Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams, Governor Hochul Release "Making New York Work for Everyone" Action Plan

December 14, 2022

Steven Rubenstein, Chairman, Association for a Better New York: Can you hear me? I'm going to ask you to… Hey Anna. Please say, "Shh."

All right. Good morning, everybody, and welcome. I know you are all thinking what I am thinking. The mayor and the governor together on the same stage at ABNY at the same time, and by choice. Never happened. Literally never happened. By the way, without any drama, like we didn't have to negotiate when each of them were coming, when we might leave, and that, heaven forbid, they might run into each other backstage. None of that happened. They're actually hanging out and talking to each other. Literally never happened.

In our ABNY community, a group of deeply civically-minded New Yorkers, this is a meaningful moment. Our governor and mayor, here to talk about a shared long-term, big-picture vision for our city's future. Cooperating not because they had to, but because they want to. Because that's what New Yorkers need. What we've been hoping for in our ABNY community, this moment is unprecedented but not unappreciated.

Now, don't get me wrong. Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo up here would've made for a good show. Would've been something to see, would've blown up ABNY TikTok. But it wouldn't have been especially productive for New York. Too often, we've had officials who didn't always march in the same direction or at the same speed. But today is different. Our mayor and our governor, they are different. They're here as partners, thinking creatively about our future, being boldly ambitious, and charting a path to get it done. I want to say thank you to Governor Hochul and thank you to Mayor Adams. We are honored to have you both here today and for what this means to New York.

Today's breakfast is exactly the kind of forum ABNY was founded for. We are gathering at a clear inflection point. The paradigm is changing just like it did after the fiscal crisis and just like it did after 9/11. New Yorkers have shown remarkability to meet these moments and reinvent our city. We come together, keep what's tried and true, recognize what no longer works, and figure out a new playbook for a vibrant future, how we can be better. Solutions born in New York, by the way, have literally been envied and copied around the world because they work. But to do this, again, we need fresh ideas that inspire us and to rally around.

Recognizing this, the governor and mayor brought a wise and committed group together to offer ideas to spur broad-based growth and inclusive economy and shared prosperity. I am proud to say that my partner at ABNY, our amazing CEO, Melva Miller, was part of this group and will be on this stage a little later. I want to thank Dan Doctoroff and Richard Buery for their leadership of this group and for being with us here today. They are two remarkable New Yorkers who have distinguished themselves in public service and beyond. Together, they spearheaded a process that engaged leaders both inside and outside the mainstream civic community and laid out numerous options to help propel our city for years to come.

This morning we'll hear some of the first solutions and strategies from this expansive process and from the leaders who are ultimately in charge of making it work, our governor and our mayor. And then, after they speak, they'll be joined by Dan and Rich on stage for a panel. The framework we're here about today has one critical overriding goal: to make New York the greatest place in the world to work and we're starting down this path the right way, driven by the cooperation of our leaders.

So, let's get to it. First up, Governor Hochul. Let me say this is an ideal moment for me to say to Governor Hochul congratulations on your historic victory. From bringing major new employers like Micron to New York, investing in one of the biggest renewable energy projects in our state's history, for championing our return to office, Governor Hochul has spent the last year focused on the big picture. But here's the thing. Now she has a full term ahead of her to make her mark, and she's been clear she intends to work on the hard stuff, to show us what an upstate governor can do for our whole state. Governor, we at ABNY are here ready to be your partners. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to our governor, Kathy Hochul.

Governor Kathy Hochul: Good morning, everyone. Good morning. I feel like Steven threw down a challenge like what the mayor and I have to do to get on ABNY TikTok. We'll try to come up with something really clever throughout the process here today. But this is great. I'm so proud to be here today as your governor, but also as someone who lives and breathes New York and lives and breathes New York City. I have spent so much time in New York City. I've been staying in hotels here for eight solid years, probably have longer residency than a lot of our snowbirds, and I really feel the pulse of this city. It's a beating heart, and I want to make sure that that heart never goes on life support, that we keep it beating strong, and that's what today's event is all about.

I want to thank Steven for everything he does as chair of ABNY. Melva Miller, I've known her a long time throughout her other incarnations in government and in civic work, business work. I want to thank her for her leadership in this as well. And of course, my partner, Eric Adams, who I'll be introducing in a few moments. And Richard Buery, thank you for stepping up and Dan Doctoroff, I know you dedicated an enormous amount of time to this process. I also have a few of my members of my dream team here as well. We have the head of the MTA, let's give him a round of applause, Janno Liber. Hope Knight is here, the head of Empire State Development. Members of my administration, Karen Persichilli Keogh, who everyone knows as secretary of the governor, and many other talented individuals.

ABNY's always been here for New York since its inception. It was conceived in a very difficult time. It was born out of the financial crisis of the '70s and a lot of people had given up on New York City at that time. It was real. We had fallen so far. People were leaving, crime was rising, and people thought the future was hopeless. But ABNY was founded by true believers, business leaders, civic leaders, labor leaders who never ever gave up on the promise of New York. Today, my friends, it is that same sense of optimism that we harness and put to work to lead our comeback. We've come a long way since the inception of ABNY. We are not going back.

