7 ms·

The bible of doing business with the city of New York

164 points by gregorymichael 7y ago

warent 7y ago
> “We’re black and white because the news is black and white — what is there to color?” Mr. Blachman said. This sounds like a very poetic and simultaneously very New York thing to say. I don't know Mr. Blachman but I like him already. I know everyone on a first-name basis but he sounds like the kind of person you'd strictly refer to as "Mr. Blachman." This makes me wonder if other cities have this kind of thing or if it's unique to NYC?
- Spooky23 7y ago
  Most states do something like this. The state of ny has the NYS Contract Reporter. The journaling of election results and other things is somewhat unique and an awesome resource.
- lgregg 7y ago
  All cities have at least a limited version of this in regards to procurement. [1] [1] https://www.leaguecity.com/bids.aspx https://www.leaguecity.com/bids.aspx https://eprocurement.cityofchicago.org/OA_HTML/OA.jsp?OAFunc=PON_ABSTRACT_PAGE&PON_NEGOTIATION_STATUS=ACTIVE https://eprocurement.cityofchicago.org/OA_HTML/OA.jsp?OAFunc...
  - zwkrt 7y ago
    I think the op was asking if other cities had characteristic prose.
    - warent 7y ago
      I can see how it can be read that way but lgregg was right. Thank you though.
- emmelaich 7y ago
  Generically they're called gazettes I believe. Here's a list of national government ones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_gazettes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_gazettes It can be fascinating reading.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
massivecali 7y ago
Why doesn't the title match the article?
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Because the title used in the article has extraneous detail that's not all that useful?
- crushcrashcrush 7y ago
  Because the autism is strong on hacker news.
- badfrog 7y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > If the original title begins with a number or number + gratuitous adjective, we'd appreciate it if you'd crop it. E.g. translate "10 Ways To Do X" to "How To Do X," and "14 Amazing Ys" to "Ys." Exception: when the number is meaningful, e.g. "The 5 Platonic Solids." > Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize. Arguably the original title is linkbait.
- dang 7y ago
  A moderator changed the title because it was baity—maybe not super baity, but still. This is in accordance with site guidelines, as badfrog quoted. When we do that, we either use a subtitle or a representative phrase from the article body. In this case it was the latter.
Aloha 7y ago
I'm kind of surprised that NYC publishes its own paper of record.
- jkaplowitz 7y ago
  Both its population and its budget exceed those of most US states and most countries - "most" being a literal majority and not an exaggeration. Does that make it less surprising? Publishing such a paper is routine for national governments around the world, as well as US states.
  - analog31 7y ago
    Indeed, and the city probably has open government laws requiring it to publish all of its business. For a town above a certain size, self-publishing may simply be the most economical route. In my little town, they just include a section of public notices in the local paper every week.
    - jkaplowitz 7y ago
      Yeah, not only do the city and state have applicable open government laws, this paper ranges in size from 16 pages to 100 according to the article. (The current edition is 36 pages.) Combining those facts with the small number of copies that are still physically printed - nowadays it's mostly read for free online - doing it themselves is the only plausible option.
  - angstrom 7y ago
    And a police force that likewise rivals militaries both in size and equipment.
    - jkaplowitz 7y ago
      Absolutely. NYPD has more employees than the FBI, and lots of powerful capabilities. https://www.salon.com/2012/09/28/nine_terrifying_facts_about_americas_biggest_police_force/ https://www.salon.com/2012/09/28/nine_terrifying_facts_about... (And that link doesn't even account for any changes in the ~6.5 years since it was published...)
woodruffw 7y ago
Another piece of NYC esoterica: the city marshals[1], who are unsalaried, appointed by the mayor, independent from the police (and sheriffs), and are tasked with collecting legal judgments. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Marshal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Marshal
- opportune 7y ago
  1500+ 4.5% of fees seems ludicrously low, and coupled with the artificial scarcity, very corrupt
  - woodruffw 7y ago
    Indeed![1] [1]: https://nypost.com/2018/11/27/doi-looks-into-city-marshal-for-expanding-reach-beyond-nyc/ https://nypost.com/2018/11/27/doi-looks-into-city-marshal-fo...
  - Stratoscope 7y ago
    It reminds me of how bankruptcy trustees make their money. I was talking with a bankruptcy lawyer about this a while ago. It seemed odd that the court fee for a bankruptcy is only a few hundred dollars but the trustee may have to spend many hours on a complex case. He explained that the trustee is paid a percentage of the assets they sell off. Must be nice work if you can get it!
Animats 7y ago
The US Government used to publish procurements in something called Commerce Business Daily. By 2002, that had been replaced by the FedBizOps web site, "https://www.fbo.gov/" https://www.fbo.gov/". The paper version is long gone. NYC puts the City Record online at "https://a856-cityrecord.nyc.gov/" https://a856-cityrecord.nyc.gov/". Get your bid in for the new garbage trucks now. It's surprising that NYC still publishes the paper version.
eatonphil 7y ago
The statement that New York City's 92 billion budget is greater than most countries surprised me, had to look it up. According to a CUNY page [0], the city's revenue has been around $80 billion the last few years and $70 billion in expenditures. Comparing that to a wikipedia page [1] on government revenues/expenditures does indeed place New York City as collecting and spending more than all but 38 and 35 countries in the world. [0] https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/fiscal_data/gfund-rev_exp.htm https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/fiscal_data/gfund-rev_ex... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_government_budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_governmen...
- AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
  It's worth noting that for the same amount of money many countries manage to provide free healthcare, excellent public transportation, decent schools, while also having to maintain armed forces, financial system and a network of embassies abroad.
  - bdhess 7y ago
    I don’t understand the comparison you’re trying to make. Like, not per capita and/or without purchasing power adjusted, sure. What does that prove?
    - AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
      Why not? Say, Czech Republic, has a similar budget and a similar population. Yes, PPP will be different, but, as I said, running a country is different from running a city. P. S.: Here's more detail: Sweden is very close to the US by PPP (https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-ppp.htm https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-p...), it's population is similar to that of NYC (around 10 million) and it's budget is 1 trln SEK, which is roughly $100 bn, so the same amount per capita as NYC. The point I'm trying to make? It's not about money. New York City has enough money to provide its citizens with all the amenities Swedes have, including free healthcare, free child care and pensions. They don't have to tax the rich. They don't need more austerity. They just have to use the money wisely. Then if we take New York State budget into account, we'll realize this is sufficient to provide all New Yorkers with one more free healthcare, one more free child care and one more pension.

