March 20, 2010 · www.gothamgazette.com

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Technology Reports:

Using Technology to Engage Citizens
New York ranks ninth among large cities for how well it uses technology to engage citizens, according to the annual Digital Cities Survey. 2009-11-05

Boosting Health Technology
The health information technology sector could provide a financial boost to the city and help diversify our economy, according to a new report by the Center for an Urban Future. The report, titled "Record Recovery," argues that the city's large health care industry, including its 65 hospitals, 1,300 outpatient clinics and over 30,000 doctors, could reap the benefits of more than $19 billion in federal stimulus funding that is dedicated to converting paper records to electronic ones. Much of the city's health care industry, according to the report, still uses paper records. 2009-06-30

Tech Industry Remains Vital to New York Economy
New York state has the third largest high-tech industry, employing 304,200 people with a total payroll of $25.9 billion. The industry experienced a net gain of 2,700 jobs in 2007, the most current year for which state data are available. 2009-05-07

Data Inaccuracies in Housing Repair Database
Inaccuracies and deficiencies in the Department of Housing Preservation and Development's Emergency Repair Program database could lead to billing and payment issues with vendors, according to a new report from Comptroller William Thompson's office. The report found the database had blank or incomplete and invalid figures. The comptroller's report recommends that the city ensure the data is accurate. 2009-04-05

Global Cities Index
New York City is ranked as the most global city in an annual index created by Foreign Policy magazine, the consulting firm A.T. Kearney, and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. New York's financial markets, network of multinational corporations and the strength of its creative class gave the city its edge over the 59 other cities included in the index. 2008-11-06

Healthier School Buses
The Environmental Defense Fund proposes a $30 million retrofit program for the city's school buses over three years. The program would upgrade the bus fleet's diesel engines so that 90 percent of their pollution would be eliminated. Pollution is five times higher inside buses than it is outside, according to the report. 2008-10-03

CouncilStat
In this press release, the City Council offered its first accounting of CouncilStat data collected through its new database of constituent complaints and inquiries. Since CouncilStat's inception last fall, the council's release said, the database has logged 24,000 complaints and inquiries on 280 issues. The charts accompanying the release -- on the subject of the general subjects of the complaints and inquiries -- cover only June. In that month, the most frequent topics for requests were housing and buildings, and transportation issues. 2008-07-10

Getting in the Game: NYC and the Video Game Industry
A study by the Center for an Urban Future finds that New York City has many of the ingredients necessary to capture a significant share of the video game industry’s growth: a creative workforce, the backing of the film and publishing industry, and over 30 companies already call the city home. However, New York is well behind other gaming hubs like Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in the total number of video game development companies. 2008-05-13

Renewable Energy in New York
A task force headed by Lt. Gov. David Paterson has issued 16 recommendations to generate more renewable energy in New York State. The group called for an eight-fold increase in solar power generation from photovoltaic cells, providing funding to enable 25 percent of the state's energy to come from renewable sources by 2013 and attracting renewable energy companies to New York. The task force maintains that increasing use of energy other than fossil fuels could produce revenues and create up to 43,000 new jobs. 2008-02-27

Engineer Finds Steam Pipe Was Flawed
The steam pipe that exploded near Grand Central Station last summer has a faulty weld, according to a report by an engineer studying the blast for two of victims of the explosion. Con Edison, which owns the steam pipe, denied that the weld was faulty or that it contributed to the accident. 2007-10-24

High-Tech in New York
While New York City is rarely considered a high-tech center, technology plays a significant role in the city economy, according to report by the Industrial and Technology Assistance Corporation, a not-for-profit economic development organization. It found New York boasted an estimated 226,000 high-technology jobs in 2004, the last year for which complete data were available. The report also concludes that high-tech companies face a number of obstacles to doing business in New York and recommends ways to help develop the industry. 2007-09-12

Clean Technology and Jobs
The emerging market for clean technology has the potential to be a source of many new jobs for New York, according to this study by the New York City Investment Fund, the economic development arm of the Partnership for New York City. Combining upstate New York's underutilized manufacturing base, raw materials and research talent with the capital available in New York City would allow the state to get ahead of the curve on the trend towards cleaner technology, it argues. It gives several specific proposals. 2007-01-18

Blackout Report, Initial Findings
Con Edison’s “Initial Report on the Power Outages in Northwest Queens in July 2006” is a chronology of the events, including “the process used to determine customer outages, and the factors evaluated in deciding to keep the network operating.” Fourteen of the 22 “feeder cables” in the Long Island City network (one of 57 underground networks that supply 86 percent of the electricity used in Con Edison’s service area) failed. This report does not explain why this happened; an analysis of the cause of the blackout will have to await future reports. 2006-08-04

New York's Energy Lobby
The energy industry spent $11 million lobbying in Albany between 2003 and 2006, this report from Common Cause New York shows. Common Cause claims that this money has led to lax state regulation of Con Edison. 2006-08-03

Non-Functioning Payphones
More than one in four payphones in New York City Transit subway stations do not fully work, according to two surveys released today by the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign. 2006-05-03

Preliminary Mayor's Management Report for Fiscal Year 2005
The Preliminary Mayor's Management Report for Fiscal Year 2005, according to City Hall, "provides an early update of how the City is performing four months into the fiscal year," offering "performance highlights and statistics for agencies, as well as data on inquiries received by the 311 Citizen Service Center." Also, Search by agency 2005-02-15