New York City is known as plenty of things, from the Big Apple to the City That Never Sleeps. The one thing Gotham has never exactly been known for? That would probably be the Capital of Nice, a city held together by helping hands. Well, reclusive billionaire despot/sometime-Mayor Mike Bloomberg is willing to bet that hard-bitten New Yorkers are more than willing to help each other out; you just have to make it worth their while.

Last spring, Bloomberg introduced NYC Service, an office that coordinates 38 separate initiatives that "aim to improve the city through service and volunteerism." The initiative went largely unnoticed until last month when City Hall announced the launch of a Time Bank available to all New Yorkers who choose to take part in volunteer activities.

What is a "Time Bank" you ask? According to a report in the Daily News, New Yorkers will be able to create online profiles at www.nyc.gov/service where they can list their talents and abilities and trade them with other users. Registered users will receive a "time dollar" for every hour they spend volunteering their services; these "dollars" may in turn be used to "purchase" volunteer services from another user.

For instance, one user might be an accomplished chef while another user might speak fluent Spanish; how does the idea of trading one hour of Spanish lessons for a one hour cooking class sound? The possibilities for this are endless. Just imagine A-Rod trading a free hour of personal training for a free hour of P.R. advice from Rex Ryan... or Martha Stewart giving Ruth Madoff a baking class in exchange for some sage investment advice. Seriously, we could go on all day with this.

Of course, using the internet to trade personal services has been around for quite a few years, Craigslist was pretty much built on this sort of thing. However the services traded on that website are usually not of the variety appropriate for discussion on a family website such as this. But hey, every movement has to start somewhere, right?

Diahann Billings-Buford, who is in charge of the service initiative, told the Daily News that "New Yorkers have so much to offer and they really have the desire to help." While this might be news to outsiders whose impression of New York is an unwelcoming concrete jungle, let this Manhattan resident assure you that it is not that shocking. New Yorkers know how tough the city can be for everyone, and whether you hail from the five boroughs or not most are willing to lend you a helping hand as long as you ask nicely.

Just whatever you do, don't move slowly down the sidewalk while sight seeing. We can tolerate a lot, but that is crossing the line.