Will My Cell Phone Work at Inauguration?

Will My Cell Phone Work at Inauguration?

TheRoot.com

Updated: 3:13 PM ET Jan 7, 2009

Jan. 8, 2009–OK, so it’s Inauguration Day and you’re standing back 10 rows deep along the parade route. You’ve lost your family members who stopped somewhere a block or so away. You’re supposed to meet up with friends afterward for a celebratory toast, but you haven’t spotted them anywhere. And you’ve managed to grab some cool pictures and video that you are itching to send home to friends to prove that “you were there!” Is your cell phone going to work? 

Maybe not.

Cell phones are essentially radios and require transmitters to carry the signal. Different from walkie-talkies or CB radios, cell phones are full-duplex devices, which work on two radio frequencies simultaneously: one for talking and one for listening. In order for cell phones to—well, be cell phones—the device is linked to a carrier, which operates thousands of towers. These carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, etc.) divide cities into hexagonal grids of about 10 square miles each, and each cell contains one tower with radio equipment. In normal operation, this grid system works well and allows cell-phone users to travel across cells and maintain a connection.

On Inauguration Day, however, millions of people will be crammed into a very small space, with a limited number of cells. The grid system simply cannot support such an imbalance. The nation’s cell-phone carriers are working to mitigate the expected high volume of simultaneous cell-phone users. The companies are expanding their capacity and providing additional technical support. But service will likely be unpredictable.

AT&T is planning to increase its 2G and 3G networks by 69 percent and 80 percent, respectively, along the parade route and surrounding areas. To do this, it will bring in six mobile cell sites carried on trucks, which will mitigate the strain on existing cells in the area. The company will also increase staffing by 60 percent on Inauguration Day to provide additional support.

Sprint Nextel will provide additional support to both its regular and its walkie-talkie services. It will boost its regular service by 40 percent and plans to nearly double its walkie-talkie service. This service is popular among emergency first responders and has proven successful in the past (Sept. 11, political conventions and after Hurricane Katrina) when other communication methods failed. Sprint Nextel has also made provisions so that emergency responders will have first priority on all of their networks.

Verizon Wireless is the only carrier that provides service in the Washington Metrorail system. This capacity will also be increased. 

CTIA, the international association for wireless telecommunications, has been working with the nation’s major carriers and the Presidential Inauguration Committee for months. But, there is only so much that they can do. So if you want to reduce stress on the systems and increase your chances for successful communication, text more and call less. Simply, text messages take up less bandwidth. On the backed-up communication channels, text messages are the bobbing and weaving motorcycles whereas phone calls are cars stuck in traffic. And wait to send your pictures and video until everything is over. You might even consider going back to ancient, pre-cell-phone methods of coordinating activities. Set up meeting times and places for the day in advance so that you really only need your phone in case of emergency.

The Root Explainer would like to thank CTIA, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint Nextel.

Matthew McKnight is a graduate student at Georgetown University and a writer for The Root .

Got a question about the news? Ask The Root Explainer.

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URL: http://www.theroot.com/id/49394

Less Money, Less Problems

Voletta Wallace and CJ Wallace ring the bell on Wall Street earlier today.

It’s been over a year since the casting took place for the Notorious B.I.G. movie, aptly called Notorious (much of it was filmed in Biggie’s home borough of Brooklyn), and now the biopic is about to hit the big screen. Rolling Stone has the details on the soundtrack, and you can catch the movie yourself in theaters starting January 16th (the New York premiere was last night). Watch the trailer after the jump (listen up for this quote: “What kind of grown-ass man calls himself Puffy?”).

The actor playing the rapper, Jamal “Gravy” Woolard, told the magazine after the screening: “I just wanted to read Ms. Wallace’s face. She was taking her glasses off, with a tissue and wiping her eyes. I felt like I won my victory, because I wanted her to feel like her son was next to her. And we hugged. We didn’t have to say anymore after that.” Earlier today Biggie’s mom, Voletta, and son CJ were out helping churn the PR machine and ring the opening bell on Wall Street (pictured).

NYC aims to compete with Vegas as wedding hot spot

newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nywed0108,0,5326873.story

Newsday.com

NYC aims to compete with Vegas as wedding hot spot

Bloomberg gave City Hall’s famously gritty marriage bureau a gleaming makeover

The Associated Press

5:30 PM EST, January 7, 2009

Watch out Las Vegas: New York City wants to become the new No. 1 place to tie the knot.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has given City Hall’s famously gritty marriage bureau a gleaming makeover, with fewer lines, more space to take photographs, video screens to monitor wait times and wedding chapels with gauzy curtains and walls painted in muted tones.

