Back in August 2004, Gothamist applied to get a working press pass from the NYPD. This involved going down to One Police Plaza (exciting!) and meeting with the lieutenant in charge of the Public Information Office (a nice gentleman by the name of Eugene J. Whyte Jr.) The lieutenant explained that because of the Republican National Convention, it might take some time to get back to us. In the interim, we filed all of the paperwork (tax forms, letters of support from local magazines, newspapers, and photo agencies, printouts of the site, etc.) Then time started to pass. We called in every couple of weeks, but nothing happened.
Months passed. We called to confirm that our paperwork hadn't been lost. Finally, in March, we decided to call every week until we got an answer. After a couple of weeks of talking to the nice lady who answered the DCPI phone, we finally got an answer: denied on grounds of being a website. The lady on the phone said that websites were not eligible for NYPD working press credentials, and she wasn't sure why we hadn't been told this months ago.
Now this is an emergency. Gothamist needs a press pass so we can cover things like the Fifth Avenue parades, ethnic food fairs, and the occasional five taxi pileup. If you or someone you know works in New York government, or has some pull with the people in the NYPD who make these decisions, please get in touch! Gothamist needs your help!
