Technology Sectors
Notify New York going wide
Tue, 2009-05-19 02:59 PM
Notify New York, the year-and-a-half-old pilot program to provide the Big Apple with an emergency notification system, is being expanded citywide, starting May 28.
Residents in all five boroughs will be able to register multiple email addresses, text message accounts and phone numbers to receive Notify NYC advisories about events in up to five zip codes.
Alerts sent through Notify NYC also will be posted at www.nyc.gov and distributed to call operators at 311 and 911.
New Yorkers who participated in the four-neighborhood pilot program also will automatically receive a message on May 28 reminding them to enroll in the expanded Notify NYC. And New Yorkers who want to pre-register for Notify NYC before the May 28 expansion can do so at www.nyc.gov.
'Starting on May 28th anyone will be able to sign up for neighborhood-specific emergency alerts on their cell phone, email, or home landline,' said Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a press conference announcing the expansion. 'You can be just about anywhere and receive instantaneous information about events of concern in your community, or any other area of the City. Many New Yorkers have this technology in their pockets, and I'm glad that their government can now supply them with timely emergency information.'
Participants in Notify NYC also will receive such emergency alerts as AMBER Alerts and natural disaster notifications. Subscribers also will have the option of registering for Significant Event Notifications, which provide informational advisories about less-severe emergency events that may still cause disruptions on a localized basis, such as brush fires, extended disruptions of mass transit services and major utility outages affecting water, power and telecommunications.
The citywide program also will offer non-emergency advisories about unscheduled suspensions of alternate side parking rules and public school closures and delays. Based on feedback from subscribers in the pilot program, Notify NYC will expand to offer users additional non-emergency information services from a variety of city agencies.
Notify NYC was first launched on a limited basis in December 2007, offering participants in four pilot areas - Lower Manhattan, the Northeast Bronx, the Rockaways and Southwest Staten Island - the ability to register for alerts and notifications about significant events in their communities. During the pilot phase, more than 70 emergency notifications and alerts to over 12,800 subscribers were sent out by the Office of Emergency Management.
New York-based Send Word Now, the provider of emergency notification and on-demand alerting and response services, was among the participants in the pilot program. It will continue its participation in Notify NYC as it rolls out city-wide, the company said in a statement.
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Residents in all five boroughs will be able to register multiple email addresses, text message accounts and phone numbers to receive Notify NYC advisories about events in up to five zip codes.
Alerts sent through Notify NYC also will be posted at www.nyc.gov and distributed to call operators at 311 and 911.
New Yorkers who participated in the four-neighborhood pilot program also will automatically receive a message on May 28 reminding them to enroll in the expanded Notify NYC. And New Yorkers who want to pre-register for Notify NYC before the May 28 expansion can do so at www.nyc.gov.
'Starting on May 28th anyone will be able to sign up for neighborhood-specific emergency alerts on their cell phone, email, or home landline,' said Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a press conference announcing the expansion. 'You can be just about anywhere and receive instantaneous information about events of concern in your community, or any other area of the City. Many New Yorkers have this technology in their pockets, and I'm glad that their government can now supply them with timely emergency information.'
Participants in Notify NYC also will receive such emergency alerts as AMBER Alerts and natural disaster notifications. Subscribers also will have the option of registering for Significant Event Notifications, which provide informational advisories about less-severe emergency events that may still cause disruptions on a localized basis, such as brush fires, extended disruptions of mass transit services and major utility outages affecting water, power and telecommunications.
The citywide program also will offer non-emergency advisories about unscheduled suspensions of alternate side parking rules and public school closures and delays. Based on feedback from subscribers in the pilot program, Notify NYC will expand to offer users additional non-emergency information services from a variety of city agencies.
Notify NYC was first launched on a limited basis in December 2007, offering participants in four pilot areas - Lower Manhattan, the Northeast Bronx, the Rockaways and Southwest Staten Island - the ability to register for alerts and notifications about significant events in their communities. During the pilot phase, more than 70 emergency notifications and alerts to over 12,800 subscribers were sent out by the Office of Emergency Management.
New York-based Send Word Now, the provider of emergency notification and on-demand alerting and response services, was among the participants in the pilot program. It will continue its participation in Notify NYC as it rolls out city-wide, the company said in a statement.
