Jennifer Gutiérrez wants to resurrect the Internet Master Plan

New York City Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez chairs the Committee on Technology, where she’s taken the lead on a proposal to revive the Internet Master Plan, which would work out a long-term roadmap to provide affordable internet access to all New Yorkers. 

The original Internet Master Plan was introduced during the de Blasio administration, but Mayor Eric Adams wanted to take a different route. First, his administration claimed the plan was on hold due to the pandemic. Then it was eventually revealed that they killed the proposal in favor of a narrower internet access plan. Adams’ Big Apple Connect program is restricted only to NYCHA residents, and Gutiérrez is concerned about the long-term sustainability of the plan, claiming that the Internet Master Plan would instead cement web access for years to come. Her bill would establish an internet advisory board to review the previous de Blasio plan and figure out how to update and implement it.

"Mayor Adams and our administration believe that affordable internet access is a human right, which is why – through initiatives such as Big Apple Connect and through the creation of more than 450 public computer centers – we have provided free high-speed internet to more residents than any other city in the nation,” an Adams spokesperson said in a statement.

The lefty council member was elected in 2021 to represent the 34th district in Brooklyn as the first Colombian American member of the New York City Council. That isn’t the only successful campaign she’s been a part of though, she both managed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso’s City Council campaign and worked as his chief of staff during his tenure.

The Adams administration’s “City of Yes” zoning reform proposal has been top of mind for the council lately, and the north Brooklyn representative shared how her communities have led the pack in new housing developments over the past few decades. She noted that her constituents in Williamsburg feel like the neighborhood looks nothing like it did in the past. 

City & State spoke with Gutiérrez about why she’s resurrecting the internet initiative, negotiating on “City of Yes” and being a new mom all over again. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

So you’re the chair of the Committee on Technology, what’s been going on in that committee? 

It’s a small committee, there are five members including myself. We've been working really hard on the typical areas under our purview. So 311, Link NYC, now the MyCity portal, and we’ve been working hard with the city to craft a vision for an Internet Master Plan. We also hosted the council's first ever hearing on blockchain technology. We want to make sure that we're exploring, but we're also being very communicative and being responsible and empowering New Yorkers to know what our possibilities are. There's a ton of tech growth in New York City. And the number one thing that I hear from folks that either come and testify in my district is like, we know the growth is happening all around us, and some people are benefiting, but we're here. We would love to benefit. We would love to be involved. We would love to secure job opportunities and pathways for our young people here, or people changing career paths. We've also spent some time working with other committees, like the Education Committee for example, on the use of AI in our schools. We also look to cover the topic around universal broadband very soon, which is really exciting.

I read that you wanted to revive the Internet Master Plan, can you tell me about that too? Has anyone else signed onto it? Is the mayor against it?

We’ve got 14 sign-ons, but the idea is not new. Most cities in the last decade or so have moved toward these master plans in different areas to start thinking about long term planning, which is something that our city can benefit from. There are challenges in having a different administration every four to eight years, right? And so master plans really help cement the vision, values and benchmarks. It's not to say that a new administration can't make an edit, but it really sets a path and sets a tone for what kind of city we're trying to be. With this new administration, obviously the pandemic happened and a lot was stalled. Then the administration decided to permanently table the recommendations in that plan. I was just curious about whether there was nothing for us that this new administration could gain from this body of work of many pages, of many years of research, and if this administration could incorporate any of it and the general response was like, the pandemic happened and it changed everything. 

Then in September of 2022 they announced the Big Apple Connect Program, which was a program to provide low-cost, if not free, internet service to residents of public housing. We were really excited to have something that was going to connect people, but we were also thrown off and wondering why they didn’t want to work with the existing program. And it just became clear that it was something that the mayor really wanted to own and celebrate on his own. So we kept a very watchful eye on how it would continue to grow. I wanted to see it succeed, but I said multiple times that I just don't feel confident that there is a real long-term plan. Introducing the Internet Master Plan would make it less about one plan and more about the entire city. It's not just about connecting and giving a device. It's about ensuring that they're benefiting from it.  People have very valid opinions around how they feel really vulnerable to these internet prices and companies. In a city where it costs so much to live and survive, the internet is not a luxury, it's a necessity. 

What’s “City of Yes” been like for you?

It’s been a lot of communication. I think that we've got some amazing folks on our community boards and just advocates that are 100% on board with the fact that there is a housing crisis and that the solution is not sitting on our hands, right, there's a desperate need for housing, particularly deeply affordable housing and housing for families, and I think it's kind of a starting place. The conversations were, in general, especially with Bushwick and Williamsburg community boards, pretty positive, but then the reality is that those two communities in particular have been doing so much of the heavy lifting of the housing in the last 25 to 30 years. Williamsburg looks completely different, the waterfront looks completely different. With Bushwick, so much of it has already been developed in a way that looks unrecognizable to folks. The percentage of people from the community that were able to live in those developments is very small. A lot of our families have been displaced, so there is a sentiment of, like, we've done our part. I think the mayor’s stance is like, a little bit of housing everywhere. It's like, yeah, but there are ways to be bolder and more creative. Housing doesn't have to look one particular way for every district, for every neighborhood. 

Have you come out to support anyone for mayor yet?

I have not, I'm holding off. I think I'm excited about some folks, but I feel like so much changed with this November election as well. With any election you want to see who are the people that are going to be the most serious and that are going to be able to inspire people to come out and vote. So I'm holding off, but I'm definitely watching and I've got a couple of folks that I'm really enthusiastically following to see where it lands.

So you’re having your second child. Tell me about how motherhood affects you and your work. 

It’s a walk in the park. Just kidding! I'm excited, my husband and I are really looking forward to it. I have a daughter and so we’re trying to figure out what is the best way to not ruin her mental health by bringing in a new baby, but I’m excited. It's been a really exciting journey. It's a very different pregnancy than my first pregnancy. When I was pregnant the first time I was campaigning, and now I'm pregnant and more of the community knows me, so they've been so excited for me. I think there will be five new babies by the end of 2024 at the council. I don't know if that’s ever been done before. I think for electeds it's really tough to just completely sign off for an extended period of time. It's not realistic. So for me it'll be kind of a hybrid situation after the four- or six-week mark, so that folks know I’m available and present, and that I still very much want this job.