Years ago I did a video about "Link NYC" I was mostly concerned about the possibility of surveillance through the cameras.
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@futurebird apparently the company that manufacture them are uk based and have a delightfully shitty website https://trueform.com/news/
Why does the crappy website make me less suspicious of them?
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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.
ya'll literally have a town crier? like of the olden days??
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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. Is there public wifi? Is it any good?
4. Can you make a phonecall on the street even if you don't have a cellphone?
@futurebird Wait! I think some of our bus stop shelters have chargers. But I'm not sure how available they are.
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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. Is there public wifi? Is it any good?
4. Can you make a phonecall on the street even if you don't have a cellphone?
@futurebird Australia has a payphone network with phone booths everywhere, and it’s now free to make calls to fixed lines and standard Australian mobile numbers from those phone booths. Very useful for people who don’t have a phone.
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ya'll literally have a town crier? like of the olden days??
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.
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@futurebird Australia has a payphone network with phone booths everywhere, and it’s now free to make calls to fixed lines and standard Australian mobile numbers from those phone booths. Very useful for people who don’t have a phone.
@emmadavidson apart from the costs to operate these and deal with vandalism etc it makes sense when most people are on a monthly plan with fixed costs no matter how many calls they make. @futurebird
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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.
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.
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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.
@futurebird @johntimaeus So, can Beauforts scale?
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@futurebird @johntimaeus So, can Beauforts scale?
IDK. sound like one might need to take cover if true.
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@futurebird @johntimaeus So, can Beauforts scale?
I just walked right into this one didn't I MY GOD WOMAN
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@futurebird @johntimaeus So, can Beauforts scale?
@linuxandyarn @futurebird @johntimaeus Probably better than cops.
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@linuxandyarn @futurebird @johntimaeus Probably better than cops.
@linuxandyarn @futurebird @johntimaeus Goddammit.
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IDK. sound like one might need to take cover if true.
@futurebird @linuxandyarn @johntimaeus Sure it can(e)?
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@linuxandyarn @futurebird @johntimaeus Goddammit.
@arclight @linuxandyarn @johntimaeus
got em
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@futurebird @linuxandyarn @johntimaeus Guilty as charged.
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@mayintoronto @futurebird I've never noticed!
@deborahh @mayintoronto @futurebird Someone pointed out USB charging ports on busses to me once, would never have known, and would have to be new busses only I think. Subways?
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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.
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.
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@futurebird @johntimaeus So, can Beauforts scale?
@linuxandyarn @futurebird @johntimaeus
Doesn't need to scale, so much as spread. Horizontal, fractal.
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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.
@futurebird I'm in Dallas where we barely have functional sidewalks. In general, no to all of the questions but if you know the right bus shelter you can find the outlet they plug the holiday lights into. I think the buses have charging ports but I don't know how reliable they are.
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@emmadavidson apart from the costs to operate these and deal with vandalism etc it makes sense when most people are on a monthly plan with fixed costs no matter how many calls they make. @futurebird
@otte_homan @emmadavidson @futurebird The government has a fee on all telephony carriers for the maintenance of the public phones. The staff of the carrier which runs those phone, Telstra, see them as very worthwhile and they have a high informal priority within the field organisation.
Removing the cost to make a call removed the cash from the phones, and that cut back vandalism.
