Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg signed legislation requiring the creation of an interactive crime-mapping website. This innovative map will display by block each class of crime and the aggregate monthly, yearly and year-to-date totals for the current year and most recent prior years.The map will also be searchable by address, zip code, and patrol precinct and available within a month after the crime complaint was filed.

DoITT runs the City’s popular “NYCityMap,” which provides information to the public and allows other City agencies to leverage its open source platform to build mapping tools of their own. In addition to indicating the specific building requested, NYCityMap users can add layers to the map such as schools, day care centers, senior centers, libraries, hospitals, and more. This tool also provides a single access point for many of the location-based applications on NYC.gov such as online property, building, census, statistics, and safety information for New York City.

DoITT has worked with agencies across the City to launch interactive maps. Some recent examples include:

• PlowNYC – delivers a new, public-facing view into the City’s snow clearing operations.

• NYC Street Closures – Pursuant to Local Law 32 of 2011, this tool displays street closure  information across the five boroughs; provides real-time information on current and future street closures obstructing normal vehicular traffic due to road work, street fairs, block parties or festivals.

• NYC Census FactFinder – provides greater flexibility in searching for the most up-to-date  population profiles for specific locations across the five boroughs. Users can now quickly examine 2010 Census data. i.e., how many people rent versus own homes in their community; the number of housing units in their neighborhoods, etc.

• NYCStat Stimulus Tracker – with this this award-winning tool New Yorkers can track the City’s use of federal recovery funds provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

• 311 Service Request Map – provides location and status information for 311 complaints filed over the past year, as well as those recently closed, across 15 categories and more than 100 subcategories, all allowing users to evaluate conditions and trends from the hyper-local to citywide levels.

Here at DoITT, we are enthusiastic about sharing the meaning of public service with our community. We asked our staff about their experiences in working in NYC government. Enjoy their anecdotes below.

Jean Jones, Human Resources, DoITT
“I first came to the City as a summer graduate intern in the Department of Finance’s Training & Special Programs Unit.  A year later, I returned to Finance as a Labor Relations Analyst.  Initially, I didn’t think I would have a career in government.  I anticipated staying no more than five years to get some experience under my belt.  I am approaching my 12^th year of service!

 I’m still here because despite the challenges that are often characteristic of public service—scarce resources, strict guidelines that govern how we operate, and red tape—success is still achieved daily.  Services are provided to millions of residents and businesses because of the work that we do.  Even though I have never worked in an operational area, understanding my contribution to the agency’s mission is especially rewarding.  I am privileged to work with people who are knowledgeable, diligent, and committed the needs of the Agency and the City we serve.” 

Paul H. Baity, IT Security, DoITT
“My first exposure to government service was growing up in Illinois, where I often visited my grandmother in Springfield, the state capitol, and President Lincoln’s museums nearby.   I took a year off in college to work as an intern at the NYC Dept. of City Planning.  After a two more internships in Providence City and Rhode Island State government, I transferred to NYU as a “Pre-Gov” student, worked as an HPD intern, and helped run the City’s Summer Management Internship Program for what is now DCAS.  

In 1979, my first salaried City job began at the City’s DOI, where I worked in its Corruption Prevention/Management Review/Computer Security Units, while earning my Master’s of Public Administration at night from what is now NYU’s Wagner School, receiving a NYC Mayor’s Graduate Scholarship. Upon graduation, I moved to NYC OMB for eleven years, the first three in its Computer Capital Budget Unit, transferring to its MIS Unit to run, in turn, its S/38, AS/400, and Banyan PC LAN, as a systems admin until 1992. 

When my Dad moved to Richmond, VA, I worked as a federal IT contractor, running one of USDA’s Help Desks in Washington, DC. 

