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Title card for a civic tech newsletter reads, "What’s New in NYC Civic Tech? Week 24 of 2025." Below are bullet points: “Early Voting in the NYC Primary,” “NYC 311 Report Card,” “In Memoriam: Juliette Powell,” “Fragile Frontlines of Climate Defense,” and “L.A. protests and AI.” The text overlay is set against a blurred background of two posters that read “NO KING ANY TIME.” At the bottom, it says, "Curated by BetaNYC and YOU!"

What’s New in NYC Civic Tech – June 12, 2025

Gabby Langston

This weekend, NYC’s early voting begins. If you’re like my household, we’re just starting to get campaign material AND super PAC anti-campaign ads. Open the Republican Party voter guide, and you’ll find two candidates for Comptroller. Flip to the Democratic Party Primary voter guide, and you’ll see a crowded field: eleven names for Mayor, five for Comptroller, and three for Public Advocate.

In my Brooklyn Council District, I see four candidates for Civil Court Judge, two candidates for Borough President, and another two candidates for Council Member. At the time of posting this newsletter, the site Whosontheballot.org appears to have a mixture of correct dates, locations, and candidates, but indicates that you can only select one. This election marks the first comprehensive use of ranked-choice voting (RCV). 

You can watch citywide candidate debates online. WNYC’s Gothamist has a good breakdown on how RCV works. The City’s Board of Elections (BOE) has a video. If you’re a fan of cats and dogs, Robert Reich has a good how-to.

If you cannot vote in person, NYC’s BOE has a comprehensive way to request a ballot. We have spent the last few months highlighting the importance of this primary. If this is your first time voting in NYC, you have until June 14th to register! YES! The first day of early voting is the last day to register to vote.

We hope you share this newsletter with your NYC friends. Please note that we publish the newsletter on our website, LinkedIn, and via email. It is imperative that we have a slate of democracy loving candidates in November. 

The importance of this moment couldn’t be more evident. Jimmy Kimmel gives a good rundown on what happened in LA over the weekend. Liz Dye over at Legal Eagle gives us a deeper dive into the constitutional crisis we are now facing (YouTube or Nebula). Regardless of who wins the Democratic Primary, we will have a brutal electoral campaign throughout the summer and into the fall — Curtis Sliwa, Eric Adams, and Andrew Cuomo all have lines on the November ballot.

Before I let you go, I need to bring up something very sensitive. On March 2, 1917, the U.S. imposed citizenship on all Puerto Ricans—that’s when my family became U.S. citizens. For my entire life, I’ve had my citizenship questioned. Not in a bad way, but in the “oh Puerto Ricans are US Citizens!?” type of way. Yes, Puerto Ricans are US Citizens, and we’ve served in the US military ever since. Sometimes, unwillingly. Puerto Rican history is for another newsletter.

Since January 20, 2017, I have carried a document of my citizenship in case immigration individuals ever questioned my identity. As a white passing CIS male who speaks “standard” American English, I should never fear what our immigrant neighbors are facing. Yet, eight years later, I walk out my office’s front door knowing that my immigrant and refugee neighbors are being ripped from their families. Across the street, on the same grounds that host the 419 remains of Africans who were ripped from their families to build this city, refugees who thought they were fleeing terror are experiencing it. US citizens, albeit minors, are being detained with their parents. Due process, a cornerstone of our liberty, is being violated. 

American totalitarianism is here. We must fight against it in any way we can, but we can not give in. This Saturday is the birthday of the US Army and the American flag. It is when this nation’s elders decided it was time to engage in a bold experiment in democracy. Over time, we have made democracy more inclusive. Every election is our chance to expand the scope of opportunity and build a better union. 

I wish I could say this is all going to get better quickly, but it isn’t. The allies of evil have rallied their troops and are ready to maximize pain and suffering across our neighborhoods. Never forget, your friendships, your voice, and your humanity are the links to a better union. 

If you’re heading to a protest, note that The Verge has a guide on how to secure your phone before attending a protest, and Saturday’s No King protest will take place around Bryant Park, Manhattan.

Happy Father’s Day, and take care of each other.

— Noel Hidalgo




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Two people stand side by side in front of gold-colored elevator doors, wearing t-shirts that read "NO KING ANY TIME" in the style of a street parking sign. The person on the left wears a red shirt and a black scarf around their neck, while the person on the right wears a white shirt and a black face mask.
Duncan and Gabby pose in their NO KING t-shirts!

This Saturday, June 14, marks the U.S. Army’s birthday—and is being celebrated as No Kings Day by pro-democracy groups nationwide. Folks across the country will be gathering in person to honor the day.

