Years ago I did a video about "Link NYC" I was mostly concerned about the possibility of surveillance through the cameras. Link NYC is a massive system that puts screens on nearly every block in the city.
Mamdani has been cutting short informative videos about city services for linkNYC. He's using it to tell people things like "if you have a 3 or 4 year old it's time to sign them up for pre-k now"
Maybe he can really do this. No other mayor has used them like this.
youtube.com/watch?v=vIQQGL0qS3…
The City That Never Blinks
The initial idea behind LinkNYC sounded like a great deal for the city of new york. We'd get high speed wi-fi on every corner and it would be financed by vid...futurebird (YouTube)
(URL replace addon enabled for X, YouTube, Instagram and some news sites.)
myrmepropagandist
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Some observations about how linkNYC is used:
* Emergency calls. This was the main reason something needed to replace the payphones. Even at time of removal payphones were still important for emergencies.
* Information network: the screens can get information to the whole city in an emergency.
* charging phones: they have USB ports where people charge their phones. Some annoying people complain about "homeless people" (how do you know) using them? IDK I've used them in a pinch.
🤯Matera the Mad🤯
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Draken BlackKnight
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to Draken BlackKnight • • •@draken
The ports don't have the data pins connected, you can't mess with the tablet or anything through them. They just spit 5V.
I guess one could make a dongle that could intercept the power, pass it on, but also mess with devices?
I think it'd look pretty obvious.
myrmepropagandist
Unknown parent • • •@Phosphenes
They have wired internet connections IDK if it is ethernet or just cable.
Each also has a wifi hotspot but it's very slow and annoying to use.
Using the web browser on the little screen is faster, but not very private.
"The cameras are turned off by default, and footage captured from any active cameras is stored for no longer than seven days unless the footage is necessary to investigate an incident."
I think public backlash has lead them to say this.
myrmepropagandist
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Hey, people in other cities than NYC:
1. Do you have a way to charge your phone on the street?
2. Are there municipal information screens? Do they show ads?
3. Can you make a phonecall on the street even if you don't have a cellphone?
- we have a way to charge phones (5%, 18 votes)
- we have municipal information screens (10%, 35 votes)
- can make phonecall on street without cellphone (10%, 36 votes)
- none of these (82%, 282 votes)
344 voters. Poll end: in 6 daysmyrmepropagandist reshared this.
cobweb 2026 edition
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Cities that have WiFi but not mine. We barely have cell service lol
Mx. Eddie R
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Smallish city, 133k people. Between Toronto and Ottawa, part of neither.
No real way to charge phones on the street.
We have had municipal WiFi at different times and qualities, but the project hasn't ever lasted very long.
No municipal information screens, just a tourist information place downtown near city hall.
I have seen payphones on occasion in recent years, though most are long gone. You can go into a store and ask to use theirs.
cognitively accessible math
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •No "municipal info" screens that I know of but there are lots of places (bus terminal, college places) with screens that have alerts for weather and that sort of thing when stuff happens.
xrvs
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to xrvs • • •@xarvos
No. This is about having a public place to charge.
myrmepropagandist
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Hmm. I think the backlash to this kind of system being a way to collect data made it not spread to other cities as much.
Because the data is what's really worth the most with this system. The ads are fine, you can raise enough to keep it running and have staff and that's great... but that's not what some of the early supporters were hoping for.
And so they moved on to those wicked traffic cameras and other schemes.
myrmepropagandist reshared this.
John Timaeus
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •North Little Rock, AR. Nothing on the street. But phone and charging available in the library (when open), and all the bars/cafés have charging with no questions asked.
City information is a large gentleman named Beaufort, who is officially a cop, but whose title is Ambassador. He and his crew also provide golf cart rides to people who need to get around downtown if they're mobility impaired or if the weather is bad.
myrmepropagandist
in reply to John Timaeus • • •@johntimaeus
ya'll literally have a town crier? like of the olden days??
John Timaeus
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Not a crier, he doesn't have a bell and yell stupid things like "All's Well." when they obviously aren't.
Beaufort and his crew of ambassadors walk / golf cart around downtown most nights, with more when there's an event going on.
They guide tourists to safe (free!) parking, advise about restaurants suitable for your group, tell you what events are coming up, and walk little old ladies across the street to the theatre.
They also generally keep the peace in a way that most cops don't. I've seen them talk down a belligerent drunk, walk him outside and get him an Uber home...along with a card with numbers for several free therapy options.
They have a radio, baton, and a tazer; no body armor, no gun. In 15 years I've seen a baton come out once. It was used on an arm with a knife, not on a head.
myrmepropagandist reshared this.
myrmepropagandist
in reply to John Timaeus • • •@johntimaeus
Hmm to do the same thing in NYC we would need about 40 Beaufort's, one for each major superneighborhood ... probably more though. Nonetheless they could all watch a video each morning about what the latest thing was so they would be in sync.
Maybe they could find the old time square elmos and have them do it.
Rachel Rawlings
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to Rachel Rawlings • • •@linuxandyarn @johntimaeus
IDK. sound like one might need to take cover if true.
Jake Miller
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to Rachel Rawlings • • •@linuxandyarn @johntimaeus
I just walked right into this one didn't I MY GOD WOMAN
🌈☔🌦️🍄🌱🍉
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •arclight
in reply to Rachel Rawlings • • •arclight
in reply to arclight • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to arclight • • •@arclight @linuxandyarn @johntimaeus
got em
Violet Madder
in reply to Rachel Rawlings • • •@linuxandyarn @johntimaeus
Doesn't need to scale, so much as spread. Horizontal, fractal.
John Timaeus
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •We've got one group of ambassadors for a neighborhood of about 10k people. It's the downtown entertainment district. There's talk about expanding to three groups in other dense, business, or higher crime areas. Each group is roughly 5.
