A useful further analysis would look at how the loss of local institutions — such as neighborhood businesses, newspapers, union locals, etc. — perhaps also fueled this. Locally owned businesses correlate with higher levels of civic engagement and collective efficacy.

The question isn’t "why does Signal use AWS?" It’s to look at the infrastructural requirements of any global, real-time, mass comms platform and ask how it is that we got to a place where there’s no realistic alternative to AWS and the other hyperscalers. 3/

Wow! Thank you, Matt. And we could sure use that financial support: ilsr.org/donate/

11. Read ILSR’s full memo to Mayor-elect Mamdani and his transition team:

10. Across every sector, the objective is the same: Shift power away from corporate gatekeepers. Rebuild local and community-controlled systems. Make NYC work for the people who live and work in the city.

9. Waste & composting: Counter the power of big waste companies. Retore funding to the NYC Community Composting Network. Stop sending city-collected food scraps to wastewater treatment plants; they should be composted. Pass a bill to ensure composting capacity in every borough.

8. Small businesses: NYC should enact commercial tenant protections. Help small businesses buy their spaces. Prioritize local firms in city procurement. And build a public e-commerce platform for local businesses — so Amazon isn’t the only game in town.

7. Pharmacies: The Big Three PBMs are systematically killing independent pharmacies. NYC should drop its contract with Express Scripts and opt for a contract with a smaller PBM or administer benefits directly, as some states are doing.

6. Banking: NYC deposits billions with megabanks that fail local communities. The city should invest in community banks. Support small business lending. And develop a public bank.

5. Internet: Broadband is basic infrastructure. To make it affordable, revive NYC’s Internet Master Plan. Deploy city-owned fiber to public housing. Help promote & enforce the state’s new Affordable Broadband Act. And direct city broadband contracts to small local ISPs.

4. Groceries: City-owned stores (and local grocers) will struggle unless we stop supplier price discrimination. The city should back the state’s grocery pricing fairness bill (from @MicahLasher) to stop big chains from working with suppliers to push up prices to local retailers.

3. Energy: Intervene in state-level utility regulatory proceedings to break the grip of private utility monopolies. Implement community choice aggregation. Streamline solar permitting. And build city-owned clean energy projects.

2. When communities have control over the services of everyday life, they gain practical benefits — lower costs, better services — and a deeper sense of meaning, connection, and freedom. Our agenda seeks to expand local businesses, public options, and neighborhood initiatives.

You can find the full investigation — plus our guide to how to tell if your local government is being hoodwinked by Amazon, and what to do about it — here: