Politico

He saw potential for Technology Development Corporation, the nonprofit corporation set up in 2012 under Bloomberg to oversee major technology projects, where he last worked, to evolve into something like the federal government's 18F. Its websitedocuments credit the agency with key involvement in the Pre-K for All outreach system and IDNYC.

He said, he felt however, that nobody "understand[s] the potential value of the TDC well enough."

Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal invoked a possible role for the Technology Development Corporation at a recent Council hearing considering two bills introduced by Councilman Ben Kallos aimed at pushing the administration to embrace open-source software,  which the Independent Budget Office estimates could eventually save $25 million. An 18F employee was among those testifying in favor.

City film permitting data will soon be available on the open data portal, a spokeswoman for the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment said Thursday.

Associate commissioner Connie Ress' statement came a day after WNYC published anarticle and map of TV shoots across the city from November 2011 to July 2015 using data from the administration in response to a FOIL request. WNYC also published the underlying data to the programming platform Github, including data for feature film and news show permits.

Councilman Ben Kallos had also introduced aseparate bill on behalf of Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer that would require production permits to be made available online and searchable by community board district.

Last April, Reinvent Albany and other groups wrote a letter to the city again requesting the publication of the film shoots data on the portal, citing significant interest from hearing attendees in having more advance notice and in the data.

One of the bills introduced by Councilman Ben Kallos, the committee chair, would require the Department of Education, which is already under a requirement to provide voter registration information to graduating seniors, to receive such material from the Board of Elections in other languages, based on schools' student population.