than they are now... Show that a candidate worth supporting can do this with small contributions in with an online infrastructure by donating and participating. And get on the bus!"
Weblog publisher Jason Calacanis is also asking bloggers to sign up for the Rasiej campaign e-mail distribution list.
Andrew Rasiej is running for New York City Public Advocate on a tech-friendly platform that includes support for universal public Wi-Fi and a slogan of "Our supporters are smarter than us."
Gothamist points to a story in the New York Post hinting that the MTA and TLC could collaborate sometime in the future on a new swipe card payment system that would enable MetroCard holders to pay for taxi cab rides:
"They're already good on subways and buses — and the next frontier for MetroCards might be yellow taxis. Cubic Corp., the California-based transportation company that designed New York's MetroCard system, is studying the idea of in-cab swipe card systems."
The TLC has already put out an RFP for credit and debit card readers, advising bidders to build in some extra flexibility for something like a MetroCard-type swipe system.
"Mayor Bloomberg is launching a $100,000, five-week Internet advertising blitz aimed at recruiting tens of thousand of volunteers... The so-called "impression ads" are on Yahoo and a slew of New York newspaper Web sites, including The News, The New York Times, Newsday and El Diario."
From Bloomberg's campaign strategist: "The Internet is a tool that campaigns are learning to use to their advantage. And no candidate understands the Internet better than Mike Bloomberg."
The enemies of Senator Hillary Clinton (i.e. right-wing Republicans) are hoping that the launch of a new "Stop Her Now" Web site can put a wrench in any plans Hillary might have for a 2006 New York Senate bid. The New York Daily News has the details:
"A veteran GOP operative launched an anti-Hillary Rodham Clinton Web site Tuesday, complete with an unflattering photo and a warning that she and her husband are trying to “pull the wool over America’s eyes once again.'”
How many trees does New York City have? In June, the city is launching a high-tech tree census to find out:
"That question will be answered this summer by some thousand volunteers in a project called "Trees Count." Aside from counting every tree, the volunteers will collect basic data on each tree's location and species; they will also use handheld computers donated by Hewlett Packard to measure the diameter of the trunk and the crown. All this data will be entered into a common database, then run through an economic model to determine not just how much it would cost to replace each tree, but also to assess how much each individual tree is worth."
FYI: Bank of America is offering $1,000 to the adult New York City resident who guesses most accurately how many trees are in the city. (In 1995, there were close to 500,000 trees)
Public CIO has a cover story on Gino Menchini, the CIO of New York City. He's the CIO who never sleeps in the city that never sleeps:
"To spend an entire day with Gino Menchini, commissioner of New York City's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT), is to experience New York's traditional, hectic pace in technological overdrive. Menchini works hard and fast to get things done, and like his boss, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he combines this determined drive with vision, down-to-earth political savvy and a sincere desire to do all he can to make the city better for citizens..."
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer must be tired of tangling with Wall Street firms, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies... Now, he's turning his attention to the Internet sector and suing Los Angeles-based spyware firm Intermix Media, which stands accused of installing spyware on the personal computers of 3.7 million New Yorkers. Spitzer comments:
"Spyware and adware are more than an annoyance. These fraudulent programs foul machines, undermine productivity and in many cases frustrate consumers' efforts to remove them from their computers. These issues can serve to be a hindrance to the growth of e-commerce."
The only question: will spyware or e-commerce become a campaign issue during Spitzer's gubernatorial bid?
Last week, Mayor Bloomberg released a comprehensive new report called Telecommunications and Economic Development in New York City. The 74-page PDF document highlighted 21 key initiatives that the city should undertake over the next two to five years, including steps to make broadband access available for all city residents and businesses:
"Although New York City residents and businesses have access to an array of high-speed telecommunications connections and services that no other city can match, there are specific parts of the City where access is limited, such as Hunts Point in the Bronx and Sunset Park, Brooklyn. If New York City is to maintain its role as a world center of finance, communications and culture, we have to extend access to broadband communications to all, as well as continuously improve the reliability of our telecommunications networks and take advantage of emerging technologies."
For anyone interested in the future of telecom and broadband in New York: the Committee on Technology in Government is holding a hearing on May 2 to discuss the city's telecom infrastructure and the impact of broadband deployment on economic development. The key question is whether the recently released telecom plan went far enough in making sure that affordable broadband access will be available to all New Yorkers.