Last year when I spoke here, we were just coming through the throes of the pandemic. We thought we were starting to see the other side. It was November 18th. Well, little did we know that 10 days later, Omicron, another variant, would take us down, or at least try to. A lot of unknown back then. But as I said to you then, and I still believe this, this is not a moment to despair. It's a moment of great opportunity. That pandemic is still with us. It really showed us the cracks that perhaps had been… We know they were there all along, but they really widened and gave us a clear view of the challenges that were systemic. Poverty, racism, different income levels. The wage gap is the largest here than anywhere in the nation. They're just too hard to not look at and embrace. Perhaps we ignored them in the past, but no longer.

It also gives us a chance to redefine ourselves and to finally fill those cracks and build a fairer, better, more equitable New York. The pandemic caused us to rethink everything. How we work, where we work, how we get around, how we spend our time, our lives, and where our priorities are. We're truly not living in the same New York that we were back in March of 2020. But where are we?

Where are we? Well, let's be real honest. After some positive trends for a while, we seem to have plateaued. You think about daily office occupancy, vacancy rates, subway ridership, foot traffic in Midtown. Although I walk it every day and it seems crowded to me, but it's still not what it had been. They're still below pre-pandemic levels. But plateauing is not a natural state for New Yorkers. Being static is not natural for New Yorkers. We're always on the move. We like the energy, constant motion, so we have to break away. Here's our challenge: we have to identify and embrace policies that'll get us off this plateau and lead us back to climbing the mountain, the summit we all will meet together. But how do we adapt to these new realities? That's the question. How do we adapt as well as addressing the longstanding problems that society has ignored for too long?

Let's talk about one of these, the housing crisis. I was watching the numbers this morning. Inflation's a little better than it was. Gas prices are down, thank God, but the largest expense for people is still their rent to cost their housing. This has been decades in the making without a doubt. This is not a new phenomenon. I spoke about this at the New York Housing Conference just a few weeks ago. We know that New York is the place that workers, families, and businesses want to be, but many cannot afford to move here, to live here, or relocate here. The answer is simple… Not the answer. The question is why didn't we build housing? Why? Why?

The statistic that says it all is that before the pandemic, we created jobs, we're still creating jobs. Steven mentioned Micron, that's 50,000 jobs coming in New York State that were literally heading off to Texas. We lassoed them back. They're still not happy about it, but that's all right. Jobs are being created here all over. We created jobs though at three times the rate as we created housing to put the people in who will work in those jobs. So that's the disconnect, leaving us with 1.25 million jobs and only 400,000 units of housing.

The jobs are there, the housing is not. And that's why in my upcoming State of the State address, I will put forth a comprehensive housing plan and within this, it will include the building of 800,000 new units of housing over the next decade. And I want to make it sooner than that. It's an ambitious goal that's one we must meet. And we're taking a similar no-holds-barred approach to our other intractable problems. Childcare, public transit. We know how important these two dynamics are in terms of getting people back to their jobs.

We've already made historic investments in the region from the LIRR track, third track, getting that done, was extraordinary. East Side Access, incredible. Four Metro-North stations in the Bronx, I just announced that a couple days ago, and what that's going to do… Thank you… It's going to bring workers with a much shorter commute to the better-paying jobs right here in Midtown. It's going to create opportunities, change people's lives, and it's long overdue. Penn Access, and why not in a glorious, new Penn Station? I am not taking my foot off the pedal on that one. That has to happen. That is going to define us for generations to come when we get that finished. I have three words for what we need to do for our public transit system. We have to make sure that it's clean, safe, modern. Simple words, a lot of work behind each one of those, but we're up to the task.

But another one of our missing links on why we're not having the same sense of vitality in our offices, why they're not getting complete filled up, is a lot of parents can't get back to work. Childcare, especially for moms. The weight is still on moms. It was on me 35 years ago, and now that baby is home taking care of his daughter because there's paid family leave for him. I see the cycles. I see the challenges families are facing. They want to be here. They want to raise their kids here in the most exciting place on the earth, but if you can't find a house, you can't get the childcare, it just doesn't work. So we need to continue expanding access to childcare as well. We've made historic investments and we're not done yet.

The foundation is there. The foundation for our economic recovery is right before us. We just need to build on top of it now. You'll hear more about our plans next month, but we can't continue to approach 21st century problems with 20th century solutions. We need to do what we've done in the past. We go big, we go bolder, and we go New York. We need to adapt. We have an uncanny ability, an uncanny ability here in New York, to avert crises and disasters and turn them into opportunities. Just go down to Lower Manhattan.

20 years ago, terrorists tried to destroy a way of life and we came back stronger, built back extraordinary buildings, places that are so energetic, energetic, people want to be there. We could do that here in our business districts throughout this city. We have to. We have to. That's why Mayor Adams and I convened the “New” New York panel, bringing together over 50 of our region’s smartest people. The best and the brightest. Business, community, labor leaders, bringing them all together with that common goal, just like the origins of ABNY decades ago.

