First, thank you for all your lovely comments. Gabby and I are trying to grow this newsletter into a community newsletter built for us, by us (FUBU). Please keep sending us your thoughts and sharing how people can subscribe!
This week’s message is on accountability and love. ❤️
If this is the first email you’ve read in the last 72 hours, we’re sorry to inform you that someone in City Hall got a HUGE hall pass on accountability. Apparently, you can be absolved of breaking the law if you organize mass deportations. Errol Louis has the must-read on this. This comes amid a Presidential “pause” on all enforcement activity involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Our friends at Reinvent Albany make it very clear: we do not have a federal sheriff, and it is up to New Yorkers to demand accountability. We CAN do this!
The metro area we know as New York has a long history of attracting diverse individuals. Long before colonization, the Lenape tribes called these lands home for their bounty, beauty, and the fact that the harbor would rarely freeze. The first non-native “New Yorker” was Jan Rodrigues, a man of a multi-cultural African-Portuguese household who grew up in Santo Domingo and was highly recognized for his linguistic talents. He loved this area so much that he learned the Algonquian language of the Lenape people and married into the local community.
The BetaNYC staff is a unique mixture of people born in the five boroughs and those who moved here. We firmly believe that all are welcome, and we seek to make it better — not just for us, but for all… Now, and into the future. We want all who share our passion to have a voice. If you love NYC as much as we do and want to hold this city accountable, we are asking you to take two actions:
If you are a US citizen, you have until this Friday, February 14, to register to vote or change your party affiliation. This political party primary will be a low-turnout election, even with all the news of what is going on in City Hall. By registering to vote in the political party primary, regardless of whether you believe in the party agenda, you WILL MORE THAN LIKELY DECIDE WHO WINS IN NOVEMBER. For example, if you want to influence who is on the Democratic line, you must be registered as a Democrat. While we would prefer same-day party registration, this is our current process. You can easily register to vote OR change your political party affiliation by re-registering at < https://vote.nyc/page/register-vote >.
If you are an NYC resident (citizen or not), consider applying to be on your community board. EVERY community board needs a collection of data/privacy/technology literate individuals! Many applications close on February 14 at 5 pm. The community board is the best place to network with your neighbors and elected officials (or their staff) while attempting to hold agency services accountable. The real fun stuff is in the district service cabinet meetings! Also, according to the City’s charter, community boards are the first rung on a long ladder identifying how agencies develop budget priorities. This too, is unequally resourced or supported and falls into the undemocratic camp. YET, it is the process we have today. Apply today at < https://www.nyc.gov/site/communityboards/find-your-community-board/how-to-get-involved.page >.
Lastly, kudos to Anya Lehr and Aaron Ghitelman for being one of the City and State’s power couples! Ms. Lehr works for Council Member Gutiérrez’s office and has supported our digital and data literacy work in North Brooklyn. Congratulations on your engagement!
To everyone, Happy Black Love Day and Valentine’s Day!
Concordia res parvae crescunt (“small things flourish by concord”)
— Noel Hidalgo
Community Resources 📚
- Finding My Trans Community Changed My Life. Now I Help Others Find Theirs. – Keira Richards, as told to Madison Pauly (This article profiles The Trans Continental pipeline website, a modern underground railroad for trans people in the USA.)
- Save NIH and NSF Research Funding – 5 Calls Civic Action
- Here’s How All Online Maps Are Handling the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ Name Change – Reece Rogers
- Announcing the Data.gov Archive – Harvard Law School Library Innovation Lab Team
- Democracy is Crumbling. Is anybody doing anything? – Sherrilyn Ifill (Answer is YES!!!)
- Texas based ASL translation startup expands it pilot across the MTA subway system – Mass Transit
- Speaking of accessibility, if you are a parent or know a kid who has a 504 plan or an IEP, you should pay attention to those kid’s rights being ripped up. Check out the Disability Rights Watch website for actions you can take. The author of the site has created flyers for you to put up.
- Data Visualization State of the Industry Survey – Data Visualization Society
- OpenSecrets.org Bluesky “Labels” of elected officials. This is so much better than Twitter ever was…
- Why Civic Technologists Need an Ethical Stance Now More Than Ever – Rachael D.
- Congratulations to Nick von Pentz, who recently joined Brightwave as a Software Engineer. Best of luck on your new journey Nick!
- Aaron Swartz is immortalized in San Francisco – Zara Stone (we miss you, Aaron)
This Week in NYC Civic Tech 🗽
- What’s the latest on congestion pricing? Vehicle traffic is down in Manhattan, but pedestrian traffic is up, data says.
- City Planning has updated its Zoning Resolution website at zr.planning.nyc.gov. Also, ZoLa shows the new City of Yes parking zones!
- Vital City has dedicated its 10th issue to looking at big-city corruption and the data behind it.
- Broadly, NYC’s streets are dangerous due to cars, not guns. When it does come down to gun violence, it is concentrated in a handful of locations.
- Why is a $1,250 2 bedroom apartment empty for 16 months? The answer is more complex than you think. (NOTE: This piece profiles our Housing Data Coalition partners’ University Neighborhood Housing Program.)
This Week in Gov Watch 🏛️
- Governor Hochul has banned DeepSeek AI from State-owned devices – Jack Grieve
- Mayor Adams and NYCEDC release first “Applied AI report” – NYC Mayor’s Office
- City Council’s ‘Crackdown’ on Bogus Parking Placards Is Itself Bogus, Data Reveals – Keenan Chen
- Anatomy of an AI Coup – Eryk Salvaggio
- State of digital government review – The UK Government’s Secretary of State Science, Innovation and Technology
Jobs Alert and Announcements (for more listings, check out #Jobs on our Slack) 💼
- NYC Mesh is getting evicted and needs a new space – NYC Mesh needs volunteers and leads on a new space.
- The NYC Office of Technology and Innovation is searching for a Digital Equity Analyst.
- NYC Votes applications for the 2025 NYC Votes Youth Ambassador are open.
- The Queens District Attorney’s Office is seeking a Data Scientist.
- The Tegan and Sara Foundation has an open call for their Community Grants program.
- The U.S. Digital Response is hiring a Gen AI Product & Delivery Technologist in Residence.
Upcoming Events 📅
Note: All times are listed in EDT
- February 14 at 2 pm Webinar – Putting Your Beliefs Into Your Actions with Emma Karin Eriksson
- February 24 to 27 RightsCon 2025
- February 19 at 10 am NYC Council Committee on Technology Hearing
- March 7 at 12 pm Discovering NYC Open Data: Online Session
- March 21 to April 6 Data Through Design’s Corpus: Bodies of Data
- March 22 to 30 NYC Open Data Week
- March 29 NYC School of Data
- June 19 to 21 State of the Map US, Boston
That’s it for today! Want to sponsor this newsletter or to be featured in future posts? Share your community resources, projects, events, and anything else happening so we can feature them.
If a friend forwarded this newsletter to you, you can subscribe at beta.nyc/our-work/get-involved. Take care of each other, and have a great weekend! 👋🏾