Securing NYC’s future by changing our thinking
As I recently approached my final board meeting as chair of the Regional Plan Association (RPA), the region’s preeminent planning organization, I had an opportunity to reflect on where we stand as a region. Six years ago, when I first started my role, New York City was experiencing unprecedented success. We had created a self-reinforcing cycle where the best and brightest talent wanted to be here. In turn, the most successful companies clamored to call New York home. This virtuous cycle made New York the envy of the world — attracting investment and driving the success of our region.
After years of growth, however, New York had become a victim of its own success. Our aging infrastructure was starting to break as millions jammed their way into subway cars. Our city streets had become so congested that it became faster to walk in Midtown. And far too many found it increasingly difficult to live here because of rising housing costs. As these challenges grew, the gap between the haves and havenots reached unsustainably wide levels.
Today, after serving as the early epicenter of the pandemic, we are experiencing a structural shock that has altered how we live and work. Our subway is operating at about two-thirds of the pre-COVID ridership. New York’s modern-day factories, our office buildings, are barely half full, leaving our business districts hollow shells. Homelessness and crime are rising, while our affordability crisis has worsened. Federal relief funds are being exhausted just as a looming recession threatens tax revenues, leaving our state and local governments with fewer resources.
Of course, this isn’t the first crisis that our city and region have faced. New York’s obituary has been written prematurely many times before, and each time, we have bounced back stronger than before. But our region’s recovery has never been inevitable. We bounced back because of clear-eyed, forward-thinking leadership. And today, we face a new test that requires leadership that abandons past playbooks to move us toward a better and brighter future.
As the CEO of one of the region’s largest real estate companies, as a director of the New York Federal Reserve, and as the former chair of the RPA, I believe there are three priority areas of focus where this clear-eyed leadership is needed:
First, we must restore faith in our public institutions, particularly government. Government is the bedrock that fortifies society during the strong winds of change. But the public has grown disillusioned with how it uses its money. Each year, billions of dollars are spent on programs and projects that have well exceeded their schedule and budget, sometimes with little to show in terms of improvement.
The second priority must be overcoming the plague of the “not in my backyard” mentality or NIMBY-ism. Throughout my 30-plus years in real estate and civil service, a constant has been that people want change but not in their own backyard. Housing is too expensive, but they do not want a new apartment building in their neighborhood. Those who sleep on the streets deserve help but do not build a homeless shelter on their block. Transitioning to clean energy is a priority, but no one wants a transmission line near their home. Our mass transit system is the lifeblood of our region, but someone else should pay for it.
The final priority should be to think regionally. We find ourselves with a growing affordability challenge that has the potential to reverse our positive self-reinforcing cycle. Thankfully, New York City doesn’t have to solve this challenge alone. Our inter-connected region of New York,
New Jersey, and Connecticut holds the key moving forward. When companies leverage our talent, they can access a region of more than 22 million talented, ambitious, and diverse people. In turn, this connectivity allows for unparalleled access to numerous vibrant, affordable communities while still connected to the greatest economic engine in our nation’s history.
At a time when ideologues — on the right and the left — are building walls of division, we need leadership that can build a bridge. As those on the left demand perfection over progress, we need leadership to provide pragmatic solutions. As those on the right cling to the status quo, we need leadership to provide logical analysis to unlock communities resistant to change. We need leadership that can be an honest broker, bringing together those on different ends of the ideological spectrum to move our region forward. We need leadership that understands that government can’t solve these challenges alone but instead leverages private sector ingenuity and discipline.
This is the kind of leadership that has led us through our most challenging moments in the past, and that is the leadership that we need today.