A New Way to Prove Your Identity
Being a New Yorker has always been about more than just a zip code. It’s about grit, attitude, and whether you can handle the subway at rush hour. But now, a new group wants to take that identity out of your hands and put it into a government-style agency.
The Department of New Yorker Verification (DNYV) is officially open for business. This isn’t your typical City Hall department, but it’s certainly trying to look the part. The site is designed to look so much like an official government portal that it’s already raising eyebrows in the legal community.
The Agency’s Mission
According to reporting from Gothamist, the DNYV was created by Franz Aliquo, an artist and creative director from Roosevelt Island. Aliquo built the site this summer to settle the endless debates about who actually belongs in this city. He says the group “exists to answer, on the record, and by evidence, a question the city has argued about for 400 years. What makes a New Yorker? Residence is an address. The title is earned.”
The idea was sparked by the gatekeeping habits of locals and a viral video featuring Jennifer Lopez. In a June Subway Takes clip, Lopez claimed, “You have to be born in New York to be a New Yorker.” Aliquo says he wanted an agency to settle the “different theories” regarding residency. He even noted that if people start using the service, they are essentially “giving me their power” to make the final call.
The website’s design is so realistic it has already caught the attention of the Brooklyn DA’s office. Gothamist reports that a rackets investigator found the site’s look to be “potentially problematic.” The investigator even told Aliquo that his work was “a little shady” and suggested he “change some stuff.”
The Take
Look, we all love a good bit, but this is classic New York chaos. We’ve got a guy building a fake government agency just to troll the people who act like they own the five boroughs. It’s funny, sure, but it also highlights how much we struggle with our own identity. We’re a city of immigrants, transplants, and people who moved here for the food, yet we still act like a birth certificate is the only thing that matters.
I love the sarcasm. The idea that we need a formal application process to prove we aren’t from Los Angeles or Connecticut is hilarious. But there’s a real danger here when “official” looking websites start popping up that aren’t actually part of the city government. As the reporting points out, “Actual Official websites use nyc.gov.” When people can’t tell the difference between a prank and a real city agency, we’re in trouble.
We’ve got enough real problems in this city without having to worry if our “New Yorker” status is being verified by a guy in Bayside with a clever website. If you want to know if you’re a New Yorker, just look at your subway card or your rent receipt. You don’t need a permit from a fake department to claim the streets you live on. Let’s leave the bureaucracy to the actual City Hall, even if they’re doing a terrible job lately.
