BetaBagels 012: a morning Gov Tech Policy Conversation

Video

Articles Mentioned

• BetaNYC’s eight recommendations for Mayor Mamdani.
• Rebecca Heywood’s thoughts on modernizing the civil service and hiring process.
• Cara Eckholm’s thoughts on how Mayors can reclaim government efficiency.
• Tech:NYC’s policy priorities for the 2025 Mayoral Election.
• Dear Zohran by the Tech Mayor NYC group.
• Reinvent Albany’s Mamdani Must Harness City Tech for Everyday New Yorkers.

About the Organizations

• NYC-DSA Tech Action Working Group
  • NYC-DSA Tech Action organizes against Big Tech’s harms to working people – from biased algorithms and police surveillance to the digital divide – through community education and grassroots campaigns. We’re building power to fight for technology policies that serve everyone, not corporate profits. Join them at a meeting or email them at tech.action@socialists.nyc.
• Pilot Pitchfest
  • The Pilot Pitchfest (“Pitchfest”) is a non-profit program that helps match City agency staff with free support from the local scientific community, to help agency staff launch and evaluate new programs, projects, and policies. Now in its third year of operation, the Pitchfest includes participation from 23 city agencies, all of New York’s major academic institutions, and a growing cohort of volunteer civic technologists

• Public Sector Job Board
  • Tech and innovation jobs are abundant in government, but can be hard to find across all the different potential levels of government. Subscribe to get regular listings of jobs around the country directly sent to your inbox, as well as occasional long form writing about relevant topics. Support this work to bring more technologists into government and build transparency into the hiring and recruiting process.

• Tech Mayor Project
  • The Tech Mayor Project is a group of civic tech people advocating that NYC build government tech in-house for a more affordable, faster, and fairer city. By building its technical capacity, our city can empower civil servants and frontline workers to deliver excellent services for all New Yorkers: techmayor.nyc/p/dear-zohran.

• Tech:NYC
  • Tech:NYC is an engaged network of tech leaders working to foster a dynamic, diverse, and creative New York. The organization brings together New Yorkers to support a successful technology ecosystem, attract and retain talent, and celebrate New York and the companies that call it home. Tech:NYC represents more than 550 New York tech companies and works with policymakers and business leaders to ensure New York is the best place to build and grow a tech company.

About the Speakers

Aidan Feldman, Freelance Civic Technologist, Tech Mayor Project
Aidan Feldman has worked as a Technology Director, Data Engineer, Innovation Specialist, and DevOps Consultant for various teams in government across the country, including 18F, NYC Planning Labs, the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI), the US Census Bureau, and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Aidan has been helping adults learn to code for over a decade, currently at SIPA and NYU, and in the past at Cornell Tech, City University of New York (CUNY), and the New School.

Alex Spyropoulos, Director of Government Relations, Tech:NYC
Alex Spyropoulos is the Director of Government Relations at Tech:NYC, where he helps lead the organization’s policy and advocacy efforts. He has been working in tech policy for the last four years, previously handling the Northeast for a national tech association, as well as a cannabis tech company. Alex is a native New Yorker, with over a decade of experience working in city, state, and federal politics.

Cara Eckholm, Founder & Executive Director, Pilot Pitchfest
Cara Eckholm is the founder and ED of the Pilot Pitchfest. She has spent her career working on innovation in cities, including leading projects for all three levels of government (New York City, State, and the Feds). She likes the challenge of writing about wonky urban policy topics for a lay audiences, with recent pieces in the NYT, The Financial Times, Bloomberg, and more

Katherine Jin, NYC-DSA Tech Action Working Group
Katherine Jin is a policy advisor and organizer working at the intersection of technology and public interest. She advises NY State Senator Kristen Gonzalez on AI governance and data privacy legislation and organizes with DSA Tech Action on data centers, surveillance, and municipal broadband. She also serves on Zohran Mamdani’s Tech Transition Committee.

Rebecca Heywood, Founder of Public Sector Job Board
Rebecca Heywood is an advocate for improved government technology, and promotes working in government through the #PublicSectorJobBoard, a mostly weekly newsletter focused on tech and innovation jobs in government.