Privacy Policy
What we collect, what we don't, the cookies that pay for the site, and how to turn them off. Written to be read, not to hide behind.
CityOfNewYork.co ("we," "us") is an independent, unofficial guide to New York City. This policy explains what information the site collects when you use it, why, and the controls you have. We keep it plain: if a practice isn't described here, we don't do it.
1. What we collect
Information you give us
- Contact form: your name, email address, an optional subject, and your message — stored so we can read and reply.
- Newsletter: your email address (and an optional name), stored so we can send the digest you asked for. Unsubscribe any time.
We also record the IP address a contact form is submitted from, purely as a spam- and abuse-control measure. We don't build profiles from it.
Information collected automatically
Like almost every website, our host and our analytics record standard technical details of each visit: browser and device type, approximate location inferred from your IP, the pages you view, and the site that referred you. This is used in aggregate to understand what's useful and to keep the site working — not to identify you personally.
Stored on your own device
Two things live in your browser's local storage and are never sent to us: any pages you "favorite," and your cookie-consent choice (saved under the key cony-consent so we don't ask again on every visit). Clearing your browser storage removes both.
2. Cookies & analytics
We use Google Analytics 4 to measure traffic — which pages get read, roughly where visitors come from, how the site performs. Google Analytics sets cookies to do this. We've configured it with Google Consent Mode (see section 4), so in regions that require opt-in, no analytics cookie is set until you agree.
Beyond analytics, the only cookies we set ourselves are the essential ones needed for the site to function and to remember your consent choice.
3. Advertising
This site is supported by advertising served through Google AdSense. A few things you should know about how that works, in Google's own terms:
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other sites across the web.
- Google's use of advertising cookies (including the DoubleClick cookie) enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this and/or other sites on the internet.
- You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized ads at aboutads.info/choices.
Google explains its role and the data it processes for sites like ours here: How Google uses information from sites that use its services. In regions that require consent, ad-personalization cookies are held until you opt in (section 4).
4. Consent
We use Google Consent Mode v2. For visitors in the EEA, the UK, and Switzerland, analytics and advertising storage default to denied — nothing non-essential is set until you accept it on the cookie banner. Everywhere else, storage defaults to granted with the same banner offering a one-click way to decline. Your choice is remembered on your device and you can change it any time by clearing the cony-consent value in your browser.
5. Other services we call
To show live, useful information, the site fetches data from a handful of public and third-party sources. We pass their data through; we don't sell yours to them.
- National Weather Service — weather (public, keyless).
- MTA and Citi Bike (GBFS) — live transit and bike-share status (public feeds).
- Ticketmaster — event listings. See the Ticketmaster Privacy Policy.
- OpenStreetMap / Overpass and Wikipedia — place and venue reference data (open data).
6. Your choices & rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
- ask what personal information we hold about you and get a copy;
- have it corrected or deleted;
- opt out of the newsletter (every email has an unsubscribe link);
- decline or withdraw consent for analytics and advertising cookies at any time.
To make any of these requests, contact us and we'll handle it.
7. Children
The site isn't directed at children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, tell us and we'll delete it.
8. Changes & contact
If this policy changes materially, we'll update the page and the "last updated" date above. Questions about any of it? Get in touch.
The short version. We run analytics and Google ads to keep the lights on, we tell you exactly which cookies that involves, and we give you a one-click way to say no. We don't sell your data. Updated July 2026.