Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Open Data Portal

Open Data Portal

  • Opening Up New York’s COVID-19 Data Can Save Lives

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    (photo: governor's office)


    WHEREAS, Open Data Can Make New York Government More Transparent and Accountable in Order to Promote Public Trust and Save Lives During the COVID-19 pandemic...

    Something close to this is the preamble to Governor Cuomo’s 2013 Executive Order 95, which created the state’s open data program almost simultaneously with New York City’s pioneering Open Data Law. What does open data have to do with a massive pandemic and economic shutdown? Well, just about everything. 

    The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the

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  • De Blasio Names New Chief Analytics Officer

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    Kelly Jin (photo via the mayor's office)


    After a yearlong vacancy in the position, Mayor Bill de Blasio named Kelly Jin as the city’s new Chief Analytics Officer and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics. Jin, who started in her new position on Monday, replaced Amen Ra Mashariki, who left the position in 2017 to work in the private sector at mapping firm Esri.

    While tasked with helping the mayoral administration effectively use data in governing, the position’s most notable concrete responsibility is managing the city’s open data program, wherein city agencies upload

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  • City Council Passes 'Open Budget' Bill Mayor Has Yet to Support

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    Council Member Ben Kallos (photo: William Alatriste/New York City Council)


    The New York City Council passed legislation on Tuesday mandating that the government agency that oversees the city’s $85.2 billion annual budget provide all budget documents to the public in an easily accessible and machine-readable format.

    The legislation, sponsored by

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  • City Council Hears Testimony on 'Open Data 2.0' Bills

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    Council Member James Vacca (right)


    At an oversight hearing on Wednesday of the City Council’s Committee on Technology, good government and civic technology experts praised a pair of bills aimed at updating the city’s 2012 open data law, but raised concerns that the proposals could have unforeseen ramifications.

    The city’s current law mandates that city agencies publish non-confidential agency data on a public web portal for all New Yorkers to see and easily access. The open

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  • Open Data Promises New Era of Transparent Government, When Will It Arrive?

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    Vision Zero data (photo: @NYCMayor)


    New York has had some issues when it comes to ethics and transparency in government, to say the least.

    Whether it is the more than 30 politicians that have been convicted of corruption-related offenses, or countless challenges with getting public records from government at every level, it’s not hard to see that New York has a long way to go in becoming ethical, transparent, and accessible.

    It will be a long road to repairing this mess. One concept that has the potential to be a huge help is Open Data.

    Open data policies

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  • City Releases Latest Progress on Open Data Plan

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    (screenshot from Open Data Portal)


    The city released its annual update to its Open Data plan on July 15, detailing the progress by city agencies to release all of their public data by 2018. The initiative, originally launched in 2012 under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was expanded by the de Blasio administration two years ago under its Open Data for All plan, which aimed to make

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  • Open Data Compliance the Focus at Oversight Hearing

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    City Council Member Vacca (photo: @JamesVacca13)


    The New York City Council’s Committee on Technology held an oversight hearing Tuesday to evaluate the progress being made by the city in tracking compliance by government agencies with the city’s open data law.

    The Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics (MODA) has been conducting what is essentially an audit, the “Examination and Verification Plan,” to gauge each agency’s status regarding its publication of required data sets on the Open Data Portal, an

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  • Praise, and Recommendations, for City's Open Data Progress

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    Council Member Vacca (photo: @JamesVacca13)


    There are two years to go before the deadline set by the city’s 2012 Open Data Law, which requires city agencies identify and publish all their citywide aggregated public data online. At a Wednesday afternoon oversight hearing of the City Council’s Committee on Technology, open data and civic technology advocates offered praise for the city’s progress thus far and recommendations for the city to meet its goals.

    Open data is considered a vital transparency

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  • Push for a Better Mayor's Management Report Continues

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    The City Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations held an oversight hearing on Wednesday to evaluate the structure and content of two annual city reports that measure everything from the wait times on 311 calls and the conditions of city parks to the number of unsheltered homeless people and traffic crashes in the city each year. These key performance indicators help the City Council and the public keep city agencies and offices accountable. Those agencies, in turn, rely on these reports to improve their policies and functioning.

    The administration

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