And in case the newlyweds-to-be forget any essentials, the space features a small shop that sells fresh flowers, disposable cameras, tissues, hairspray and sparkly fake diamond rings for $9 each.

The sleek 24,000-square-foot space opens officially on Monday, replacing a grubby, cramped, poorly lit office staffed with crabby workers. It is designed to put some glamour into City Hall weddings while bringing more tourism dollars to the city.

“We want to be the wedding destination of the world,” said Deputy Mayor Patti Harris. In 2008, the city issued nearly 70,000 marriage licenses, and is set on competing with places like Las Vegas, which tops the list.

There may be an opening now, though, as business appears to be dropping there.

Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, issued 95,888 licenses in 2008 — its lowest number in 15 years, according to figures provided by a county spokesman.

Couples seeking to say their vows before the city clerk in New York will now do so in an ornate lower Manhattan building that dates to 1929, and still retains some of its original features like grandiose columns and marble floors.

Before its nuptial makeover, the space had been used for various government activities, including a Department of Motor Vehicles and some federal operations after the Sept. 11 attack.

Construction on the overhaul began in 2006. Officials overseeing the $12.3 million project even brought in Bloomberg’s favorite decorator, Jamie Drake, who worked on his Upper East Side town house.

The result is a gleaming ground-level space with soft lighting, cushioned seating and computerized kiosks for online application processing. There are also large restrooms with vanities and full-length mirrors, giving brides more room to get ready for the big moment. Couples can also bring iPods to play their own music during ceremonies.

The Bloomberg administration, always searching for new ways to market the city to tourists around the world, has plans to advertise its marriage bureau as a way to attract more visitors. It is also working with local hotels and other attractions to create special wedding packages for couples.

New York state law requires brides and grooms to wait 24 hours after getting a marriage license before they can have the ceremony.

Those from out of the country need only to have valid passports, according to the city clerk. Marriage licenses cost $35, and there is a $25 fee to hold a ceremony at the new facility, although the city says those amounts might go up.

Officials gave the media a preview of the new space on Wednesday, and kicked off the launch with the wedding of a Queens couple, Carlos Sanchez and Jennifer Avila.

Afterward, the newlyweds said the marriage bureau makeover gave them a romantic setting for their wedding — a major improvement from the old digs.

“It’s not comparable,” Avila said. “This place is beautiful.”

Looking Back at the Bronx Zoo’s “Human Exhibit”

Sure, the Bronx Zoo may be filled with cute and cuddly animals now, but in September 1906 there was a questionable inhabitant amongst them. Ephemeral NY looks back at the “Congolese pygmy named Ota Benga—who had been living in the Museum of Natural History” before moving into the Bronx Zoo’s Monkey House, where he was given a bow and arrow and “was free to come and go on zoo grounds.” Ota Benga wasn’t a paid employee, rather an exhibit, and the NY Times noted at the time that “Even those who laughed the most turned away with an expression on their faces such as one sees after a play with a sad ending or a book in which the hero or heroine is poorly rewarded. ‘Something about it that I don’t like’ was the way one man put it.” The exhibit only lasted a few weeks, and ten years later Ota Benga shot himself while living in Virginia. To this day a life mask and body cast of Ota Benga resides at the Museum of Natural History, but it’s simply labeled “pygmy.”

COURTESY OF THE GOTHAMIST

COPS LOOSEN UP ON PETTY CRIME

 

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Last updated: 4:20 am
January 8, 2009
Posted: 3:04 am
January 8, 2009

SOME petty crime is apparently too petty for the NYPD.

The department is edging away from a highly successful model of attacking all minor offenses to focus more on major crimes and counterterrorism, insiders told The Post.

The deviation has caused a dramatic dip in petty busts, with tens of thousands fewer summonses issued, NYPD sources said.

Cops issued 6 percent fewer summonses for speeding, running red lights and other moving violations in 2008 compared to 2007, and 7.1 percent fewer summonses for misdemeanors like drinking in public, loitering and public urination.

The decline highlights the department’s struggle to maintain the “broken windows” theory of crime prevention – that fixing problems such as a broken window right away will prevent bigger problems later.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani modeled his “zero tolerance” policy in part on that theory, leading to widespread reductions in minor and major crimes.

The broken-windows theory helped bring about the NYPD’s CompStat program, the city’s crime analysis and accountability system. CompStat keeps track of crime in each neighborhood – and puts each commanding officer’s feet to the fire.

Until last year, the NYPD assigned a handful of cops in each precinct to be “summons officers,” who focused on minor infractions like drivers blowing red lights, speeding and illegally parking, a high-ranking NYPD officer said.

