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Open Government

Open Government

New Tech Tools For Art and Politics


It has been four years since Gabriela Jaksa saw her younger brother Attila. She lives in the Bronx now; he remained in Hungary.

But, the two met - in a way -- on the street in the East Village on a Sunday afternoon in early August and talked for two hours.

"It was very touching," Jaksa said. "I'm going to remember it forever."

The long-awaited rendezvous took place over a live public video conference created by a team of artists and technologists in New York and Budapest. The project allowed concertgoers at one of Europe's largest music and arts events, the Sziget Festival, to see, hear and interact in real-time with passersby in New York's East Village for five hours a day for nearly a week.

"Exchanges between New Yorkers and Hungarians ranged from the raunchy to the sentimental to the avant garde and super sweet. There were tense, sexist and racist moments as well as hilarious ones," said Mathieu Borysevicz of Vizual Works Contemporary Art Association in Budapest.

One local musician serenaded the Hungarians with a tribute song about Budapest, another sang a Jamaican hip hop song.

Constant questions about the time difference and the weather seemed to convince participants in New York that the sounds and images were really coming from Hungary and not just somewhere in Upper Manhattan.

"What we learned from this project is that there is an inherent novelty of the technology. Once the novelty wears off, people might begin to interact on a more meaningful level," said Josh Tonsfeldt of Harvestworks, one of the New York sponsors. For example, several regulars who visited the live video daily began to build relationships with their Hungarian counterpart.

"One of the most profound aspects of the project was that for many people in Hungary it was the first opportunity for them to speak with Americans, or better yet Americans of color," added Borysevicz.

The project illustrates how the use of communication technology in public spaces is transforming our experience of the urban environment in New York City. In the future, such interactions may not be confined to the art world but instead could easily, cheaply and quickly become part of the city's basic infrastructure.

Noemi Pataki, a 30 year-old hotel and tourism student from Hungary, and her boyfriend Andras Miklos, a 30 year-old economist, visited the live public video to talk to his sister Judit, and described it as, "the greatest experience during our two-year stay in the USA.We talked about everything, family, music, life & people in NYC, even about politics (the upcoming election) and a lot more," and say that they would use the service even if it wasn't free.

For a limited cost-the whole project cost under $1000 in donated equipment-New York could set up multiple live public video conferences with cities worldwide. For example, Times Square could be connected to Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo or Trafalgar Square in London. New York already has a number of "sister-city" relationships; why not further enhance these partnerships with live real-time video interaction?

Technology and Politics

Those following the campaign for president lately speak early and often of Swift boats and Abu Ghraib. But to tech-savvy politicos, the more important words for the moment are a bit more obscure - Moport and TxtMob. They are both new mobile phone technologies.

TxtMob was first used at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, allowing users to broadcast messages quickly and easily to groups of cell phones. This enabled more than 200 protesters to get out up-to-the-minute information about direct action and police reaction. TxtMob's creator, the Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA), an art and engineering collective that develops technologies for political dissent, is currently working with activists in preparation for the Republican National Convenion.

Moport, a new mobile phone reporting tool, will allow anyone with a camera phone or a digital camera to cover the protesters and thereby provide an alternative view of the events. The free service will allow people to report collectively about important events in real-time using mobile phones.

Laura Forlano is a doctoral student studying communication technology policy at Columbia University.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Lincoln to Bloomberg: The GOP in NYC


1854 - Birth of the Party
Anti-slavery advocates, including Abraham Lincoln, spearhead the creation of the national Republican Party. The New York City Chapter is also established, with Horace Greeley, publisher of the New York Tribune.

1854 - Early Victory
Myron Holley Clark is elected the first Republican governor of New York.

1857 - Police Dispute
The Republican-controlled state legislature creates the Metropolitan Police, effectively abolishing New York City's Municipal Police. Although Democratic Mayor Fernando Wood resists, the state government prevails, and the Metropolitan Police patrol New York until 1870, when police power is restored to the local level.