The New York Times takes a closer look at the city's Trips123.com Web site, which was originally scheduled to launch in 1999 and has already cost taxpayers upwards of $20 million. Trips123.com, which provides up-to-date information on travel routes and public transportation schedules, is a creation of the MTA and Port Authority as well as 14 other regional agencies. Eventually, the site will offer $5.95/month subscriptions for travelers who positively, absolutely must have the latest travel info delivered to them as soon as possible.
It's worth pointing out that, despite all this time, effort, and collaboration that went into Trips123.com, another (privately-financed) Web site, HopStop.com, offers much of the same information.
Led by Council Member Gale Brewer, the New York City Council is moving ahead with plans to create a nine-member broadband task force to study how affordable broadband access can be made available to all New York City residents, nonprofit organizations and businesses. Over a twelve-month period, the temporary task force will advise the mayor and the city council speaker as to the technical, legal, environmental and economic feasibility of providing affordable, city-wide broadband access.
What's cool is that "affordable broadband" could mean "affordable wireless broadband." The press release from Council Member Brewer specifically mentions the "Wireless Philadelphia" initiative to build and manage a citywide wireless broadband network:
"New York City has much to learn from the ‘Wireless Philadelphia’ initiative. Our challenges are different and our process will likely yield a different solution. But, Philadelphia had the courage and foresight to tackle the most difficult issues surrounding telecommunications, and we must do the same. We must balance New Yorkers’ right to the benefits that broadband access brings with responsible telecommunications growth and policy."
For ongoing coverage of New York's and Philly's plans, stay tuned to Glenn Fleishman at Wi-Fi Net News and Esme Vos at MuniWireless.com.
The New York Post has the scoop on some trashy technology. Queens will be the new home for 50 solar-powered compacting trash cans known as "Big Bellies." These big bellies have big appetites: "Each 50-inch-tall, wireless machine contains solar panels, sensors and internal compaction systems that allow it to hold 300 gallons of compacted garbage." (Traditional garbage cans only handle 40 gallons of garbage.)
The past six months have been rough for the MTA, so it's perhaps no surprise that the MTA announced that "controversial plans to have computers guide the trains have been postponed until next year." The MTA has already poured more than $300 million into creating a Robo-Train for the L line -- but is still not convinced that a new computerized train would be safe enough for New Yorkers.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is ready to move on after a Google-related snafu: apparently, his campaign team was buying ad keywords like "AIG" on Google. Thus, whenever an Internet browser searched for news about American International Group (AIG), Spitzer's latest white-collar crime target, text ads for Spitzer's gubernatorial campaign (Spitzer2006.com) popped up. Spitzer blamed a "relatively low-level campaign staffer responsible for promoting Spitzer's campaign Web site."
Last week at The New School University's Milano Graduate School, Mayor Bloomberg spoke on the topic of "U.S. Mayors and Innovative Leadership." The Gotham Gazette has a full transcript of the speech, which included a review of the mayor's initiatives related to the economy, taxes, homeland security and education. Oh, and also a nice mention of the city's 311 hotline, which recently celebrated its second anniversary:
"New York has clearly loved 311, and it's great for the public who can never find ways to interact with government. If you look in the phone book there is something like 11 pages with listings for New York government. And I defy anyone to guess which agency they should go to... But if you call 311 with service in 170 languages, we can probably get you a reasonably accurate answer or access or tell you where to go."
New York lawmakers have closed ranks behind a "first of its kind measure in the nation" to target the increasingly common practice of 'modem hijacking,' in which Internet criminals steal the dial-up modem connections of Internet users in order to make unauthorized international phone calls. In one variant of the hijacking scheme, computer users are tricked into checking a box in a pop-up window on the PC screen, inadvertently authorizing the downloading of modem software that then is remotely accessed to make international calls that are charged back to the computer user.
Each year, the practice is estimated to cost millions of dollars in unauthorized phone calls for Americans. Other states could soon be following New York's lead in dealing with the modem hijackers, thanks to the support of companies like Verizon and the support of federal officials.
On Thursday, the board of the MTA voted unanimously to sell control of the West Side railyards to the Jets. The New York Times calls the vote "a milestone in one of the most bitter land-use disputes in New York City in recent years." After this bitter, protracted debate over the future of the West Side railyards, rival bidder Cablevision is almost certain to throw up legal roadblocks to block construction of a new stadium for the Jets.
According to Newsday, the NYC Department of Education is looking to "ease" its tough ban on cell phones in schools. Over the summer, there will be a review of the ban, with an eye toward lifting the ban for the next school year.
