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SpatialNews.com Press Release

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“Who Represents Me?” Website Launched
Click Here To Find Out Who Represents You In New York City
Monday, May 15, 2000 -- The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) today launched a new Web-based service to enable anyone with a New
York City address to easily find and contact the public officials who represent them at all levels of government.
“No more hunting through phone books or searching for different websites to find out who represents you in New York City,” said
Chris Meyer, NYPIRG’s executive director. “Now, NYPIRG is providing ‘one-stop-shopping’ access to government at the local,
state and federal levels with our ‘Who Represents Me?’ website. This new Internet site will enable our members, other activists, the
media and any concerned citizen to easily find and contact their representatives on the environmental, consumer, good government
and transit issues that NYPIRG works on.”
Meyer noted that the new service will be especially valuable this year due to the heightened interest in politics in New York. This
November, New Yorkers will vote for President, a U.S. Senator, and all 211 seats in the State Legislature.
Here’s how the service works: connect to the Internet, type in
http://www.nypirg.org, click the “Who Represents You” image, and
enter your New York City street address. NYPIRG’s website does the rest. It lists all the legislative and executive representatives
for that address – from City Council to State Legislature to Congress (as well as Borough President, Mayor, Governor and
President) – and provides local contact information for each one. The list includes an email link for each official (if one exists) so you
can send an email immediately to the representative of your choice.
The “Who Represents Me?” service is simple and unique: NYPIRG has developed a service that no government agency or
commercial entity provides in New York, in which a web user can visit just one website to find out who represents them at all levels
of government.
The website also highlights the organization’s dynamic mapping capabilities, provided by NYPIRG’s Community Mapping
Assistance Project (CMAP). Clicking on the “Map” link next to each legislator will bring you to one of CMAP’s “District Finder”
sites, where you’ll see interactive maps for City Council, State Senate, State Assembly and Congress for anywhere in New York
City.
“The ‘Who Represents Me?’ service can be customized by CMAP for other organizations who need to provide specific government
information to their members,” noted Steven Romalewski, CMAP’s director.” “We can develop a customized web-based mapping
service for any nonprofit group working on policy reform issues in New York City, so they can also provide this essential
information to their constituencies. Our fees are affordable and our maps are powerful.”
“Who Represents Me?” is an expansion of the CouncilFinder website that NYPIRG’s CMAP developed last year. CouncilFinder
went online in July 1999, and has since been accessed more than 25,000 times (an average of 2,500 hits per month). The New
York City Council itself has added a link to CouncilFinder at their official website. You can go to www.council.nyc.ny.us, click on
any borough name on the Council’s homepage, and see a link to “NYPIRG’s CouncilFinder” above the list of Council members for
that borough.
More information on CMAP’s services can be found at their website (http://www.cmap.nypirg.org), or by clicking on the Community
Mapping Assistance Project link at NYPIRG’s home page (
http://www.nypirg.org).
NYPIRG plans to expand its “Who Represents Me” service to other parts of the state and eventually statewide.
CMAP is a project of the New York Public Interest Research Group Fund, Inc. (NYPIRG). NYPIRG seeks to empower, train and educate community
members and students through organizing and advocacy efforts in order to solve significant problems affecting the health, environment, democratic
institutions and quality of life for New York State’s residents. CMAP is the latest service project launched by NYPIRG to provide technical
assistance to the non-profit community. NYPIRG is providing interactive mapping services with CMAP’s website due to the support of the
Rockefeller Family Fund, the Consumer Federation of America, several individuals, and in-kind hardware and software support provided through
Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), Hewlett Packard and Showcase New York. “Who Represents Me?” was developed using
ESRI’s MapObjects Internet Map Server software, generously provided by ESRI’s Conservation Program.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Chris Meyer or Steven Romalewski
212) 349-6460
ypirg@nypirg.org
www.nypirg.org
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