Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams Announce New New York Panel's Action Plan

 

New New York: Making New York Work For Everyone Action Plan Puts Forth 40 Initiatives as a Roadmap for the Future

Plan Includes Five Areas of Focus for 2023 to Support the Regional Economy and Make New York City an Even Better Place to Live and Work

Also Includes Recommendations of 59 Member New New York Panel Led by Robin Hood CEO Richard Buery and Former Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff

 Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams today announced the New New York: Making New York Work For Everyone action plan developed by the New New York Panel, which the Governor and Mayor convened earlier this year. The action plan includes a set of 40 proposals intended to serve as a roadmap for the city's future and make New York City an even better place to live and work. Launched in May 2022 and led by co-chairs and former deputy mayors Robin Hood CEO Richard Buery and former Sidewalk Labs CEO Daniel Doctoroff, the broad and diverse panel of civic leaders and industry experts worked for six months to generate recommendations for the city and state at a time of historic alignment between the two. The recommendations center around how the City and State could partner with each other and across sectors to reimagine a New New York that propels the city and region forward for its next chapter of growth.

"Thanks to an extraordinary partnership with Mayor Adams and the New New York Panel, this report is providing the road map toward a stronger, fairer, and more accessible New York," Governor Hochul said. "We are no longer living in the same New York as we were at the beginning of the pandemic, and these proposals will help to revitalize our business districts, ease New Yorkers' commutes, promote equity and tackle our 800,000-unit housing shortage. These are the types of bold, ambitious ideas we need right now, and my administration looks forward to closely reviewing the panel's recommendations in the coming weeks to determine how we continue to make New York an even better place to live."

New York City Mayor Adams said, "New Yorkers have been through so much in the last three years, and as society shifts in significant ways, the last year has brought remarkable signs of recovery thanks to our resilience and creativity. Our administration is committed to building a New New York — a safer, fairer, and more prosperous city that will continue to adapt and thrive throughout the 21st century. And this plan lays out a clear vision for coordinated city, state, nonprofit, and private sector action to reenergize the areas still struggling from the pandemic and supercharge those with new momentum. I want to thank Governor Hochul and the entire panel for their partnership in this critical effort to put our city on the right track, and I look forward to moving that work forward together."

Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams jointly announced the New New York Panel in May 2022 to examine the future of New York City and the region's economy. While the initial scope of the panel focused on reviving New York City's business districts, especially those that have been slower to recover in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic like Midtown and Downtown Manhattan, the panel quickly expanded its focus to address a wider range of interconnected challenges affecting all New Yorkers - from transportation to housing to the need for great public space to childcare. The City and State's action plan reflects this expanded focus by proposing three overarching goals that work together to ensure that New York works for all New Yorkers:

• Reimagine New York's Commercial Districts as Vibrant 24/7 Destinations: Transforming NYC's single-use business districts into great places where people live, work, and play.
• Make It Easier for New Yorkers to Get to Work: Improving commutes into Manhattan and strengthening employment hubs and workspaces across 5 boroughs so people can work closer to home.
• Generate Inclusive, Future-Focused Growth: Supporting the growth of jobs and innovation and breaking down barriers to economic mobility.

Across those three goals, the plan puts forth 40 initiatives — to be advanced through legislation, policy shifts, additional funding and other actions — that the Governor and the Mayor can embrace as a roadmap for the future, including five areas key areas of action in the coming year:

• Make Midtown and other central business districts more mixed-use and flexible, by removing regulatory barriers to market-based conversion and redevelopment of outdated office buildings to residential and by allowing flexibility to repurpose space for economic activity.
• Pursue major public realm interventions to transform Midtown and other business districts into modern, pedestrian-oriented places, and create a new Director of Public Realm position at City Hall to provide a centralized and holistic approach to public realm policy, external affairs and the coordination of public realm projects and programs that touch roadways, curb space and green space.
• Increase the supply of housing by removing regulatory barriers to housing growth across the city, to increase affordability, reduce displacement and encourage inclusive communities, ensure workers have access to stable housing, and give employers confidence that they can retain and attract talent in New York City. To meet this urgent moment of our housing crisis, this set of City and State legislative changes will encourage housing production for all income levels to address the need for hundreds of thousands of new housing units across the city and state over the next decade.
• Increase access to jobs and decrease commute time to Midtown and other business districts.
• Make childcare accessible and affordable to help working families participate in the labor force, realize their economic potential, and drive an equitable recovery.

The implementation of the action plan will be led by the New New York Leadership Steering Group, a cross-governmental convening hosted by the Director of State Operations and the First Deputy Mayor and led by the Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Workforce and the Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development. A new, dedicated senior advisor in the Mayor's Office of Policy and Planning will be hired to staff the steering group and oversee the day-to-day management of implementing the plan. Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul plan to make additional policy announcements informed by these recommendations in the weeks ahead.

The full report can be read here.