Currently, cell phones are banned in all city schools -- "meaning students not only are prohibited from using them inside campuses, they're not allowed to carry them in the buildings." Parents and other community members have been putting pressure on New York City to lift the ban for safety reasons, "arguing that they'd need to communicate with their children in the event of another terrorist attack or unforeseen catastrophe..."
911, 411, 311, 211. No, it's not some kind of funky Fibonacci sequence -- it's a list of information and hotline numbers in the greater New York metropolitan area.
According to The Journal News, the new 211 number will enable two million residents in Rockland, Putnam, Westchester, Orange, Ulster, Dutchess and Sullivan counties to make a free phone call "to learn about food pantries, housing, child care and financial aid in the region." In its first year of operation, the 211 hotline is projected to answer as many as 50,000 calls.
Newsday reports that, under the terms of a government agreement, the major credit card companies will refuse to participate in Internet sales of cigarettes nationwide. New York AG Eliot Spitzer puts the deal into perspective: "The result is that virtually all credit cards will no longer participate with Web sites based in the United States and abroad that sell cigarettes and tobacco products in every state."
The New York Post has a brief item in today's paper about a new e-mail notification system from the LIRR that enables commuters to receive e-mail alerts sent to their computers or pagers about service delays. Apparently, it's as easy as visiting the MTA site and clicking on the LIRR button.
The resolution, introduced by Council Member Gale Brewer, is one way that the city is working to bridge the digital divide between the Internet haves and the Internet have-nots.
The effort to bring high-speed Internet access into affordable housing buildings was also made possible by the One Economy Corporation's Bring IT Home campaign, a national public policy initiative to enable lower-income families to tap into the power of the Internet.
Below, City Council Member Gale Brewer and Mark Levine, the One Economy executive who helped to draft the resolution, share their thoughts on what Resolution No. 669 means for New York City in an interview for Corante readers.
Q: For readers who may not be familiar with One Economy's nationwide "Bring IT Home" initiative, can you outline the key ideas behind the initiative as well as the likely impact of the initiative on New York City in particular?
Levine: "The fastest-growing sector of Americans using computers and the Internet is low-income individuals. Over the past several years, public and corporate investment has brought widespread technology access to America’s schools and has created thousands of computer technology centers. The next frontier for this critical work is in the homes of low-income people.
One Economy’s national Bring IT Home campaign promotes state-level public policy changes to make high-speed Internet connectivity standard practice. We work with State Housing Finance Agencies to craft policies that provide incentives to affordable housing developers to build and renovate housing that provides in-home high-speed Internet access. In some cases, the access is provided at low or no cost to the residents. Since Bring IT Home launched one year ago, housing finance policies have been amended in 29 states, affecting nearly 70 percent of all tax credit-financed developments. By the end of this year alone, more than 200,000 people in 80,000 homes across the country could have access to valuable online services and information in the comfort and convenience of their own home.
If fully implemented, in New York City alone, policy changes influenced by Res. No. 669 could impact at least 30,000 low-income households over the next three fiscal years."
Q: What is the nature of the collaboration between One Economy and the New York City Council in bringing high-speed Internet access to affordable housing residents?
Levine: "The New York City Council turned to One Economy for our expertise in this type of policy development. We’ve been working with Council Member Brewer and the Committee on Technology in Government for more than a year to help fashion the policy and ensure the successful passage of the resolution. Thanks to the Council’s leadership and vision, New York has set the bar for other cities to consider similar action for the benefit of their communities."
Brewer: "The Committee on Technology in Government is working with One Economy because we both believe that broadband access has the potential to empower low-income children and families and expand their economic, social and educational opportunities. Broadband is not an amenity in today's world; it is a necessity. It helps adults find jobs and children do their homework. Encouraging high-speed Internet to be built into all new affordable housing developments in New York City is a cost-effective way to have an impact on the lives of many low-income New Yorkers."
Q: Can you also comment on the role that technology companies are playing in the build-out of the initiative? From the One Economy Web site, it looks like the New York Times Company, InterActiveCorp and Time Warner's AOL unit -- in addition to eBay, Yahoo and Google -- are all playing a role.
Levine: "One Economy is fortunate to have many generous and visionary corporations supporting our work. Members of the Bring IT Home campaign – including Bell South, Cisco Systems, eBay, Fannie Mae Foundation, Freddie Mac, Google, InterActiveCorp, Intel, Microsoft, Qwest, SBC, Time Warner, Verizon and Yahoo!, and more than 120 nonprofit housing and community development organizations – provide financial support and, in some cases, tailor their offerings to make them affordable and accessible to low-income Americans."
