New York Initiative

For other uses of New York, see New York (disambiguation)

For other uses of Initiative, see Initiative (disambiguation)

New York Initiative (NYI)
Seal of the New York Initiative
Team Statistics
Group	New York Initiative
Category	Public Service
Headquarters	[[Location::NYC, NY, USA]] 39° 12' 50.01" N, 79° 38' 13.60" W
Status	Active
Team Activity
Leader	Spectre
Members	---Former Members--- Battlestar, Blind-Side, Dark Guardian, Dead End, Doc Advencha, Jack Zero (co-founder), Lock, Lucid, Samaritan Prime, Shade, Short Cut, Snipe, Spyder, The Thre3, TSAF, Zimmer (co-founder)
Allies	The Initiative Collective
Foes	Apathy
Actions	Fundraising, homeless outreach, safety patrol

The New York Initiative (NYI) is a group of Real Life Superheroes in New York City. They are the founding branch of The Initiative Collective. They became infamous for their unconventional approach to fighting crime and apathy, and for not employing superhero-style identities while working with the public. NYI co-founder Zero, in particular, continually eschewed the term "superhero," preferring instead "extreme altruist", or "X-Alt" for short.

Despite being initially denounced by members of both the RLSH community and law enforcement, many of the NYI's tactics have gone on to be utilized by similarly-minded individuals and groups worldwide.

History

The Beginning

Founded on October 3, 2009, the original incarnation of the NYI was formed as a collaborative effort by Zero (PA), Zimmer (TX), Lucid (PA), and TSAF (Detroit, MI), who all relocated to New York for the express purpose of combating violent crime there. This lineup of the NYI was featured in the Documentary "Superheroes" by Michael Barnett, which premiered in January of 2011 at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

In this film, the group revealed their use of "bait patrols" to entice the the homophobic and criminally-minded to reveal themselves by harassing an undercover NYI member (often Zimmer) - a tactic denounced by at least one NYPD detective as "entrapment."

Branching Out

Finding like-minded members around the country, the NYI opened up its first satellite branch in Virginia in June of 2011, overseen by Ira Ui'Raghallaigh ("O'Reilly") and Deaths Head Moth. This also began the practice of abbreviating each new branch by using each's state abbreviation, followed by "I".

In August of the same year, Zero offered another branch to established RLSH NightBug and Rock N Roll in Northern California, thus activating the third NYI offshoot: The California Initiative: San Francisco, and creating what would come to be known as The Initiative Collective. The CAI's use of superhero-style gimmicks would drive the NYI to experiment with costumed members in other locations as the Initiative continued to expand across the country.

Occupy Wall Street

From early October to mid-November of 2011, the NYI became heavily involved with Occupy Wall Street. The group was approached and asked to provide organizational assistance and neutral security for the large encampment in Zuccatti Park, which was plagued by criminal activity both internally and externally.

Departures

According to co-founder Jack Zero, Zimmer left the NYI to return to Texas for a family legal issue. On March 4 2012, Zimmer released a statement on his personal Facebook page addressing his departure from the team, further commenting that he "either quit or was kicked out, depending on who you ask. Suffice to say it was mutual.".

TSAF left the group to pursue a career in cinematic production, while founding member Lucid moved to Alaska to take care of his father. In April of 2012, he went on to co-found the California Initiative: Los Angeles with Deimos. NYI member Short Cut also joined the CAI:LA for a time thereafter.

Response to Anti-Gay Attacks

The New York Initiative began regular patrols of Greenwich Village and the West Village in June of 2013 in response to the killing of gay Harlem resident Mark Carson, 33, and several beatings of gay men across the city.

T.R.I.B.E. and the Hero Initiative

Due to ongoing internal tension, the NYI separated itself from The Initiative Collective as a whole - and from superhero-style imagery altogether - in 2013, and began using the name "T.R.I.B.E.". The resulting schism drove the remaining branches to adopt the name "Hero Initiative", and NYI member Spectre to assume management of the New York branch. After nearly two years, amends with Zero were made in late 2015, leading all branches to reunite under the original "Initiative" banner.

The Ronin

In April of 2016, on-and-off-again NYI member Dark Guardian left to start his own team, the New York Ronin, which eventually branched out into several satellite groups around the United States.

Gallery

• 

  NYI, 2013:
  Athame, Dark Guardian, Jack Zero, Spyder, Spectre

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  Bleeding Cool screenshot (L-R): Spectre, Athame, Jack Zero, Dark Guardian

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  The NYI, early 2013

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  The NYI, circa 2011

• 

  NYI, 2011:
  Dead End, Shade, TSAF, Jack Zero, Short Cut, Snipe, The Thre3.

• 

  Clockwise from top:
  TSAF, Short Cut, Dead End, The Thre3, Snipe, Shade, Jack Zero

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  NYI Founders:
  Zimmer, Lucid, TSAF, Zero

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  Current NYI seal

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  Newer NYI seal

• 

  The first NYI seal

External Links

Facebook

Twitter

The Initiative website

NY Daily News: "Real-life ‘superhero’ group works to keep New York’s streets and subways safe"

Bleeding Cool: "The New York Initiative – Real Life Superheroes Hit The Headlines"