Mayor Bloomberg won’t allow 311 operators internet access because he’s afraid they’d shop at work.

The 311 non-emergency government information system is a program Mayor Bloomberg loves to brag about, touting it as among his greatest accomplishments during the 05 campaign.

311 operators’ mission is to help citizens navigate the often confusing government agency maze. Theoretically, 311 could duplicate much of what the Public Advocate’s office is charged with doing as the people’s ombudsman. But that’s theory. In reality, 311 is not much more useful than 411 directory assistance operators, with 311 often referring callers back to the agency whose non-responsiveness or unavailability, if the problem arises after the agency is closed, prompted the 311 call to begin with. One reason for the department’s relative uselessness, is their lack of internet access.

It blows my mid, that in 2007, 14 years after the web became a mainstream information resource, that New York City won’t allow people whose primary responsibility is to provide information, internet access.

I still have to pack, but I could not go to Amsterdam without posting about this event.

I attended this past Saturday a New York City bloggers caucus organized by Chris Anderson of NYC.Indymedia and held during the NYC Grassroots Media Conference at The New School for Social Research.

I found two familiar faces in the gathering, Dan Jacoby, of New Democratic Majority as well as Noel Hidalgo, a fellow Drupal/CivicSpace developer. But there were people like Will James of On NY Turf who I barely got to speak with as well as others either working on activist projects or looking for information on how to start a blog.

It was a quick meeting and one in which, grok, I would have loooved to talk more about the business, networking and creative issues involving blogging. We need a whole day for that. Which is why I hope to continue nagging the people of Community Services Society and Drum Major Institute into funding a NYC blogger's conference as well as workshops for people who want to learn how to do it. Hey, I may even be able to get the good people of Eyebeam and The Guggenheim Museum to lend their labs and conference rooms for the events. So people, show me the money, the resources and the places and I'll show you a kick ass series of conferences here in NYC meant to bridge that frigging digital and netroots divide. OKAY?

Heh.

The e-mail read : Do you want to go down to Washington and lobby Capitol Hill about the muni-wifi ban. I didn't even blink ... Hellyeah. Count me in.

So here I am, on my way to Washington to fight Preserving Innovation in Telecom Act of 2005 (Introduced in House) [HR 2726 IH]]:

To prohibit municipal governments from offering telecommunications, information, or cable services except to remedy market failures by private enterprise to provide such services.

I'll tell you why this is important later in the day. I have to run now ... and, believe me, it has nothing to do with tech.

This is what Peter Kalikow had to say about the $600 million in unspent counter-terrorism money allocated to the MTA, right after the London blasts :

[via Funds will be there when technology is, M.T.A. chief says [Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers]]:

"The easy way out would be to spend the money quickly, without a thorough analysis of the cost and benefit," the chairman, Peter S. Kalikow, said in an interview. "The technology for this kind of stuff is still emerging. When stuff is proven, we'll be there. We don't think we should be wasting money on unproven technology."

No technology is good enough for the job NOW? No digital recording equipment? No WiFi? No cellular emergency phones? No security holes plugged at train yards all across the city? What is real-estate tycoon and D'Amato BFF, Peter Kalikow waiting to do with $600 million of tax-payers' money?

Because, as the Memory Hole well reminds us, the biggest fallacy BushCo has fabricated is that the US government and the city of New York were never prepared for the September 11 attacks. They were. They had ample training. They just don't want you to know they did :