I rejoined the City in 1995 as a network admin for DoITT’s former InSource Consulting Unit, working at 16 different agencies, including the Mayor’s Office, until 1999, when I returned to DOITT full-time to join in the Y2K effort and assist in running DoITT’s Banyan LAN, Lotus Notes/Blackberry email system, and the incipient DOITT and CSC AD/Exchange domains.  I moved with the Citywide Novell LDAP Directory to the DOITT IT Security team in 2005, where I currently work on the afternoon/evening shift supporting the NYC.ID virtualized Linux infrastructure.”

Stacey Abramson, Human Resources, DoITT
”I started my career with the City of New York during the Koch administration as a Summer College Intern with the Department of Buildings.  Upon graduating college, the Department of Buildings offered me a full time position in the Program Management and Analysis division, and within a year, I was offered a promotional opportunity in the Human Resources division. At the time I didn’t realize that it was actually the start of my career in Human Resources - and could never have imagined I would still be working for the City 30 years later! 

In 1988, I learned about a new exciting agency, the Computer and Data Communications Services Agency (now DoITT), created to launch a new era in City government. The mission was to provide and manage technology services for the City. By 1989, I was offered a position in their HR division and it was then that my attitude towards City government change. Working for the City is very rewarding, especially when you work for an agency that touches the lives of all New Yorkers.  DoITT is constantly evolving and making the city more efficient with every passing year. This agency has such dedicated and talented employees, which makes my job even more rewarding to assist staff in achieving their professional goals and to ensure that they are well informed of the civil service process. Although I am not directly involved with DoITT’s myriad of technology projects and initiatives, I take pride in being part of an agency that is so important to the City of New York.” 

Lisa Templeton, Emergency Planning & Coordination, DoITT
“New York City is an area iconic for finance, business, culture, the Arts, and terrorism. Its 8 million residents; its hundreds of thousands of businesses, and tens of millions of visitors converge annually on this great City –the City that never sleeps where government services are provided 24/7/365. It’s a daunting task to manage government services in the urban environment and the infrastructure that supports them.

As a public servant the last six years at the Department of IT and Telecommunications (DoITT) in roles from grant writer to emergency planner, I’ve enjoyed working within and outside of the agency with local, state and federal stakeholders on communications initiatives that ultimately benefit our residents, businesses and visitors. These programs improve the quality of life; they provide for life safety and enhance situational awareness.

DoITT infrastructure helps agencies transform, modernize and streamline their business processes too; from the secure transfer of critical information to the coordination of mobile resources that result in improved delivery of citywide services.”

Stewart Fleisig, Enterprise Contracts, DoITT
”Twenty years ago I attended a NYC Dept of Personnel (no longer a stand alone NYC agency) seminar on increasing cooperation in the workplace. The speaker made a comment that stood out and that I never forgot….something to the effect that working in the NYC Government environment would be one of the most enriching experiences one could have because of the extraordinary diversity of ethnic backgrounds in the NYC Govt work force. I am fortunate to say that her words were absolutely prophetic and that I have indeed been personally and greatly enriched by my 25 years of service alongside an extraordinarily diverse group of talented colleagues.      

Proudest Accomplishments

“I am most proud of designing Citywide contracts that not only offer all NYC agencies deep discounts (generating significant savings for the taxpayer) but also offer these agencies “ease of use” that allows them to order goods or services in a fraction of the time and effort they would need to develop their own procurement vehicles. Affirming the impact of the latter benefit, I will never forget my amazement nine years ago at our CISCO Citywide Contract presentation to 15 agencies. At the end of the presentation agency representatives came forward and I was sure they were excited about the significant discounting. In fact, they were much, much more excited about cutting down the procurement time frame from three months to one week!”       

.NYC Top Level Domain

Soon the prestige of a New York City address or area code will extend to the digital realm. With its application for .nyc in 2012, New York became one of the first cities in the world to pursue its own geographic top-level domain. A top-level domain or TLD, is the last part of an Internet address, such as .com, .org or .edu. 

mydotnyc.com is an informational website which provides initial .nyc details so the public can stay informed on the launch.