> “We’re black and white because the news is black and white — what is there to color?” Mr. Blachman said. This sounds like a very poetic and simultaneously very New York thing to say. I don't know Mr. Blachman but I like him already. I know everyone on a first-name basis but he sounds like the kind of person you'd strictly refer to as "Mr. Blachman." This makes me wonder if other cities have this kind of thing or if it's unique to NYC?

Spooky23 7y ago
Most states do something like this. The state of ny has the NYS Contract Reporter. The journaling of election results and other things is somewhat unique and an awesome resource.
lgregg 7y ago
All cities have at least a limited version of this in regards to procurement. [1] [1] https://www.leaguecity.com/bids.aspx https://www.leaguecity.com/bids.aspx https://eprocurement.cityofchicago.org/OA_HTML/OA.jsp?OAFunc=PON_ABSTRACT_PAGE&PON_NEGOTIATION_STATUS=ACTIVE https://eprocurement.cityofchicago.org/OA_HTML/OA.jsp?OAFunc...
- zwkrt 7y ago
  I think the op was asking if other cities had characteristic prose.
  - warent 7y ago
    I can see how it can be read that way but lgregg was right. Thank you though.
emmelaich 7y ago
Generically they're called gazettes I believe. Here's a list of national government ones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_gazettes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_gazettes It can be fascinating reading.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

massivecali 7y ago

Why doesn't the title match the article?

saagarjha 7y ago
Because the title used in the article has extraneous detail that's not all that useful?
crushcrashcrush 7y ago
Because the autism is strong on hacker news.
badfrog 7y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > If the original title begins with a number or number + gratuitous adjective, we'd appreciate it if you'd crop it. E.g. translate "10 Ways To Do X" to "How To Do X," and "14 Amazing Ys" to "Ys." Exception: when the number is meaningful, e.g. "The 5 Platonic Solids." > Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize. Arguably the original title is linkbait.
dang 7y ago
A moderator changed the title because it was baity—maybe not super baity, but still. This is in accordance with site guidelines, as badfrog quoted. When we do that, we either use a subtitle or a representative phrase from the article body. In this case it was the latter.