Q: What are the key criteria for determining which affordable housing developments in New York City are next in line to receive broadband Internet access? How many housing developments in New York have already been selected to participate in the program?
Levine: "One Economy’s primary role is at the policy level; our Bring IT Home Policy Change and Implementation kit helps states and municipalities craft policies that encourage developers to include high-speed Internet service in the homes they build. We also can help implement policy through a comprehensive education program that teaches developers how to bring the Internet to their residents.
In New York City, once the policy is implemented by the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), individual affordable housing developers will decide how they want to include broadband as part of their application for funding. Housing policies which have the most impact for low-income families consider both the provision of high-speed Internet infrastructure and service. For instance, HPD's Tax Credit Allocation Plan could require the installation of wired or wireless infrastructure in all tax credit properties and the provision of broadband service to be included in the rent. In other cities and states where similar policy changes have been made, housing developers are quickly realizing the benefits of incorporating broadband into their units, from both development and property management perspectives."
Q: Could you quantify, please, the scope of the "Bring IT Home" initiative in New York City, in terms of # computers, # housing developments, # residents to receive Internet access, etc.
Levine: One Economy has been working with individual affordable housing developers throughout the city in advance of formal policy change. Twelve hundred apartments in the Mt. Hope section of the Bronx have been wired for broadband, 200 more are coming online in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, and additional projects are in the early stages of development. A New York City computer distribution program is being crafted and will launch in the near future."
Q: What other steps are planned by the New York City Council – and the Committee on Technology in Government, specifically – to address the “digital divide” in the city?
Brewer: "We are working aggressively on many fronts to address the “digital divide” in New York City. The New York City Council unanimously passed Resolution Number 669 on February 2, 2005. Our next step, working with One Economy, is to meet with the housing authority and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to discuss the resolution. Using our ability to hold oversight hearings, we are scheduling a hearing on April 7 regarding the Mayoral Administration’s study of the New York City’s telecommunications infrastructure. At that time, we will hear public comments from stakeholders and telecommunications experts. We are particularly interested in hearing the Administration’s position as well as the testimony of witnesses regarding how the Administration’s telecommunications plan addresses the lack of affordable and universally accessible broadband in New York City. We think the commissioning of this study is a step in the right direction, but we hope to keep the Administration focused on our position – that affordable and universally accessible broadband is a right of all New Yorkers. The Committee is also planning to introduce legislation to create a “broadband” commission to study the fiscal and technical feasibility of New York City implementing a metro-wide wireless broadband network."
The New York City government has already spent $20 million in taxpayer dollars on a new computerized mapping project, known as NYCMap ('nice map'). However, as the Gotham Gazette points out, access to NYCMap is "tightly regulated" due to fears about terrorists getting their hands on it. Therein lies the dilemma: "Though the public paid for it, this really cool map is largely unavailable to the public... How dangerous is it to let the public see the world-class map its tax dollars made possible?"
The New York City Council has unanimously adopted Resolution No. 669, which "calls upon City agencies to use their funding and regulatory power to support and encourage the provision of affordable high-speed Internet service and computer purchases for the benefit of residents of affordable housing."
Gale Brewer, the chair of the city council's Committee on Technology in Government, comments on the need for affordable broadband access: "This resolution will help us bridge the digital divide -- lack of access to the economic, educational and financial tools that the Internet provides. By encouraging new affordable housing developments to be built with high-speed Internet access, we can accelerate the entry of low-income people into the economic mainstream. At a cost as low as $175 a unit, this is an investment New York can't afford not to make."
To learn more about other initiatives to bring technology to lower-income citizens in NYC, check out the Web site for One Economy Corporation.
On the homeland security front: Thirteen/WNET New York is gearing up to demonstrate a live test of the Smart Dissemination Networks (“Smart Nets”) digital emergency response communications system to federal officials. According to Unstrung, the Smart Nets demo will give these officials their "first look at the operational capabilities of the system as it is field-tested in the challenging urban environment of New York City." Smart Nets make use of the Instructional Television Fixed Service Band (ITFS) to provide two-way wireless broadband communications to fire, police, EMS, and other personnel in NYC.