1858 - Republican Endorsement
After the state legislature strips Wood of his power, Daniel Tiemann, a Democrat and wealthy paint manufacturer, is elected mayor with Republican support. He will serve for only two years before Wood returns to power.

1860- Historic Oratory
Abraham Lincoln gives his famous Cooper Union Address, which paves his way to the Republican presidential nomination later in the year.

1862 - First Republican Mayor
George Opdyke, a clothing manufacturer, financier, and member of the state Assembly, become the first Republican to be elected mayor. His two years in office will be marked by the draft riots of 1863, during which he refuses to negotiate with the rioters. In the history if the city, seven Republicans have served as mayor.

1874 - Animal Imagery
New York cartoonist Thomas Nast gives the GOP its symbol when he depicts Republican voters as an elephant in a cartoon for Harper's Weekly. The inspiration came from a hoax perpetrated by the New York Herald, which falsely reportedly that elephants from a menagerie had escaped into Central Park where they were foraging for food.

1886 - Losing Effort
Republican Theodore Roosevelt, a member of one of the city's most prominent families and a former state assembly member, comes in third in a bid for mayor.

1895 - A Strong Mayor
After a long drought, another Republican, reformer Republican William L. Strong, is elected mayor. He will go on to reorganize the city's street cleaning department, establish the Board of Education and create small parks in the city, but will lose the 1897 election partly because of his enforcement of blue laws and anti-Catholic school measures.

1895 - Police Commissioner
Strong appoints Theodore Roosevelt president of the city's Board of Police Commissioners. Roosevelt then establishes the foundation of the Police Academy and imposes stricter discipline on police officers. He will leave the post in 1897 to become secretary of the Navy and will later serve as governor of New York, vice president and, after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, as president of the United States.

1901 - Reform Alliance
Seth Low, a former mayor of Brooklyn and president of Columbia University, is elected on a fusion ticket backed by the Republican and Citizens Union parties. He is credited with introducing civil service and a merit system for hiring city employees, lowering taxes while streamlining government services, improving the school system, and reducing graft in the police department. In 1903, he will lose the mayoralty to Democrat George McClellan, Jr.

1909 - Legislative Branch
Allied with Fusion candidates, the Republicans gain a majority on the Board of Alderman, a precursor to the City Council.

1911 - Serving Both Parties
Republican President William Howard Taft names Henry Stimson, a New York lawyer and U.S. attorney for New York, secretary of war. He will later be secretary of state in the Hoover administration and secretary of war under Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat.

1916 - La Guardia in the House
Future mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, a Republican, wins a congressional seat from heavily Democratic East Harlem. He will remain in Congress, with a couple of interruptions, until 1932.

1924 - Presidential Politics
Calvin Coolidge carries New York City in the presidential election, the last Republican ever to do so.

1934 - Fusion Mayor
With support from Republicans and reformers, Fiorello H. La Guardia is elected to the first of three terms as mayor. Although a Republican, he works closely with the President Franklin Roosevelt to secure funding for large public works projects. He achieves the unification of the city's rapid transit system, reforms surface transit, pushes for a new City Charter, and expands city parks and cultural programs.

1937- Never a President
After achieving fame for his prosecution of organized crime figures, Thomas Dewey is elected district attorney of Manhattan. Six years later, he will become governor of New York and then an unsuccessful presidential candidate, losing to Franklin Roosevelt in 1944 and Harry Truman in 1948.

1946- Two Houses
Jacob Javits of the Lower East Side is elected for the first of four terms in the Congress. He will serve in the House until 1954, and then go on to the Senate where he will stay until 1981. His achievements include playing a major role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

1958 - Four terms
Nelson Rockefeller, a scion of the wealthy family who grew up partly in New York City, is elected to his first term as governor. Despite three unsuccessful attempts at the presidency, he will be re-elected governor four times before resigning in 1973 and briefly serving as vice president. As governor, he created the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

1965 - Liberal and Republican
Republican John V. Lindsay is elected mayor. Labor strife turns out to be the bane of Lindsay's administration. He also expands city services and seeks to give blacks and Hispanics a great voice in the city. In 1969, Lindsay will fail to receive the Republican nomination for mayor but will win re-election on the Liberal Party line.