Aloha 7y ago

I'm kind of surprised that NYC publishes its own paper of record.

jkaplowitz 7y ago
Both its population and its budget exceed those of most US states and most countries - "most" being a literal majority and not an exaggeration. Does that make it less surprising? Publishing such a paper is routine for national governments around the world, as well as US states.
- analog31 7y ago
  Indeed, and the city probably has open government laws requiring it to publish all of its business. For a town above a certain size, self-publishing may simply be the most economical route. In my little town, they just include a section of public notices in the local paper every week.
  - jkaplowitz 7y ago
    Yeah, not only do the city and state have applicable open government laws, this paper ranges in size from 16 pages to 100 according to the article. (The current edition is 36 pages.) Combining those facts with the small number of copies that are still physically printed - nowadays it's mostly read for free online - doing it themselves is the only plausible option.
- angstrom 7y ago
  And a police force that likewise rivals militaries both in size and equipment.
  - jkaplowitz 7y ago
    Absolutely. NYPD has more employees than the FBI, and lots of powerful capabilities. https://www.salon.com/2012/09/28/nine_terrifying_facts_about_americas_biggest_police_force/ https://www.salon.com/2012/09/28/nine_terrifying_facts_about... (And that link doesn't even account for any changes in the ~6.5 years since it was published...)

woodruffw 7y ago

Another piece of NYC esoterica: the city marshals[1], who are unsalaried, appointed by the mayor, independent from the police (and sheriffs), and are tasked with collecting legal judgments. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Marshal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Marshal

opportune 7y ago
1500+ 4.5% of fees seems ludicrously low, and coupled with the artificial scarcity, very corrupt
- woodruffw 7y ago
  Indeed![1] [1]: https://nypost.com/2018/11/27/doi-looks-into-city-marshal-for-expanding-reach-beyond-nyc/ https://nypost.com/2018/11/27/doi-looks-into-city-marshal-fo...
- Stratoscope 7y ago
  It reminds me of how bankruptcy trustees make their money. I was talking with a bankruptcy lawyer about this a while ago. It seemed odd that the court fee for a bankruptcy is only a few hundred dollars but the trustee may have to spend many hours on a complex case. He explained that the trustee is paid a percentage of the assets they sell off. Must be nice work if you can get it!

Animats 7y ago

The US Government used to publish procurements in something called Commerce Business Daily. By 2002, that had been replaced by the FedBizOps web site, "https://www.fbo.gov/" https://www.fbo.gov/". The paper version is long gone. NYC puts the City Record online at "https://a856-cityrecord.nyc.gov/" https://a856-cityrecord.nyc.gov/". Get your bid in for the new garbage trucks now. It's surprising that NYC still publishes the paper version.

eatonphil 7y ago

The statement that New York City's 92 billion budget is greater than most countries surprised me, had to look it up. According to a CUNY page [0], the city's revenue has been around $80 billion the last few years and $70 billion in expenditures. Comparing that to a wikipedia page [1] on government revenues/expenditures does indeed place New York City as collecting and spending more than all but 38 and 35 countries in the world. [0] https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/fiscal_data/gfund-rev_exp.htm https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/fiscal_data/gfund-rev_ex... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_government_budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_governmen...

AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
It's worth noting that for the same amount of money many countries manage to provide free healthcare, excellent public transportation, decent schools, while also having to maintain armed forces, financial system and a network of embassies abroad.
- bdhess 7y ago
  I don’t understand the comparison you’re trying to make. Like, not per capita and/or without purchasing power adjusted, sure. What does that prove?
  - AlexTWithBeard 7y ago
    Why not? Say, Czech Republic, has a similar budget and a similar population. Yes, PPP will be different, but, as I said, running a country is different from running a city. P. S.: Here's more detail: Sweden is very close to the US by PPP (https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-ppp.htm https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-p...), it's population is similar to that of NYC (around 10 million) and it's budget is 1 trln SEK, which is roughly $100 bn, so the same amount per capita as NYC. The point I'm trying to make? It's not about money. New York City has enough money to provide its citizens with all the amenities Swedes have, including free healthcare, free child care and pensions. They don't have to tax the rich. They don't need more austerity. They just have to use the money wisely. Then if we take New York State budget into account, we'll realize this is sufficient to provide all New Yorkers with one more free healthcare, one more free child care and one more pension.