NYC is a growing tech hub. But how technologically savvy is city government?
New York City is widely recognized as a modern metropolis with a thriving tech sector that rivals – or, some might argue, even exceeds – Silicon Valley.
But how well has the city’s government kept up with the many innovations driving the private sector?
“As much as we may have appreciated Mike Bloomberg’s 12 years as mayor, in many ways he delivered a 1980s Pontiac to Bill de Blasio,” said Andrew Rasiej, chairman of the NY Tech Alliance and a longtime tech advocate and enthusiast. “It would be great if we had maybe a 1994 Camry, but we’re not even close. In some places, physically, you walk into a city agency and you still see piles of paper sitting next to the file cabinets and a lot of frustration.”
Rasiej, who co-moderated last month’s Technology Front Page Roundtable discussion along with City & State’s Jon Lentz, asked three officials – New York City's Chief Technology Officer Miguel Gamiño Jr., Department of Transportation Chief Technology Officer Cordell Schachter, and Buildings Department Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Planning and Policy Archana Jayaram – what could be done to get city government up to speed.
You can stream the full discussion – which also touched on self-driving cars, rising cybersecurity threats and the challenges in hiring tech talent in city agencies – on the City & State Presents podcast, available on iTunes or Stitcher (for Android) and streaming below.