Whether you’re headed to a No Kings Day event or hunting for a last minute Father’s Day gift, grab your own NO KING t-shirt or stickers!

All proceeds go directly toward supporting this very newsletter: beta.nyc/support-us-no-king.

Community Resources 📚  

  • NYC 311 Report Card Fails: A new public dashboard from Jehiah Czebotar gives the 311 system an “F” grade (28%), revealing widespread frustration as agencies underperform on service requests and leave many community needs unmet.
  • Civic Tech Origins: As someone who witnessed the birth of U.S. Digital Service, I find the U.S. Digital Service Origins history site valuable, but it downplays the civic tech momentum behind Obama’s first term and overlooks key forces such as open source, Web 2.0, cloud services, and free culture—things that venture capital laments.
  • Screen alarm and big tech: Jonathan Haidt warns that the “Great Rewiring of children’s lives” is triggering a surge in youth anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Haidt also calls for urgent reforms to protect the next generation. 
  • When “Official English” Becomes a Barrier: A new executive order declaring English the official language undermines federal mandates for language access, threatening essential interpretation services that millions of non-native speakers rely on for healthcare, legal aid, transportation, public safety, and more.
  • Airlines and Big Data: Major U.S. airlines have been quietly selling passengers’ domestic flight records to the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection via a broker they own, raising paramount privacy red flags. (Paywall)
  • Immigration Court Scam Exposed: Fraudsters are running fake virtual immigration courts—complete with phony judges and officials—tricking vulnerable immigrants into paying thousands while believing they’re following real legal procedures.

This Week in NYC Civic Tech 🗽

  • Rest in Power, Juliette Powell — entrepreneur, NYU ITP faculty, VJ, reporter, Miss Canada, and author of The AI Dilemma: 7 Principles for Responsible Technology.
  • Open Airwaves Victory: The New York Senate and State Assembly just blocked the NYPD’s push to encrypt radio comms, keeping scanners open and the public in the know.
  • Homeless Shelters and the Digital Divide: Many NYC shelters still lack essential internet access, leaving residents cut off from benefits, job tools, housing apps, and more. Two new bills aim to mandate wifi in all shelters. 
  • Incoming Watchdog Boost: The City Council’s Charter Revision Commission is proposing ballot measures that guarantee dedicated funding for watchdog agencies, automatically increasing their budgets to prevent political underfunding. 
  • Lease Reform and Oversight Shake-up: After revelations that a mayoral appointee steered a city office lease to a campaign donor’s Wall Street building, the City Council’s Charter Revision Commission is proposing to shift lease approval power to the city Comptroller’s office to protect taxpayer funds. 
  • Behind the Data Curtain: Peek into how NYC Planning’s groundbreaking Data Engineering team has powered smarter city planning for 7+ years — from building tools to breaking silos.
  • Surveillance and fear alert: NYC immigrant communities are living under constant anxiety, and increased NYPD-federal surveillance has chilled formerly vibrant neighborhoods and left residents feeling watched at every turn.

This Week in Data, Tech, & Gov News 🏛️

Artificial Intelligence 🤖

  • AI Floods the Feed: The L.A. protests against ICE raids are now awash in low-quality, AI-generated “slop”— deepfakes, misleading chatbot summaries, and viral misinformation are clouding the truth and fueling confusion.
  • AI vs. States’ Rights: A new bill from Senator Ted Cruz threatens to block states that regulate AI from accessing $42B in federal broadband funding, sparking major tech policy battles.
  • Startup Showdown: A coalition of early-stage AI startups has launched a lobbying blitz opposing the New York State Legislature’s proposed RAISE Act and related bills.
  • AI and Surveillance Loopholes: “Track,” a new AI tool from Veritone, enables police to follow individuals based on factors such as body size, gender, hair, clothing, and more, thereby skirting facial recognition laws and raising concerns about civil liberties. (Paywall)  
  • Privacy Panic: OpenAI is now required to store deleted ChatGPT logs due to a court order from a lawsuit with The New York Times and other news organizations. The company is appealing the order.
  • End-of-Humanity Soirée with AI: AI researchers, philosophers, and tech leaders gathered at a $30 million San Francisco mansion to debate whether humanity should yield the future to superintelligent AI. (Paywall)  
  • The AI Mirage: Apple’s new study reveals that so-called “reasoning” AIs can complete simple puzzles but catastrophically fail on more complex ones, showing that their chain-of-thought may be clever mimicry, as opposed to true understanding. Also, you have to check out this inspiring post on career resilience, which mentions the authors of the study!

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What did you think of today’s newsletter? We’d love to hear your feedback and ideas. Reply to this message. Take care of each other, and have a great weekend! 💗