How would New York City be able to deliver medicine to tens of thousands of citizens in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack? The New York Times takes a look at several plans that city emergency planners are considering, including one that deploys postal workers to distribute medicines door-to-door and another that uses drive-through windows at restaurants and banks. More than three years after 9/11, city officials are mixed about the proper response tactic. In fact, one official from a Washington, DC nonprofit says that, while NYC is "way ahead of the curve in terms of readiness... the planning for actually delivering medicines and food to individuals is at a surprisingly rudimentary level."
In the New York Daily News, Lawrence Reuter (the president of the MTA and the former head of the Washington Metro) squares off against City Councilman Lewis A. Fidler on the need for computerized subway trains. Reuter is a proponent of the "robo-train" (also known as the Communications Based Train Control System, or CBTC, in bureaucrat-ise), claiming that the "integration of computer technology into the subways is a logical step to bring the city into the 21st century... This system will also allow us to safely increase line capacity, operate trains at safe speeds and provide precise dispatching, which will alleviate the problem of trains waiting outside of stations... As an added benefit, CBTC will allow stations to be equipped with audible public address systems and customer information screens that will provide real-time arrival information."
It all sounds good, but given the track record of the MTA, who knows? As Fidler notes in his counter-response: "How can I believe the MTA can make this technology work? They are already a year behind schedule amid cost overruns and reports that they can't get the robo-train to work. The C train fiasco doesn't inspire confidence, either."
The L line will have the city's first robo-train at the end of June, while the 7 line will become computerized in 2010 and the F line in 2012.
Mayor Bloomberg is not taking any chances with the O.G. He's leading the charge to cover the city with advertisements for the 2012 Olympics, all part of an effort to convince the 13 members of the International Olympic Committee's evaluation commission that New York wants the Olympics real bad. The campaign already ranks as "one of the most expensive and extensive municipal advertising campaigns ever tailored to such a small group of people."
Bloomberg on the need to cover anything that moves with 2012 ads: "You're going see ads on phone kiosks and bus shelters and subway entrances and street poles and open spaces in each of the five boroughs. You're going to see them on 7,000 subway cars and 4,000 city buses and 13,000 taxis. You'll hear them on the radio, you'll see them on television - newspapers, magazines, Internet - we're not going to slack on anything..."
FishBowlNY takes a critical look at Spitzer2006.com, Eliot Spitzer's new gubernatorial campaign Web site:
"There's the obligatory suckup quote to Dr. King ("In Memory of a Giant"), windblown "action" pictures of Eliot on the go, and tailored platforms to fit both a motorman from Brooklyn and a closeted Bush voter in Saranac. Funniest of all, though, is his "friend meter," which currently reads an exact 8500. Uh, no, Eliot, that's called a counter..."
A Manhattan federal judge dismissed a civil racketeering lawsuit against Internet cigarette dealers, in which the city charged that New York lost millions in tax dollars as the result of online cigarette sales. A clear victory for Internet cigarette sellers and a setback for the city, right? Not so fast. Both sides, in fact, are claiming victory. Since the judge also gave the city 45 days to refile an amended lawsuit to address technical issues in the suit, the city's top lawyers are claiming "complete victory." Actually, after reading mixed analyses of the case in Newsday, CNET News.com and the New York Daily News, only one fact is really clear: it's always the lawyers who win.
The New York Post profiles Trips123.com, a new Web site from the New York State Department of Transportation that analyzes real-time information from 18 different area transit agencies (including the MTA) in order to create a personalized itinerary for each traveler. According to government officials, the site adjusts itineraries based on real-time information, including any emergencies or accidents that could result in service disruptions. Could be useful, if the MTA continues to experience freak accidents and random acts of arson.
Suffolk County legislators will vote today on whether or not individual sex offenders must wear a high-tech GPS device (a bracelet the size of a large watch) that would enable law enforcement officials to "track their every movement." According to the New York Daily News, Suffolk County is at the forefront of using high technology for law enforcement purposes: "If the bill passes, Suffolk would be one of the first in the country where judges have the option to electronically monitor newly convicted Level 2 and 3 offenders - or previous offenders who find themselves in court again." Apparently, too many woodsmen have been moving into the neighborhood -- at last count, there were 832 woodsmen in Suffolk County.
Gothamist explains how the MTA was brought to its knees this weekend by a homeless man in the subway tunnels: "Officials say a homeless man ignited a 'shopping cart full of wood' on the southbound tracks, and not only will A service will totally messed up for a while, it seems that the fire 'destroyed approximately 600 electrical devices used to control signals along the Eighth Avenue line...' This is in addition to all the subway problems this past weekend, partly caused by the blizzard (frozen tracks, malfunctioning switches)."
