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The New Paradigm - A Prescription for Political Power A Prescription for Political Power - With deep ranks and deep pockets, health care union is potent force Barowitz to Start Things Cooking at Durst Brooklyn Delegation Civil War Avella to Run for Mayor in 2009 Eliot and the Rising AG Tide Bing’s Local Coalition Raises Voices, Not Glasses Up in the Air… Up in the Sky… It’s the Mayor of New York?
The Sky is Falling! The City Council chamber needs work, but no one seems to know whom to call Council Members Call for Landmarks Commission Shake-Up The Business of Changing How Council Business Is Done Editorial: Throw the (Green) Book at Us Democratic Tsunami may not be in forecast The City Stumbles on Programs for Gifted Kids The Money Trail Spitzer Prospers from Real Estate Contributions Where Are They Now? Former Comptroller Enjoying Goldin Years Notepad -- Political reporters on the record with David Seifman Elsewhere Project Exile's Hard Line Approach to Guns Imagemakers Old-School Consultant Hank Sheinkopf Still a Political Powerhouse In the Chair Weprin Has Eyes on the Budget, and on the Comptroller's Race On the Agenda Cause Célèbre Cynthia Nixon: The 'Rithmetic is Wrong on Education Dollars In the Trenches The Former Skier and Candidate in Gotbaum's Office Eggs with Marty Markowitz Hall-way Eating Sophie's Satisfies
Throw the (Green) Book at Us
The Green Book has a lot of problems.
First of all, it is not green.
No, the city’s official directory is orange, or, more properly, saffron, in honor of the Christo Gates. Remember those? They were draped across Central Park for the back half of last February.
Commemorating the artwork 14 months late—rather than two months late, or even a few months early, with either the 2005 or 2004 editions—is unfortunately a good metaphor for what is wrong with the book overall.
The book is printed in April with information last current in November, making it outdated before it even exists. Information has changed already, and more will change with the November elections, giving it a shelf life of at best six months.
And so the April Update Sheet, tucked beneath the front cover.
Of course, this only has whatever updates existed as of January. Looking for anything fresh since then (or, dare we say, since April)? Good luck.
Good luck, that is, unless you happen to find some way to access the internet. All the information is up on the web already. But it is not gathered in one central, easily accessed place—like, say, the Green Book.
There is an online version of the book already available to city employees. We are well past the time when that version should be available to everyone, and when the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which produces the book each year, devotes the minimal personnel hours necessary to keep it constantly up-to-date. Make it searchable. Make it accessible. Make it a true guide to the city government, as it was meant to be.
Even the Assembly, nationally famous for gridlock and slow progress, managed to get web pages up for Assembly Members Sylvia Friedman, Alan Maisel and Linda Rosenthal within hours of the polls closing on their Feb. 28 special election victories. Why can’t the Green Book do the same?
Putting it online would, of course, peel away all those $19.95s that the New York City Store charges for the books. But just making money does not necessarily mean making sense. The book cannot be updated, and it cannot be easily navigated. For something that is so short-lived and fragile, perhaps the right color would be magnolia, right next to saffron in the Crayola box.
This is not to say the city should get rid of the print edition entirely. A hard copy should exist for the sake of records and history, as well as for use by the people who find that version easier to use. But when the people putting out the book are still bragging about including government offices’ URLs for its 1996-1997 edition, the need for changes to keep up with changing times could not be more clear.
Photos by Andrew Schwartz