That expansion would make a 4000:1 population to ambassador ratio. So New York would need 2000-2500 total, about 400 of those being supervisors who know the area well.
They need to be visible, lightly armed, and willing to talk and help; rather than confront and escalate.
It's true community policing. Walking around, not driving through.
It would be a hard model to do in NYC, or any large metro. It'd be great, but hard to implement.
Problem Fox
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Nazo
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •potentially hazardous object
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Jen
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •here in the UK we have phone boxes. I guess you'd call them phone booths?
Not nearly as many as there used to be, but they're still a thing.
Municipal info boards are not a standard thing. I don't think we have any in my city. There are lots of ad screens.
I don't think I've ever seen a phone charging point on the street. They're common on busses and trains, but not just out and about.
Smoljaguar
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Street Hub Advertising | Global
Globalmyrmepropagandist
in reply to Smoljaguar • • •@Smoljaguar
Looks like a very similar design. I wonder what London does with those cameras?
Smoljaguar
in reply to Smoljaguar • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to Smoljaguar • • •@Smoljaguar
Why does the crappy website make me less suspicious of them?
liferstate
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •dopamine farmer
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to dopamine farmer • • •@amsomniac
I'm about 90 percent confident they aren't doing the tracking stuff at this point since in seven years it's never been used for anything and, due to this video, but also protests and articles they say the cameras are "turned off."
Also their only income is ads, not data.
myrmepropagandist reshared this.
Deborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to Deborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦 • • •@deborahh @mayintoronto
I mean public charging stations.
May Likes Toronto
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Peace is Not A Fable
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •“Ant futurebird” chic is my homie folks so in jest…
-
Why you be on the street in NYC?
You hanging with Rosie Perez ?
🕊️ and thanks for the vid info
A Flock of Beagles
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Astronot
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Glen T
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. All three.
But given that wireless charging is a feature reserved for high end phones, not sure how useful that is. Local government clearly isn't going to put 240V power on a socket in the street, so their choices are limited. Of course the free local library has power outlets for phone charging.
The info screens are really for beach conditions. We do have other alerting systems run by state (app and road signs) and federal government (SMS). No government is going to push out bushfire information to info screens, they want information direct to people on a phone where people can see a map and extended advice. Even when the radio reads a bushfire notice (twice) the full notice can take several minutes for a big fire.
calico gem
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Kristin (vis.social Admin)
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Emma Davidson
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •The War on Valentines Day
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •from seattle
1. If you are really slick, maybe.
2. Yes.
3. Absolutely not.
Longspeak
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Su_G
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to Su_G • • •@Su_G
any city in the world but NYC.
Domo 🦇
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Oblomov
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •this is hard to reply to because:
(1) phone booths have become extremely rare, but they still exist and work
(2) I have found a couple of solar powered bench chargers with USB ports around but never managed to get them to work reliably.
So on the one hand, I'd like to check a couple of those, OTOH, «not really»?
Hugo Mills
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Charge the phone on the street? No.
However, we do have USB charging points on many of the buses. (Run by a company whose major shareholder is the council).
Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •@myrmepropagandist I'm not sure about cities, but here in Italy most municipalities, especially the small ones, have something like this
which tends to have municipal information and be pretty useless, since they only fit a small amount of text; they don't have ads, but they also don't provide power for phones nor a way to call emergency services or anything.
(in the cities there are some places where you can charge phones, but I think those are mostly private and paid for by ads, lots of ads)
myrmepropagandist
Unknown parent • • •@Shivaekul
Yeah I'm revising the poll over that. People can comment about "public wifi" I guess?
myrmepropagandist
Unknown parent • • •@jamey
I didn't know that the mayor's office could put announcement on linkNYC. But it seems there is some of the screen time that's allotted to the city.
The last two mayors just couldn't be bothered to put much effort into it.
There were simple text announcements but nothing like the mayor explaining important deadlines.
Which seems like a public relations no-brainer. But it's also more effective at getting people to pay attention.
myrmepropagandist reshared this.
myrmepropagandist
Unknown parent • • •@jamey
The videos were much shorter and catcher than what you linked. They were produced to fit the screen shape, and had big text since there is no sound.
They were short enough you could get the main idea walking by.
These are EVERYWHERE it's the biggest screen network in the city.
They make enough on ads to run the system and it's in good repair even after all these years.
I don't know if I believe them about the cameras being turned off, but link footage has never surfaced.
myrmepropagandist reshared this.
myrmepropagandist
Unknown parent • • •@jamey
Yes, and the languages are localized by neighborhood because that's one of the features of the system.
So I don't see the ones in Chinese up in the Bronx, but I do get English and Spanish.
myrmepropagandist
Unknown parent • • •@Linebyline
Depends on how big the town is? Is one phone enough?
Jake
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Supermoosie
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Local council renovated the local ferry wharf area.
There are a few of these solar powered charging benches at the waterfront now.
Down the big smoke, in Sydney, there are bus shelters, kiosks, toilets, information panels.
The contact owner pays for the regular cleaning and maintenance and they get to show advertising in return.
But the council also get to display information, event information and the police can have emergency information displayed. Eg NYE or VIVID they might use it to direct people away to other areas that are not over crowded.
The city also has a volunteer ambassador program, that sees people at Circular Quay, and roving around the city, to give advice and knowledge on local landmarks, attractions, transport, shops and restaurants etc.
They also have a town crier.
AndyHat
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •@jamey As Manhattan BP, Mark Levine used LinkNYC to promote Community Board meetings. and in the last week I've been seeing promos from assemblyman Alex Bores for his district town hall. I look forward to seeing Mamdani's videos, which I've somehow missed so far.
I love some of the local artists they feature, too.