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IDNYC, that awesome service provided by the municipal government that allows all New Yorkers to sign up for a totally free ID card that grants admission to 40 city-wide cultural institutions, has been massively successful since its January launch. More than 670,000 New Yorkers from wide-ranging backgrounds—not just the homeless, elderly and undocumented immigrants that the program was originally conceived for—signed up in 2015, and the city even extended the signup deadline an entire year, from this December 31 to next (so definitely go enroll now, procrastinators!). That’s good news all around, but the downtown set will be especially excited to hear that signup for the all-access pass will be even easier with the opening, next week, of a temporary Alphabet City enrollment site.
From January 4 through the 15th, Lower East Side residents won’t have to travel far to request their ID cards: a pop-up site will operate out of the Henry Street Settlement/Job Plus Center at 24 Avenue D, near East 3rd Street. So if you live in the area—or plan on stopping by for a New Year cleanse meal at Superiority Burger, perhaps—now’s the time to act. You’ll still have to make an appointment online; then, when you arrive at Henry Street—or any of the 27 other enrollment offices scattered throughout the five boroughs—you’ll fill out some paperwork and have your photo taken. Then, in about two weeks, you’ll receive your brand-spanking new card in the mail.
Next month is a time ripe with resolutions, and for many city-dwellers, those include plans to get out and take in more of our teeming metropolis’ unparalleled art, theater and music—and the municipal id card makes those goals more attainable than ever. So log on and sign up now! (Or, you know, wait until next December to do so...it’s really your call.)