1975 - Famous Front Page
With New York City slashing services to avoid defaulting on its bonds, Republican President Gerald Ford vows to defeat any federal bail-out of the city, prompting the Daily News to print the headline, "Ford to City: Drop Dead." After city unions release funds to provide some relief, Ford relents and approves a federal loan guarantee for the city.

1993 - From Prosecutor to Mayor
After losing the 1989 mayoral race, Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani is elected 107th mayor of New York City. His administration will be noted for a large reduction in crime in the city and revival of many neighborhoods. He receives national acclaim for his handling of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the city, but leaves office in 2002 because of term limits.

1993 - Two Terms and Out
Wealthy Republican Ronald Lauder successfully proposes and backs a referendum limiting New York City officials to two terms in office.

2001 - Billionaire Republican
A registered Democrat, millionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg changes his party affiliation and gets the Republican nomination for mayor. He wins the general election after a campaign in which he spends nearly $70 million of his personal fortune. This marks the first time a Republican has ever followed another Republican in the mayor's office.

2004 - Meeting in New York
For the first time in history, the Republican National Convention will take place at Madison Square Garden. It is expected to generate $150 million in economic activity and be attended by 50, 000 people.

 

 

New York City Council STATED MEETING - August 12, 2004


New York City Council Stated Meeting Report

Every two weeks the New York City Council meets for its Stated Meeting to introduce and pass legislation. As a regular feature, Searchlight covers these meetings and posts a summary of the bills passed.

STATED MEETING - August 12, 2004

Quote of the Day:
"In a few minutes, [the Staten Island council members] will cast the best vote of our careers, perhaps the most important vote, and certainly the vote that is going to have the greatest impact on our communities.... The one local issue that unifies this council is the issue of overdevelopment" - Staten Island Councilmember James Oddo.

Meeting Summary:
The New York City Council dedicated most of its agenda on August 12 to landuse measures that will remake neighborhoods in Staten Island, Long Island City, and lower Manhattan.

For Staten Island, the council approved a series of actions that it promises will put an end to developers tearing down one- and two-family homes and replacing them with massive apartment buildings. The measures create specials zones in which the density of housing is limited.

The action was a result of a task force appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to address issues of overdevelopment. And other City Council members hope that similar measures can be put in place for neighborhoods across the city.

"We are a city of 8 million people with one set of zoning rules," said Staten Island Councilmember Michael McMahon, "and what is applicable in one very urban part is not applicable to residential areas."

The council also approved a rezoning of the Hunter's Points section of Long Island City, Queens, which will allow for more commercial and residential development in what is predominantly a manufacturing area. Queens Councilmember Eric Gioia said that it will help the city retain companies who may be tempted to move out to New Jersey by offering them new, less expensive places to build.

However, not everyone agreed it was a good plan. Brooklyn City Councilmember David Yassky voted against the Long Island City rezoning arguing that as many as 2,000 people could lose their jobs and that the city must make a commitment to ensure that some of the new housing is affordable.

The council also approved a landuse item that will make way for Goldman Sachs to build a new 800-foot tall world headquarters in Battery Park City, arguing that would help assure that lower Manhattan remains a hub for the international finance industry.

In addition, the City Council passed one new bill (Intro 313-A), which will require city agencies to record and report information about workplace injuries. The city spends $140 million a year on workplace injuries, according to the council, and the legislation will help compile information to help prevent future accidents and illnesses.

The next Stated Meeting is scheduled for September 9, 2004.

For an archive of past meetings and council votes, visit Gotham Gazette's Searchlight.

 



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