Name: Open Assembly: A Prompt Towards Civic Engagement
Start: 2026-03-10
Location: Index Greenpoint

Home Sign The Letter

“Working New Yorkers know what they need to thrive”Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani

HELLO@HEYMAMDANI.NYC

Your campaign ran on a vision of a city that works for every New Yorker. But the digital layer underneath that promise is in rough shape.

311 Follow-Through

Only 28% of New Yorkers are satisfied with how the city follows through when they call 311.

Source ↗︎

Home Internet Gap

500,000 NYC households have no home internet. In the Bronx, the share without broadband has gotten worse since the pandemic - up from 18% to 22%.

Source ↗︎

OMNY Tap-To-Pay

3 out of 4 OMNY riders report problems with the new tap-to-pay system - failed taps, late charges, long customer-service waits. The MetroCard is being retired at the end of 2025 anyway.

Source ↗︎

NYCHA Tenant App

The NYCHA tenant app hasn't been updated in two years. It won't run on newer Android phones. 339,000 public housing residents are the ones locked out.

Source ↗︎

HRA Benefits Portal

HRA's benefits portal - used by New Yorkers applying for SNAP and emergency cash - doesn't confirm applications went through, so people submit twice, get rejected as duplicates, and wait longer for food.

Source ↗︎

MyCity AI Chatbot

Mayor Adam's MyCity AI chatbot told landlords they could discriminate against Section 8 tenants and told bosses they could take workers' tips. The city knew since March 2024 and kept it online until January 2026.

Source ↗︎

School Chromebooks

Of $320 million spent on Chromebooks for NYC public school students, only 32% have actually made it into students' hands.

Source ↗︎

Housing Court E-Filing

Housing court mandates e-filing in February 2026. The tenants most likely to face eviction without a lawyer often lack the computer access to use it.

Source ↗︎

Free buses, frozen rents and an office of mass engagement all have to run through this layer. If civic technology doesn't work, the promises don't either.

We are submitting a proposal of 12 recommendations for your consideration on how civic technology could improve the everyday lives of New Yorkers.

NYC Should…

1Build a Public Internet
2Setup City-owned Payment Rails
3Host Real-time Housing Data
4Improve 311
5Curb AI Expansion
6Provide Free Internet for All
7Add Public Comments on City Bills
8Install Live Budget Tracking
9Establish Office of AI Accountability
10Offer Opt-out to Biometric Surveillance
11Regulate Self-driving Taxis
12Run a Food Rescue Platform

These recommendations came out of an open-format participatory event called Open Assembly: A Prompt Towards Civic Engagement held at Index Greenpoint on March 10th, 2026.

We gathered 100 local technologists & experts from leading organizations in the civic technology field including RadicalxChange, Polis, Metagov, Decentral Park and NYC Mesh to dream up what a tech-enabled NYC looks like.

Our Coalition Includes:

Mozilla Foundation

The Mozilla Foundation is a global nonprofit dedicated to building a people-centered internet that is open, accessible, and shaped by community, fueling open-source technology, advocacy, education, and tools that put users before profit.

Visit ↗︎

RadicalxChange

RadicalxChange is a global movement working across political, technological, and cultural domains to build more participatory and pluralistic systems, empowering communities with tools and frameworks to decentralize power, strengthen collective action, and imagine practical alternatives to extractive and authoritarian models.

Visit ↗︎

Polis

Polis is an open-source platform that helps entire cities, states, or even countries find common ground on complex issues.

Visit ↗︎

Metagov

Metagov is a community of research and practice gathered around the mission to cultivate tools, practices, and communities that enable self-governance in the digital age.

Visit ↗︎

Decentral Park

Decentral Park is a NYC-based progressive tech collective convening organizers, professionals, and civic stakeholders to advance cooperative economics and implement civic tools.

Visit ↗︎

garden3d

garden3d is a worker-owned creative collective, innovating on everything from brands and IRL communities to IoT devices and cross platform apps.

Visit ↗︎

HELLO@HEYMAMDANI.NYC

supported by:

Sidnee Moss
Tim Connors
Shaurya Dubey
Angeliki Chrysafidi
Jack Henderson
Ishrat Soha
Amy Kim Delahanty
A. Colby
Emily C Forsythe
Patrick Boehler
Mirilla Zhu
Kathy Tu
Tyler Miller
Jon Dieringer
Libby Marrs
Rodan Tekle
James Martin
Sam Grunebaum
Summer Nguyen
Nick Datto
Khalid Mcmillian
Bernardo Branco Gonçalves
Rudy Blanco
Mostyn Griffith
BD Feliz
Katie English
Maddi Minicozzi
Mariano Shaar
Madeleine Jennings
Aurora Hinz
Edlynne Laryea
Chris Lunney
Sarah Axmann
Francesca McKenzie
Maya M.
Ruby Kim
MacKenzie Huneke
Ryan Glassman
Yarnelle Bauzil
Chelsey Crawbuck-Mathews
Michael Crawbuck-Mathews
Mike Oxlong
Dee Graham
Henry Boeschenstein
Ashrita Shetty
Mia Winther-Tamaki
Pablo Gnecco
Rahmi Halaby
Joel Watson
Rainer Turim
Brett Davis
Teddy Lane
Max Ornstein
Gabriel Sehringer
Jenna Willett
peter dommermuth
Vaibhav Yadaram
Atticus Koizumi
Othman Gbadamassi
Raul Luis
Pablo Max
Nat Jean
Christian Perez
Kay Mok
Danielle Horanieh
Nick Hallam
Dena Igusti
Udit Desai
Henry Staley
Chad Stewart-Coleman
Edward Frumkin
Max Ludlow
Emma Howard
Helena Wolfson
Anne Lim
Rosie Vasen
Sebastian Odell
Cori Diaz
Em Hausmann
Selene Chang
Evan Gehring
Tania Lili
Bill Pacino
Ian Williams
Gage Salzano
Ava Alemazkoor
Cameron Alexander
Maya Arguelles
Emma Callahan
Ron Turetzky
Val Elefante
Bill Roberts
Spencer Chang
Bryan Washington
Ian Faria
Ayaka Takao
Abdelrahman Madani
Braulio Amado
Drew Marshall
Elie Andersen
Hugh Francis