After all the dire warnings about how terrorists could strike in New York's subways -- all the stories about dirty bombs and poison gas and whatnot, and the bungling MTA allowed a homeless guy onto the tracks with a shopping cart full of wood? That doesn't bode well for homeland security. Or maybe homeland security only refers to the "land" and not to the "underground"? It's even worse since the fire took place at Chambers Street, just blocks from the World Trade Center site. Wouldn't that location be particularly sensitive?
More details of a new nine-month, $1.75 million cybersecurity project for New York State... According to the latest press release, IceWEB and PlanGraphics will "coordinate the design and development of an Internet-based system to allow state officials to search for, locate and visualize information about critical assets and infrastructure for the New York State Cyber Security Project."
In the NYU campus newspaper, Jonathan Cipriani warns that New York City is no place to launch an innovative new start-up: "Lots of NYU students would probably like to stay in New York to pursue their careers after graduation - and in the case of budding entrepreneurs on campus, even start up their own businesses here. Unfortunately, a newly released report shows that New York state's economic policies aren't exactly going to make it easy for them. In fact, the business climate in New York can be downright hostile."
The New York Daily News has a short piece on the lack of high-speed Internet access in Hunts Point in the South Bronx, which is one of the city's now-notorious "broadband black holes." What's interesting is that just last week, Mayor Bloomberg pointed out in his State of the City address that the biggest wholesale seafood market in the nation will soon open at Hunts Point, resulting in 500 new jobs and $1 billion in economic activity. For the city, apparently, low-tech, low-wage fish market jobs are preferable to high-wage, high-tech jobs.
The MTA is putting out an RFP for bidders to construct a high-speed rail link between JFK and lower Manhattan, according to the New York Daily News. The total cost of the project, which will create a "one-seat ride from the airport to lower Manhattan," could be north of $6 billion. The story points to $2 billion in 9/11-related federal recovery aid that could be used for the project, as well as $1 billion from the MTA and $1 billion from the Port Authority. Hopefully, taxpayers will not be on the hook for the remaining $2 billion...
The Gotham Gazette reports that the L Train, which connects Williamsburg and the East Village, will become the city's first computer-run subway line by July of this year. The $288 million project will eliminate all train conductors along the L line, replacing them with a single computer-savvy (we hope!) employee. Just to give you an idea of the bureaucratic nightmare involved -- as well as the power of the entrenched transit workers' union -- the plans for a computerized subway first got off the ground in 1992. Then, in 1997, the city voted to make the L line the first computerized subway line. Now, in 2005, it looks like the project will finally become a reality.
In celebration of the first computerized train, Gothamist has an idea: "In July, we should plan a trip on the computerized train - we'll do the Robot Dance!"
Did you buy tax-free cigarettes over the Internet within the past 30 months? Well, you'll be getting a nice little present in the mail quite soon: "Mayor Bloomberg blew smoke in the eyes of city puffers yesterday, saying he has no sympathy for those who bought tax-free cigarettes over the Internet but are just now getting hit with the tax bill." Letters sent out to city smokers will warn of a 30-day window to pay the tax bill for any cigarette cartons they may have purchased via the Internet within the past 30 months. The article notes that some smokers could be hit with tax bills approaching $10,000. Ouch.
The Gotham Gazette has the text of Mayor Bloomberg's State of the City address. There are only a few tech-related tidbits -- mostly embedded within larger initiatives such as "homeland security" or "economic development":
"During 2005, we're going to upgrade our crime-fighting technology. That includes our multi-year modernization of the 911 system and a major upgrade of CompStat, which will take it to the next level by establishing a Real Time Crime Fighting Center at One Police Plaza."
"Over the last year, some of the nation's biggest corporations gave New York their vote of confidence. Bank of America and Citigroup are building new office towers, and Virgin America Airlines has found new headquarters space in Lower Manhattan. Pfizer brought 1,000 new jobs to our city, with plans to create 3,000 more in the years ahead."
In a few weeks... we'll also select a developer for the East River Science Park. That will capitalize on our world-class health care institutions, diversifying our economy even more, and make us a leader in the growing biotech industry."
On January 10, City Councilmember Gale Brewer tackles the issue of a possible broadband gap in Brooklyn at a hearing on technology issues held at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. Brewer is the chairperson of the City Council’s committee on technology in government.
