‘Making New York Work for Everyone’ Initiative Two Years Later
Efforts by both the city and state to “develop actionable strategies for the recovery and resilience of the city’s commercial districts” following the pandemic resulted in the creation of the “New” New York panel composed of 57 civic leaders ranging from labor leaders to tech executives to real estate developers. The final 40 initiatives released in December 2022 within the ‘Making New York Work for Everyone,’ report charted a way forward and collectively represented an “integrated vison of how New York can establish itself as the best place to work in the new world of the 21st Century.” Although the panel is less active, meeting only once in 2023 versus the more than “four meetings and hundreds of expert interviews that were conducted for the 2022 report,” strides have been made. Cited among them are a pending rezoning that will help evolve Midtown into more of a 24/7 neighborhood, office-to-residential incentives introduced at both the city and state levels, and the lifting of a cap on residential density to open the door to much needed affordable housing development. In addition, through the approval of Mayor Adams’ three City of Yes plans, zoning change recommendations to boost business growth, and housing and green-energy projects were achieved this year.
While there is still much to accomplish, the report “helped focus the city and state’s efforts, and the mayor and governor’s work collaborating together” in a kind of partnership that is somewhat of an ‘anomaly’ in New York politics — citing the recent approval of the ‘City of Yes’ housing plan made “possible by Governor Hochul’s “last-minute $1 billion commitment for city council funding priorities” according to reported statements by B.J. jones, the “New” New York panels current executive director. Kathryn Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City further pointed out that the report “is valuable because it helps set the agendas” for the people who really effectuate these policies and implement them, such as the deputy mayors and the commissioners; as well as hold politicians to their commitments, citing Governor Hochul’s inability to abandon the congestion pricing program entirely, since “firmly support congestion pricing” was the 25th initiative within the ’Making New York Work for Everyone’ report. Although other “ambitious ideas have yet to materialize” and the “city’s pandemic recovery has been both impressive and uneven,” Wylde points out that the planning efforts helped create a coalition that could push for difficult policies and a constituency that has been actively lobbying for the agenda.”