Can New York City really support an army of an estimated 8,300 “expediters” who run paperwork around to city offices, wait in line, haggle with officials, and generally navigate the bureaucracy on behalf of those who need permits, licenses and other municipal decisions? It’s a testimony to the dysfunction of the city’s governance [Kanner, Renn/Urbanophile]
5 Comments
I use one of them, an office run out of Rockefeller Center. However, not for City functions. I use them for renewing my passport (Federal) and non-Driver License (State). The DMV is where you go if you have led a bad life.
Bob
If you do not use an expediter with the NYC Building Dept., you will kill a full day and not accomplish your task. The expediters know how to covertly distribute the bribes to grease the skids of the bureaucracy.
Didn’t Swift call them “flappers” ?
Our current system is full of people who do similar (unproductive) jobs: Tax accountants and lawyers, Financial Planners, Lobbyists, ad nauseum.
There are entire industries dedicated to analysing and interpreting the ‘fine print’ of government regulations.
What is amazing is that the system can support these leeches without collapsing.
Expediters are very common in third world countries with corrupt governments. Just sayin’.