"New York has now had sustained job growth for more than a year and our private sector job count has increased in 13 of the last 14 months. Today, our unemployment rate is the lowest since September 11th and well below that of the nation. Site Selection Magazine ranks New York second in the nation in business climate and in new corporate facilities and expansions. And just recently New York was ranked second in the nation in "in-sourcing" – attracting jobs from foreign-based companies..."
"On Long Island, OSI Pharmaceuticals just received FDA approval for a new cancer drug and will expand its operations, with the potential to create 1,000 new jobs during the next several years."
"Through our Centers of Excellence, we continue our unprecedented journey that has put us at the forefront of the global high-tech revolution. Already, our investments in these centers are paying off with new attention from companies both nationally and globally."
The New York Post reports that State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has "turned his attention to Internet cigarette sales by warning credit-card companies to block orders from tax-free online tobacco companies." That means Web sites like Cigs4free.com and 00Taxfree.com/Indiansmokeshops.com will no longer be able to ship to New York customers without risking the wrath of Spitzer and his legal SWAT team.
It's unclear from the article whether Spitzer has the legal right to declare open war on Internet cigarette sales -- Cigs4free.com, for example, has apparently found a loophole and could start accepting credit card orders as early as today. A spokesperson for Spitzer clarified the matter, stating that only "letters of guidance" were sent to the credit card companies. Knowing Spitzer, though, it would probably be best to take heed of those letters...
NOTE: Just a word of caution -- if you actually try to visit Cigs4free.com, be forewarned. A message popped up in my Firefox browser window, warning that the site was being hijacked. Or something like that. Maybe it's just Spitzer playing around.
Everyday citizens are "gushing with praise" about New York City's new 311 information service. But labor organizers, apparently, are not. In fact, they're a bit miffed. According to the New York Sun, they are now alleging that King TeleServices, a private company that employs 150 call operators in Long Island City to handle nearly 20,000 daily calls to 311, has launched a "vicious anti-union campaign" in an attempt to keep organized labor out. The company, however, denies that it has attempted to intimidate its employees.
Not sure about the math, but it looks like the privatized portion of the 311 service is fairly efficient. 150 employees to handle 20,000 calls per day? That breaks down to 133 calls per employee, or about 16-17 calls per hour per employee (assuming an 8-hour day). That's one call every 3.75 minutes!
There's still time to get on Santa's "nice" list if you have a five-year lease in Lower Manhattan: The Empire State Development Corporation is looking to award $45 million to downtown businesses through a small-business grant program that expires on December 31. Since early 2002, the Empire State Development Corporation has awarded $110 million to 1,900 different companies.
We still love Rudy, even if the decision to push forward the nomination of Bernard Kerik has turned into a huge fiasco. For the Bush Administration, the problem may have been focusing exclusively on formal networks during the recruiting process, and not enough on unintentional networks. As Cliff Allen explains, it's important to understand how these unintentional networks ("the network of people who know us and talk to others about their experiences without us even knowing about it") can impact reputation. In Kerik's case, the unintentional network did a lot of talking, effectively dooming his nomination.
With that in mind, Allen shares some quick tips for anyone hoping to avoid a Bernard Kerik-like experience: "Do your best to make sure that the people you interact with have a positive experience, or at least feel that you treated them fairly under the circumstances. Also, stay in contact with people in your network and make sure they know they can call on you when they need help, information, or a referral to one of your contacts. You never know when you'll be called upon to be part of someone's unintentional network to help create an opportunity for someone in your network."
Briefly noted in today's New York Post: the Bloomberg Administration is experimenting with online "reverse auctions" for items such as computers. Vendors will bid against each other, with the lowest price winning. Based on the success of similar reverse auctions conducted by the U.S. Postal Service, the move to auction-based purchasing "could save taxpayers millions."
Too bad all those millions saved by hard-working taxpayers will be quickly and efficiently sucked up by the MTA's new fare hikes.
A graduate student from Columbia University argues that the time is now for New Yorkers to support an efficient energy policy. Increasing energy efficiency leads to reduced energy use and "reducing energy use would save money, prevent blackouts, reduce the need to build new power plants, and could also improve local air quality."
There has to be an easier and cheaper way of doing this... For the filming of "King Kong" next year, director Peter ("Lord of the Rings") Jackson is recreating 1930s downtown New York, complete with Broadway and Times Square -- in New Zealand. As you read this, workers Down Under are busily constructing a Macy's department store.
