Good Government

"By opening up the legislative process with an open API we can empower civic hackersand entrepreneurs to create applications that make our government accessible and accountable to all New Yorkers," Council Member Ben Kallos said in an emailed statement. Kallos, a long-time open data advocate, said he applauds the rules reform, adding it is a technological leap forward.

Under legislation to be introduced by Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan), the city would be required to post all government notices on its website — from announcements of a community board meeting to an application for a new sidewalk cafe.

“There’s literally hundreds and hundreds of places where the government has to make a public notice — but nobody knows what the government is doing, because the public notice requirements are so arcane,” said Kallos, chairman of the government operations committee.

New York City's crime map can tell you where a burglary or assault occurred, but a bill being introduced today would make the city plot traffic tickets and summonses as well, the legislation's author, Councilmen Ben Kallos told amNY.

Kallos' bill requires noncriminal violations to be posted on the city's crime map along with dates, times and location information down to the longitude and latitude coordinates, if possible.

He said this level of detail would bolster the city's Vision Zero pedestrian safety effort by providing more exact locations of incidents and traffic violations.