The City of New York

Queens Community Board 3

Technology Advisory Committee

Meeting Report

May 16, 2006

The committee met from 7:30 PM to 9 PM at the Board’s district office. Attending were:

Thomas Lowenhaupt, Committee Chair              Arthur Teiler, Member, CB 3                

Vivian Dock, Member, CB 3                              Giovanna Reid, District Manager

Eugene Atkins, Resident Member                       Micaela Birmingham, Municipal Art Society

The committee reviewed three items:

CITI Youth Program – Micaela Birmingham made a presentation on the CITI Youth Program. (Community Information Technology Initiative). The program trains students to use the Internet and mapping technology and makes them available to assist community boards with their land use and other mapping needs. Typically, the students, who are recruited from local high schools and paid a nominal amount for participation, will present local maps, as directed by the Land Use Committee chair, at committee and monthly board meetings. The students will also assist other committees with their mapping needs: e.g., Airport, Housing, Landmarks, Parks, Transportation.

The program provides training and leadership skills for the students. And it provides information to assist board members with their decisions. Additionally, since the Louis Armstrong cafeteria is not wired for Internet access, CITI will work with the school to provide a wireless Internet connection. Ms. Birmingham indicated that approval was needed ASAP so that the Internet connection and recruitment arrangements can be made for the September meeting. All agreed that the program seemed to offer benefits to community youth and the board. It was suggested that the offer be referred to the Land Use Committee.

CB 3's Website Update – Usage of the board’s website continues to grow. From January 1, 2006 through June 13, 2006 the site had the following visits and visitors:

¹ A visit is a series of actions that begins when a visitor views their first page from the server, and ends when the visitor leaves the site or remains idle beyond the idle-time limit. The default idle-time limit is thirty minutes.

Audio Services – A discussion on providing audio services took place with benefits and drawbacks discussed. The committee, working with the assistance of community member Eugene Atkins, is pursuing the technical skills necessary to record and make board meetings available via the board’s website. When it’s developed the skills, the committee will present them to the board for inclusion in its community outreach effort.

Reporter, Thomas Lowenhaupt