Jackson explains why the film crew isn't in New York: "A lot of people are thinking that New York in New Zealand is kind of a crazy notion. Why don’t we go to New York City and shoot it for real? But of course the reality is that shooting in modern day New York as 1933 is almost impossible. The city is hard to shoot in at the best of times..."
That's not what Mayor Bloomberg thinks -- his administration has worked tirelessly to attract film projects to the city through the "Made in NY" program. New York City's "Made in NY" incentive program offers film and television productions "a slate of opportunities that make it more attractive than ever to shoot in the five boroughs, featuring a combination of tax and marketing credits, along with expanded customer services for production."
Citing the need for greater efficiency and oversight in the acquisition and deployment of IT, the New York City Council suggested legislation requiring that the city's IT heads develop detailed annual and five-year technology plans. New York City has an $800 million annual IT budget, so even incremental cost savings could be significant. Yet, some analysts characterized the move as nothing more than "window dressing."
The Snapple-drinking Mayor Bloomberg announced a $19.5 million deal with the History Channel, which will "work with the city to polish the city's image and at least a few historical landmarks around the city." While $1 million of the total will be spent on the city's lagging public schools, the bulk of the total -- $15 million --- will go toward "luring tourists to the city through network advertising." Moreover, the History Channel will be able to engage in a city-wide promotion campaign using city property (bus stops, lamp posts, etc.). And there could be more -- like a special History Channel trolley and "historical" bus tours sponsored by the History Channel.
Howard Dean's embrace of the Internet during his short-lived campaign for the presidency continues to have repercussions for politicians at all levels. Most notably, politicians are exploring online phenomena like blogs as a way to attract new voters and motivate core supporters. Eliot Spitzer, for example, announced his gubernatorial candidacy on December 7 and promptly launched his personal blog, Eliot Spitzer 2006. Within hours, more than two dozen comments had been posted at the site. (Hat tip: Micro Persuasion)
John Valenti of Newsday rhapsodizes about a new e-government offering from the New York State Department of Transportation: an Internet site (www.travelinfoNY.com) that provides information about winter weather travel advisories, road conditions, road closures, construction zones and "all the other factors that can turn a normal commute into one filled with aggravation, exasperation and frustration." A welcome addition for New York commuters often caught in snarled traffic or impassable roads as they make their way into and out of the city.
The New York energy industry has launched a new brand-building initiative, I Love NY Energy, which is "designed to promote the awareness of the advantages of starting, growing and building energy-related companies in New York state." Apparently, the campaign for "I Love NY Nanotech" was such a hit, that this new campaign was a no-brainer. Hopefully, though, this does not mean that hordes of tourists will soon be wandering around Times Square with cheap $3 "I Love NY Energy" t-shirts.
First, the good news. In 2005, New York City's economy is expected to grow again for the second consecutive year. Now, the bad news. Total jobs growth, as calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, looks anemic. Overall employment will only grow by 1.1%, as the city adds another 38,000 jobs in 2005. During the economic downturn, the city lost an estimated 200,000 jobs, so there's still a long way to go.
James Surowiecki (author of The Wisdom of Crowds) pens a short piece in this week's New Yorker about the relative merits of "location-based incentives." Cities and municipalities, concerned that a big-name corporate tenant may be on the way out, have been ready, willing and able to cobble together enough tax incentives and other goodies to convince them to stay. But does that make economic sense? Especially for a city like New York, where companies can easily pack up and leave for New Jersey or Connecticut? However, as Surowiecki points out, it's not just that "corporate welfare" is no longer economically viable -- it could now be "technically illegal," thanks to a recent court ruling in Ohio.
Bernard Kerik, the former NYC Police Commissioner who worked closely with Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has officially been nominated as the new U.S. Homeland Security Chief. The AP news feed has only limited details about the move, but it surely could signal a change in national security strategy. Replacing Tom Ridge with Kerik could result in the allocation of more federal anti-terrorist dollars to high-risk locations like New York City. Yesterday, for example, New York Newsday reported that NYC was on tap to receive a fresh infusion of $207 million in homeland security funding.
e-Government is alive and well in New York City: check out the NYC Map Portal from NYC.gov which "shows the exact location of any NYC street address and gives the option to show nearby trains, post offices, and cultural centers." (Hat tip: Curbed)
For more on e-government initiatives underway at the Department of Information Technology and Telecom (DOITT), check out this earlier posting about 311.
The Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT) has two RFPs out for bid: a voice and data RFP and a mobile wireless network RFP. In addition to managing the city's 311 service, DOITT also runs NYC TV, the official television network of the City of New York.
