Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced that NYC.gov – New York City’s official Web site – has undergone a major overhaul, including a new design that will make finding information and online services easier.  New features include: My Neighborhood – an interactive mapping tool that allows any New Yorker to find what City services are located near them; News from the Blue Room – a page that includes the Mayor’s press releases, speeches, and video and audio content; and NYC Right Now – an area on the front page that scrolls current information from the 311 Citizen Service Center.

“The redesigned NYC.gov Web site will make interacting with New York City government even easier, and with the My Neighborhood interactive map, New Yorkers can finally find all the City services in their neighborhood,” said Mayor Bloomberg.  “My administration has made implementing technology into local government a priority.  From improving the City’s Web site to building the 311 Citizen Service Center, New Yorkers can expect easier access and better service from their local government.”

“The new NYC.gov takes an important step forward in providing timely news and online tools to all New Yorkers,” said DoITT Commissioner Gino Menchini.  “With this redesign, we’ve added functionality and information making it easier for New Yorkers to find the information they need.”

The My Neighborhood interactive map is an application that gives every New Yorker quick and easy access to information about City services and facilities near a specified location.  To access the interactive map, New Yorkers need to enter a street address or intersection and pick a borough.  Once all the information is entered, the My Neighborhood interactive map will identify many City services and facilities located near the location, and provide basic information about the facility along with a hyperlink to more detailed information.  My Neighborhood has information on education facilities, elected officials, health care providers, police precincts, firehouses, parks, recreation centers, transportation, and resident services in your area.

My Neighborhood gets information from 23 different City agencies and groups including: Administration for Children’s Services, Board of Elections, Brooklyn Public Library, City Planning, City University of New York, Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, Department of Cultural Affairs, Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Department of Sanitation, Department for the Aging, Greater New York Hospital Association, Health and Hospitals Corporation, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Community Assistance Unit, New York City Transit, New York Fire Department, New York Police Department, New York Public Library, New York City Council, Parks and Recreation, Queens Public Library.

Some of the other new features of NYC.gov include:

• NYC Right Now.  NYC.gov now provides important news and information from the 311 Citizen Service Center on the front page.  You can find out about alternate side parking rules, traffic alerts, and other important information that is being updated every day.
  
  
• NYC.gov Highlights.  NYC.gov Highlights will feature new highlights on NYC.gov each day.  These will be online tools and interesting content that New Yorkers may not otherwise know is on the City’s Web site.
  
  
• Current News. NYC.gov now combines all of the Mayor’s content into one easy to read page.  All future speeches, press releases, video and radio show archives of Mayor Bloomberg can now be found at the News from the Blue Room page.
  
  
•  Easier Registration Process.  The redesigned NYC.gov makes it easier to register for NYC.gov newsletters.  Anyone can signup for received newsletters by visiting www.nyc.gov and clicking on “Email Updates.”  Users can choose to receive emails in html or plain text.
  
  
• Photo Gallery.  The best photos of Mayor Bloomberg will be posted on the NYC.gov photo gallery.  In addition, NYC.gov also features a photo wire, where anyone can download high-resolution pictures free of charge.  The photo gallery pictures can be found at www.nyc.gov/photogallery and the photo wire pictures can be found at www.nyc.gov/photowire.

NYC.gov has over 47,000 pages of content on it and received over 2.4 million visitors in March who viewed 34 million pages of content.  NYC.gov has also been the winner of numerous awards over the past few years, including: the DCI Third Annual Portal Excellence Award, the E-Gov 2002 Pioneer Award, the Stockholm Challenge 2002, the 2001 National Best of the Web Competition, and the 2001 Government Site of the Year Award.