Results tagged “andrewrasiej”

Hello, cellphone vigilantism!

If there is a worse time to announce why your schedule isn't made public, it might be during a debate with your rivals candidates running for Public Advocate. At least that's what current Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum found out last night when she was mocked, criticized and called ineffective by challengers Norman Siegel (you may remmeber him from various civil rights cases), Andrew Rasiej (wireless for the city!), and Jay Golub (a dentist from Queens). It's like a dogfight, with these candidates - Siegel said that Gotbaum only releases press releases and Rasiej said he's done more in four months than Gotbaum during four years. Gotbaum called Siegel a "public adversary" and the NY Times points out Siegel, Gotbaum and Rasiej said Dinkins was a better mayor than Giuliani. Huh, that's interesting, since Dinkins's term saw a terrible city economy.

In his bid to be the next Public Advocate, Andrew Rasiej has created a website, We Fix NYC that will track and document potholes," to build a photographic map of where they are and how long it's taking the city to fix them." People can email photos of potholes (here's the address) and their locations (plus whether or not they've been fixed), which will then go up on a Google Map. As Gothamist loves potholes, you can be sure that we've been crossing streets too slowly as we try to capture them with our cameras (but we're being careful). There's even a page to document electrical hazards.

Verizon will be pulling the virtual plug on its free NYC WiFi for DSL subscribers in the next two months. Verizon had put WiFi transmitters in phone booths, making their customers happy, but now the Big Bell doesn't feel it's as attractive a business opportunity and will be upgrading their system from WiFi to a "fee-based cellular Internet service." The EV-DO system is more powerful than WiFi and will probably be offered, along with a hike your Verizon bills.