With the historic launch of the .nyc TLD, the City will embrace its digital future in a powerful way and bring an unprecedented level of geographic authority to the digital sphere. In addition, the City will generate revenue, help residents locate government services, encourage local businesses to thrive, market and promote tourism, and spread the dynamic image of New York City around the world.

For more information, visit mydotnyc.com or follow @dotnyc on Twitter.

(Source: nycdigital)

Subway WiFi Now Available in 36 stations in NYC!

Riders will be able to use free public WiFi to stay connected underground. They will also be able to make and receive calls, send and receive text messages and emails, stream music, and more through the network. This public-private partnership among various wireless carriers and public agencies, including DoITT, aims to complete a wireless network in the NYC subway system. In addition to the current 36 stations, it is expected that the remaining 241 underground stations will have wireless service within 4 years. Other fun facts: 

Many subway stations in Manhattan including Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Center, and Columbus Circle, are now WiFi-enabled. Grand Central, 34^th St Herald Square, and Bryant Park stations will be available soon.

Emergency calls to 911, through E911, allow dispatchers to know when a call is being placed from an underground platform

150 miles of fiber optic cable will eventually connect all 277 NYC subway stations to data centers

The WiFi network, provided by Boingo, has the following SSID: FreeWifibyHTCONE

Visit http://www.nycsubwaywireless.com/ to find which stations have wireless service

Help Build the Digital City

To bring innovative new contracting procedures to NYC technology projects, DoITT today issued a Request for Proposals for System Integration (SI) services.  Systems Integrators can now help design, build and implement applications, networks, systems or IT infrastructure by applying to two different classes of service – one for smaller IT initiatives and the other for larger IT projects. The two classes were designed to encourage a diverse range of SI firms to submit proposals, leveraging the city’s talented and ever-growing tech sector. From small start-ups to global IT firms, any SI can apply and help NYC lead the way as a tech-driven city.   

Examples of past projects include:

• The Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator/Data Analytics Center’s Financial Intelligence Center, which integrates City agency data on persons, places or businesses for on-demand secure access by the enforcement and regulatory community and analysis for criminal trends and threats.

• The Correction Department’s Jail Management System, which enhances the legacy Inmate Information System and incorporates changes in policies, regulations, and oversight agencies.

• The Taxi and Limousine Commission’s Electronic Summonsing app, which modernizes enforcement processes enabling inspectors to perform tasks in the field, including researching a licensee’s background, sorting through some 1,800 violation rules, and creating summonses with violation specific hearing dates and times.

Find out more about providing System Integration Services by registering to download the Request for Proposals. Registration is required so that you will be notified of any updates.

Important dates:

• May 6, 2013 at 2PM: RSVPs due for pre-proposal info-session. Email (acco@doitt.nyc.gov) or fax (347-788-4080) this form to confirm your attendance.
• May 15, 2013 at 10:30AM: Pre-proposal Conference: Emigrant Bank Building, 49-51 Chambers Street, Lobby.
• May 20, 2013 at 2:00PM: Last day to submit questions to acco@doitt.nyc.gov.
• June 20, 2013 at 2:00PM: Proposals due

Ideas City Festival to Feature Finalists from Reinvent Payphones Design Challenge

IDEAS CITY is a biennial festival in New York City that explores the nexus of cities and technology, education, and the arts. Among the featured exhibitions will be prototypes submitted by finalists of the Reinvent Payphones Design Challenge: the City’s invitation to technologists and developers to redesign the payphone.

The theme of this year’s Ideas City festival is Untapped Capital, with participants focused on reinventing underutilized city services. To this end, the City has sought input from the talented technology, urban design, architecture, and maker community to explore how payphones could be reimagined to optimize public space and deliver vital information and services.  

The exhibition will take place during StreetFest on Saturday, May 4th, from 11AM-6PM at the corner of Bowery and Rivington.

For more information on the exhibition, visit on.nyc.gov/XCNFSa

(Source: nycdigital)