Council bill seeks to build an API for city functions

A new bill proposed by New York’s City Council seeks to reduce paperwork and inefficiency in government functions by creating a city API on with which programs could run.

Called “Providing open application program interfaces for all government services,” the bill is the work of councilman Ben Kallos, who represents the Upper East Side and East Harlem.

According to the bill, it would “Require that information disseminated and accepted by City agencies also be transmittable through an Application Program Interface (API). It would also require the creation of a website with information on how to find and use such API’s.”

Excellent work from @BenKallos https://t.co/fesGbRJLeA

— Jonathan Askin (@jaskin) May 16, 2017

The Gotham Gazette has a good piece on the bill, where they talk to Kallos at length about what kind of changes a citywide API could bring.

“Applied across the city government, Kallos’ proposal would have broad implications for efficiency,” the Gazette writes. “It would streamline, for instance, applications for permits and licenses, much like tax preparation software helps people file their taxes easily.”