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What’s New in NYC Civic Tech – June 27, 2025

Noel Hidalgo

What a moment in history!

For those of you who have worked on grassroots campaigns, you know the sweat and tears it takes to recruit volunteers, phone bank, knock on doors, table at farmers markets, and do the hard work to get someone on the ballot and past primary day. For those of you who volunteered, worked on campaigns, or voted, thank you! You are the flame that keeps the spirit of democracy alive. 

When I look at the preliminary election results, I see a sea of people willing to stand for a dream, where our equality is not determined by where you are born or who you are born to. I see a city electorate that is ready to invest in a new future that works for everyone. With today’s Supreme Court ruling, this is even more important than ever.

Next week, we’ll have a newsletter dedicated to the primary election results and the data behind rank choice voting. In the meantime, The City has a detailed Democratic Mayoral map and the New York Times has comprehensive interactive maps that let you look at a variety of campaigns.

In four months, there will only be one question on the ballot: Are we willing to do more than vote for hope?

As we have said time and time again, and as Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani said in his primary night speech, “Dreaming demands hope […] Dreaming demands work.”

As a 501c3, we do not endorse any candidate, nor do we endorse hate. We are an inclusive community that supports effective and accountable government, open data and technology. Yet, we encourage our community to find inspiration in the civic ecosystem we exist in. If you haven’t watched NY1’s coverage of election night, it is up on YouTube. They have a complete video of Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani’s speech, and Newsweek has published the text of the speech.

If you want to improve NYC government accountability, this week, the City Council hosted a hearing on a new OpenFOIL legislation. Intro 1235-2025, strengthens the NYC OpenRecords website and ensures government accountability through more open data. We’ve signed onto a letter of support, and you can read Reinvent Albany’s testimony here. If you want to send in your own letter of support, check out this google doc and submit your letter of support via the Council’s website.

Noel Hidalgo
Executive Director of BetaNYC

Public Interest Tech (#PiTech) is about democracy, inclusion, and love. Love for your neighbors, love of yourself, our struggles, and our future. We’ve launched a “No King” campaign to support this newsletter and our digital and data literacy initiatives in NYC.
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Visit https://www.beta.nyc/support-us-no-king/

Community Resources 📚  

This Week in NYC Civic Tech 🗽

This Week in Data, Tech, & Gov News 🏛️

Artificial Intelligence 🤖

  • Copyright Clash: Anthropic’s AI is at the center of a fair use ruling that could reshape how models are trained. Details from Wired.
  • AI Propaganda Surge: The Israel-Iran conflict is fueling a flood of AI-generated disinformation.
  • Energy-Hungry AI: Meta’s new data center is drawing local pushback in Louisiana over massive energy use. Read on 404 Media.
  • AI in Education: Quill’s new playbook offers practical guidance for designing ethical generative AI tools for K–12. Explore it here.

Election 2025 🗳️

  • Climate & Voting Access: NYC poll sites could face disruptions from heat-related blackouts. City & State NY breaks it down.
  • A little about the handwritten typeface: How Zohran Mamdani Used Free Merch to Power His Mayoral Campaign by Heven Halie. Read it on GQ.
  • More Election Articles to be published next week!

Upcoming Events 📅

Note: All times are listed in EDT; Our Open Data classes now include NEW YORK state data! Plus, there are new opportunities to learn about mapping public amenities.