Hey, New York! So, you just elected a new mayor, Zohran Kwame Mamdani. He’s got big plans to freeze rents, launch city-owned grocery stores, and give us free buses . The big question on everyone’s mind at Ztec100.com is: in the year 2025, how do you actually do that without the city’s tech melting down faster than a street-vendor pretzel in a heatwave?
Fear not! We’ve hacked the mainframe (just kidding, we read the policy papers) and found out how tech can actually make this city work for the people, not just the platforms.
🛡️ Phase 1: Building a “Digital Sanctuary City” (Or, How to Stop Feeding ICE’s Data Monster)
First thing’s first: New York has to stop being a tattletale. Right now, federal agencies like ICE are using state databases and even social media images to track people . It’s a creepy, high-tech dragnet.
The Mamdani Tech Fix: Declare New York a Digital Sanctuary City . This isn’t about building a digital wall; it’s about shredding the data that shouldn’t be shared.
- No More Facial Recognition Follies: The plan? Stop using biometric surveillance—that means no facial recognition, gait analysis, or voice-prints in public housing, schools, or transit . The NYPD already has some limits, and this would extend them. Your face shouldn’t be a barcode for just existing in public.
- Pull the Plug on Data Sharing: The administration can immediately direct city agencies to cut data links with ICE and other federal enforcement agencies . This builds on New York’s existing “Green Light Law” to protect everyone who uses city services.
- Your Data is Not for Sale: This one’s simple. City contractors and utilities would be barred from selling or licensing the data they collect while providing public services . Your info on a city bus pass shouldn’t end up in an ad-targeting profile.
🚌 Phase 2: The “Actually Useful App” Revolution
Let’s be real, city apps are usually terrible. You can track your burrito from the restaurant to your door, but a 311 request to fix a pothole disappears into a bureaucratic black hole .
The Mamdani Tech Fix: Reboot, Reuse, and Reform the city’s digital infrastructure .
- Fix MyCity (Please!): The MyCity portal was supposed to be a one-stop-shop for city services. After over $100 million, it’s… not. The new administration can prioritize fixing it, turning it from a laughingstock into a legit tool .
- Give Us the “Gov Stack”: New York needs to build its own set of digital public goods—a “gov stack” . Think verifiable digital IDs and secure personal data lockers. In Estonia, people can vote and pay taxes online in minutes. Why can’t we? This would make applying for benefits or dealing with city paperwork infinitely easier.
- Track Your Bus Like a Boss: Mamdani himself pointed out the absurdity of being able to track a DoorDash order but not a city bus . The solution? Borrow a page from Beijing’s 12345 service (minus the social control part), which uses AI for tracking and follow-ups. Let’s get our 311 system into the 21st century.
⚙️ Phase 3: Smashing the Algorithmic Bosses
Tech was supposed to free us. Instead, it gave us algorithmic bosses that monitor our every bathroom break and “surge pricing” that makes a simple bus ride cost as much as a Broadway show.
The Mamdani Tech Fix: Protect workers and ban algorithmic exploitation .
- Worker Tech Impact Reviews: Before any city agency or big employer rolls out an AI system, they’d have to do a public review of how it will affect jobs, safety, and quality of work . No more secretly replacing humans with sketchy code.
- Ban Surge Pricing for Essentials: Apps for ride-hail, delivery, and other essential services would be banned from using surge pricing or personalized price hikes . The price should be the price, not a number determined by how desperate you look.
- Smash “Landlord Tech”: This is the best-named policy ever. It would stop landlords from using “PropTech” systems that use algorithms to jack up your rent or automate the eviction process . Your home shouldn’t be run by a greedy robot.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t about being anti-tech. It’s about being anti-bad-tech. It’s about using smart policy and modern tools to make a city that’s more affordable, more fair, and less annoying to live in.
So, good luck, Mayor-elect Mamdani. The city’s rooting for you. Now, go make that “MyCity” chatbot actually tell us where our bus is.
-The Team Ztec100.com