“That was abandoned,” the officer said. “The theory is that they spread the work out to everybody.”

Some police brass point out that suspects involved in major crimes often are caught through minor arrests.

“Some great arrests were made on car stops,” said another knowledgeable police source, one of many cops who believe the strategy shift could be damaging.

The department insists there is no deviation in its commitment to going after quality-of-life offenders and errant motorists.

“Tickets are issued when they are observed,” said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. “What is observed can fluctuate from year to year.”

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said the NYPD is trying to do more with fewer officers. There were 35,959 cops in 2008, up slightly from 35,907 in 2007. But the force has shrunk by 10 percent since the 2001 peak of 40,800.

Budget woes have already led Mayor Bloomberg to cancel a class of 1,000 cadets who were to begin training this month.

The new policy that eliminated summons officers may have the unforeseen effect of leaving nobody accountable for minor offenses, the high-ranking NYPD officer said.

“It’s great in theory, but the numbers are signaling a different story,” the officer added.

In 2008, cops handed out 61,589 fewer tickets to motorists for such moving violations as blowing through red lights or speeding – a drop of 169 summonses a day.

They also issued 38,372 fewer criminal summonses – an average 105 fewer each day – for petty offenses like urinating or drinking in public, trespassing and disorderly conduct.

Maki Haberfeld, a police-science professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said cops won’t pay attention to petty crime unless they’re specifically ordered to do so.

“Nobody wants to become a police officer to deal with minor traffic violations or issue summonses to people urinating in public,” Haberfeld said.

If the NYPD wants to focus on minor offenses, Haberfeld said, officers should be assigned to zero in on them – maybe for short periods at a time.

Cops issued nearly twice as many summonses for traffic violations than for minor non-traffic crimes, NYPD data shows – with 969,921 tickets for moving violations last year, compared to 501,143 tickets for petty crimes.

Despite the reduction in summonses for minor offenses, overall crime declined last year for the 18th consecutive year, although murders and robberies were up.

murray.weiss@nypost.com

Arbitron Settles Lawsuit Alleging Bias in Radio Ratings System

By BRIAN STELTER

Arbitron, the radio ratings company, will overhaul a new measurement system for radio stations under a settlement announced Wednesday with the New York and New Jersey attorney general’s offices.

The agreement settles a three-month-old lawsuit by the states, after accusations that Arbitron’s new ratings system did not adequately account for young black and Hispanic residents, people who do not speak English, and cellphone-only households.

Owners of minority-oriented radio stations had asserted that Arbitron’s estimates of their audience size dropped significantly when the new system, called portable people meters, were introduced in New York, Philadelphia and surrounding regions. A coalition of minority radio broadcasters said that the lower ratings would “disenfranchise minority communities and have a devastating impact on small businesses.”

To measure ratings for radio stations, Arbitron recruits a panel of individuals to record their radio listening habits. Arbitron has sought to replace the old diary system with a small device that electronically records the frequencies of stations. Arbitron has said the ratings are more reliable because they do not rely on the memories of participants. People tend to listen to more radio stations than they remember, causing the total audience to be more fragmented. But minority stations have claimed that they are undercounted in the new system, in part because Arbitron has struggled to include representative numbers of young and minority listeners in its sample.

Under the agreement with the states, Arbitron is required to “substantially improve” the methodology for the people meters, the office of the New York attorney general Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement.

In addition, Arbitron will pay $260,000 to New York and $130,000 to New Jersey to resolve the suit, pay $100,000 to a trade group associated with minority radio stations, and pay for an advertising campaign supporting minority radio.

“With this lawsuit, we sought to address the misrepresentation of a flawed product in the marketplace and its impact on the communities that need the most protection,” Mr. Cuomo said in a press release. “This agreement ensures that Arbitron will fairly measure radio listenership in New York and fairly represent New York’s diverse radio market.”

In a statement, the N.A.A.C.P. president, Benjamin T. Jealous, commended Mr. Cuomo for “fighting against unfairness and discrimination in the radio marketplace.” Several companies that own urban radio stations also said they welcomed Mr. Cuomo’s actions.

Arbitron said the changes would be made “within the framework of our continuous improvement program” for the people meters.

COURTESY OF THE NY TIMES

 

 

Council Mandates Reporting of Race in Police Shootings

Council Mandates Reporting of Race in Police Shootings – NYTimes.com

Council Mandates Reporting of Race in Police Shootings

By AL BAKER
Published: January 7, 2009

The New York City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to require the Police Department to file annual reports about the use of deadly force by officers, including the race, gender and age of the people who were shot. [CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE]