Welcome to July! As we embrace the height of the summer season, we also celebrate Disability Pride Month, recognizing and honoring the contributions of people with disabilities.
These past few weeks have marked pivotal moments for our city with the passage of the FY 2025 municipal budget and the pause on congestion pricing. After a lengthy and controversial process, the municipal budget was approved, but not without some disheartening cuts. The Parks Department’s budget has been reduced, impacting our green spaces at a time when we need them the most. Additionally, we’ve lost citywide composting from GrowNYC, a critical component of our sustainability efforts. In brighter news, several key budget cuts were restored. Libraries will restart full services on July 14, and CUNY received an additional $77.6 million from the Mayor’s initial proposal.
In parallel, the MTA board has been preparing for the implementation of congestion pricing. In their recent vote, the board stated they are ready to begin congestion pricing upon the Governor reversing the program’s pause.
Lastly, The Message now has a fresh new template! With separate sections dedicated to legislative updates and highlights of your projects, we hope you’ll enjoy these touches. As always, we’re open to feedback — feel free to email us at the_message@beta.nyc.
Wishing everyone a wonderful and vibrant July!
— BetaNYC ❤️
Special Announcements 🫶
Become a BetaNYC Associate Board Member!
Our Associate Board is about to embark on exciting projects, and there’s still time for you to join! If you’re passionate about civic tech and want to make an impact, now’s your chance. Learn more and submit your application here.
Join our team — BetaNYC is seeking a Lab Manager!
In this role, you’ll be a key player in monitoring data requests as part of our RADAR service, assisting with research, and contributing to data-driven community projects. Come work with us! For more details, head to this post. We can’t wait to hear from you!
What’s New at BetaNYC? 📊
- This Friday — Discover NYC Open Data with the Office of Council Member Julie Won and Open Data Ambassadors this Friday at 12pm. Don’t miss out on this fun data journey! Everyone is welcome!
- This Thursday — Get ready for a summer meetup with the NYC Open Data Week team! Join us this Thursday at Randolph Beer in DUMBO to mingle with fellow open data enthusiasts.
- What’s New at State of the Map US 2024? Our Fellowship team— Jazzy, Dimitri, and Naeema— went to Salt Lake City and dazzled audiences with the latest updates on Mapping for Equity. Check out their highlights and presentation!
- Learn about MTA Open Data — Relive BetaBagels with the MTA Open Data team! If you missed the recent event, check out the recording on our YouTube channel!
Support our Work: Donate Today
Like this newsletter and what we do? Donate to our 2024 campaign. Your support will help our Fellowship team operations and foster the development of our CUNY students!
Community News, Events and Announcements
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Legislative Updates 🏛️
Updates about NYC and Governance
BetaNYC’s Executive Director, Noel Hidalgo, went ON THE RECORD to discuss what will happen to the $500 million worth of tolling cameras with congestion pricing on hold. Part of his interview was also covered in AMNY, investigating what happens now to the MTA’s tolling cameras? These developments come as Manhattan gridlock is worse than ever, as backed by data.
Reinvent Albany recently highlighted that 100,000 New York jobs are at risk from canceling congestion pricing. This comes as the MTA Board formally delayed the program.
What are your favorite recaps of June’s primaries? Feel free to share them! We enjoyed this article from THE CITY.
What happens next with congestion pricing? If you’re looking to make your voice heard, check out these guides from Transportation Alternatives and Riders Alliance.
Civic Tech Updates 👀
Projects and News from Community Members
Is the grass actually greener? The NYC Parks Department launched the Vital Parks Explorer, a digital map that lets you compare your community’s access to parks with other neighborhoods in the city, answering the age-old question.
A recent report by the Center for New York City Affairs for the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at the New School and the Brookings Center for Community Uplift comparing subsidies across transit services found that subways are subsidized significantly less than other modes of public transportation.
What makes your neighborhood unique when it comes to voting? NYC Votes created this detailed resource to help community-based organizations effectively engage more voters in neighborhoods across New York City.
Watching the Workforce: The Office of the NYC Comptroller launched an NYC Agency Staffing Dashboard that presents data on the number of current full-time City employees and the number of vacant positions in each City agency. Updated monthly, this resource provides the public with transparency into NYC government.
In the room where maps happen: Meet Hector Rivera, who oversees hundreds of years’ worth of maps — historical and modern — as the Manhattan borough’s official topographer.
Every 54 Minutes, a driver crashes their car in NYC’s congestion pricing zone: Transpo Maps released an interactive dashboard illustrating the crashes, injuries, and fatalities in the congestion pricing zone. Streetsblog has a recap on the map.NYC Population FactFinder was updated with recent demographic and economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Gothamist shared findings about the youngest, oldest, richest and poorest neighborhoods.
Upcoming Events 📆
July 11 at 5pm Open Data Week Summer Meetup at Randolph Beer
July 12 at 9am TechWalk NYC: Co-Hosts Sierra, Chi, May, and Evan
July 12 at 12pm Discovering NYC Open Data: Online Session with the Office of Council Member Julie Won
July 13 at 4pm Flushing Tech Bi-Weekly Hackathon
July 16 at 9:30am Unequal Ground – Advancing Economic and Civic Equity in New York’s Workforce
July 16 at 5:30pm Unlocking the Archives: 50 Years of Community Development in New York City
July 17 at 9am Government Innovation Summit
July 18 at 6pm NYC Tech Policy Happy Hour
July 19 at 6pm Young Professionals Summer Party: A Rooftop Celebration for Urbanists
Announcements, Job Openings and Opportunities 📢
See Slack #Jobs for more
- BetaNYC is hiring a Lab Manager.
- ANHD is seeking a Community Planning Coordinator.
- The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation is looking for a Program + Data Manager.
- Brooklyn Community Board 1 is seeking a Community Associate.
- Civil Service Pathways Fellowship applications are now open! The deadline is July 12.
- The Community Speaks survey is open! Now’s the chance to tell policymakers about your experiences living in NYC.
- Latinos in Heritage Conservation is seeking a Geospatial Project Manager.
- Measures for Justice is recruiting a Platform Engineer I.
- NYC Department of City Planning is recruiting a Program Manager and Associate Analyst.
- The NYC Department of Housing Preservation Development is searching for a Product Director.
- The Office of Council Member Julie Won is hiring a Community Liaison.
- The Office of Council Member Sandy Nurse is searching for a Communications Director.
- The Office of the New York State Attorney General is hiring a Data Analyst.
- Pentagram is seeking a Senior Project Manager.
- Transportation Alternatives is recruiting an Executive Director.
- Via is searching for a Transportation Data Analyst (Citymapper).
Join our community! 🚀
- Slack (View more job announcements in our Jobs Channel!)
- X/Twitter
- Threads
- NYC Civic Tech Facebook Group
- Mastodon
- Open Data Week
- YouTube (Catch the latest School of Data and Open Data Week Videos!)
- Meetup
- GitHub
Want to add to this list? Submit to the next newsletter.
See you next month! Peace, openness, and gratitude 🗽