REMARKS
Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez Opens Hearing on Open Data Compliance
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3 min
Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez addresses the imperative role of open data in city governance and its impact on technology and equity.
- Emphasizes the essential nature of open data for effective governance and automated decision-making.
- Describes the necessity of ensuring data quality for accurate and reliable decision outcomes, stressing the far-reaching implications of data integrity.
- Highlights the historical significance and ongoing evolution of New York City's open data law and operations, including challenges in data availability and quality.
- Calls for collaboration among city administration, advocates, and the public to enhance open data operations and maintain leadership in data transparency.
- Recognizes the contributions of committee staff and the importance of community feedback in advancing open data initiatives.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
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Thank you.
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Good morning.
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Thank you, everyone, for your patience.
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My name is and welcome to our hearing on open data compliance.
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I'm council member, Jennifer Gutierrez.
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I'm the chair for the Counsel's Committee on Technology.
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I wanna thank all of you, anyone who is online and, of course, speaker Adams for trusting me to lead this committee for another term.
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Open data is the lifeblood of effective governance, especially as we witness the increasing integration of automated decision making into every part of our lives.
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Ensuring the quality of the data feeding into these tools is paramount.
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It directly influences the accuracy and reliability of the decisions produced by those tools.
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Municipal data is one of the most fundamentally important resources for a functional city government without clean, accurate data, the allocation of emergency resources, and the decision making in critical moments can result in life changing outcomes.
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Decisions made based on bad data can mean a family loses their home, their children or their benefits that keep the lights on and food on the table.
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Issues of inequity that were only known anecdotally in communities for decades can now be verified by accurate data.
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The open data portal is a beacon of information, and we have a legally mandated and ethical responsibility to ensure its quality and accessibility in the evolving landscape of data and its uses.
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New York City's open data law was one of the first of its kind in the nation when it was enacted in 2012.
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And is a leading example in municipal open data operations.
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Council member Gale Brewer was the sponsor of local law 11 in 2012, which became the open data law.
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The strides made in open data operations as highlighted in the annual open data progress reports showcase the tangible impact of public data accessibility in our city's advancement.
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However, despite Moda's efforts in improving data availability, there are still datasets, which are either overdue, unavailable, or instances in which the content of some datasets does not seem to align with their descriptions on the portal.
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The committee is also concerned about the staffing structure and resources, mainly resources that are allocated to this invaluable part of the city's infrastructure, shout out to all the open data coordinators.
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An understanding the intricacies of data maintenance and operational process these is vital to addressing these challenges effectively.
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Moreover, as AI continues to evolve, and NYC Open Data is increasingly used to train AI models the open data portal becomes an even more valuable resource.
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Therefore, in addition to availability, ensuring the quality of data is more important than ever before.
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As such, The committee is eager to hear from the admin, advocates, and the public to understand how we can collectively elevate New York City's open data operations and continue to lead in data transparency.
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Whether in the realm of AI or governmental services, the integrity of our data infrastructure is nonnegotiable.
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This committee looks forward to learning about opportunities to collaborate with administration and support open data, as well as hearing from advocates about best practices in promoting governmental trends currency and accountability.
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I'd like to thank the tech the Technology Committee staff policy analyst Charles Kim, legislative counsel Irene Biops, and my chief of staff, Anna Bessendorf, and senior adviser, Anilaire, for putting together this hearing.
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At this point, we do not have any committee members, but we will shout them out as they trickle in.