Bring them together. What are you thinking? How are we going to do this? How are we going to overcome the challenges? I want to thank Rich Buery and Dan Doctoroff once again. This was no small task. As I said back there when we were gathering, I said, "You know me. I'm going to say, 'We're going to get together one year from now and say 'What did we get done?''" I am all about holding people and institutions accountable, so we will measure after what you hear we're planning on doing here today, our success. People count on that. They expect that from us.

But we had to find innovative solutions to our biggest problems. Over the past five months, they worked around the clock. They worked so hard. One goal, a coordinated, joint-policy agenda and action plans, and here's the radical part, between the city and the state. See that? See how crazy that is? Working together, because guess what? I represent the same people, the same places, and the same businesses that the mayor does. Okay? We have a reason to work like this, to lift this city up. We will make our business districts stronger and more vibrant and more inclusive. We can, because we have to ensure that people know that these are business districts, but they're not limited to that. They don't have to just be for business any longer. Why can't we have people living there as well?

That's the radical idea behind what we're talking about here today. We've got to also make it easier for people to get to work, improving the commutes to Manhattan. We're going to keep focusing on that, strengthening our employment hubs and workplaces, so people can be closer to home. We're going to be continuing to create those jobs. You don't know this, but I spend every week on the phone calling business leaders from out of state. I call Texas. I say, "You really want to have a business in Texas?" I just say things like that. "Look at your football team." Whatever I have to do, whatever I have to do, I will take my shots. I'll say, "Really? Women don't have rights to an abortion in your state?" You need to know from me, I am tenacious when it comes to persuading people that there's no better place to be than in New York. If you have anybody you want me to call, I'll be happy to call them.

But I know at the foundation of all this—and we'll get to all the specifics—the foundation of all this must be public safety. That's top of mind for everyone, including myself. It's something the mayor and I are consumed about. We talk about this, we focus on this, we strategize on this. We're laser-focused on keeping New Yorkers safe because they deserve it. We're working together on subway safety, keeping guns and criminals off our streets. We understand the urgency because none of this matters we're talking about here today if New Yorkers don't feel safe, so our number one priority will always be to protect New Yorkers. But I am looking forward to continuing this dialogue. You're going to hear some great ideas from this panel here today. It's the right approach.

It's going to take all levels of government to implement them. I won't sugarcoat this. I tell it like it is. I'm pretty straight-talking. It's not going to be easy. There have been institutional barriers for a long time to keep the status quo where it's, but the pandemic didn't allow us to keep the status quo. Things have changed. I need to go back up to Albany, work with our leaders, push and prod, because good ideas don't always make it over the finish line in Albany. But I know just over the horizon is the next session, new opportunity. More details will be unveiled in my State of the State and how I will take parts of what you're talking about here today, the part that say state laws need to change, and I'll work hard to get it done. But the person who's also going to continue to be this partner with me is our mayor. And that is what is going to make a profound difference. It's just literally a year ago, it's a little over a year ago, seems like he's been around a lot longer, just elected. And we stood together and I said, "The era of the governor of New York and the mayor of New York City fighting each other is over. Instead, we're going to fight for the people we represent." And we've deepened our relationships since that time, we've worked so closely on many joint initiatives, sharing ideas. And I feel like a little bit of an expert on relationships having been married to the same guy for 38 years, it comes down to communication.

The mayor and I talk all the time, our teams talk all the time, we share ideas, and that is what's making the difference. And you'll feel that difference. And we don't need to get in the news for having this kind of fight. We're going to get the news for making this happen, partnership, friendship, because that's how we lift them up. And I want to thank him for his leadership up until this date with the way that today forward we embrace this joint effort to lift up New York City to the greatest heights because that's what we do because we are New Yorkers. And I want to thank everyone on this commission, all of you here, for your time and your talents. We're not done yet, we're just getting warmed up. Thank you very much. With that, let me bring up the mayor of New York City, Mayor Eric Adams.

Rubenstein: Governor, I'm going to take a liberty and introduce the mayor, if that's okay.

Governor Hochul: You're throwing me off the stage?

Rubenstein: Throw's a strong word.

Governor Hochul: Is this our TikTok moment? I don't get to introduce the mayor? (Laughter.) All right, we'll share in the joy.

Rubenstein: We'll share.       

Governor Hochul: We'll share in the joy of introducing the mayor.

Rubenstein: I see. We have the incredible honor together of introducing our mayor. I just want to say one thing about it and I'll get out of the way. About six months ago, the mayor stood on this stage this past June and talked about his vision for a City of Yes. Government that embraces a simple premise but an essential one that growth is good. And earlier this month, he announced a big down payment on that promise with the slate of reforms to speed up new housing construction all across the city. Mr. Mayor, thank you for that, it's a big deal. And I also want to say your focus endlessly on public safety is a big deal to all of us and we're grateful for that. This morning, another big step in the direction of City of Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much and this amazing all-star lineup that we have of New Yorkers that love this city. I want to thank Dan and Rich, and really sometimes we don't know the individuals behind the scene who put things together. And I just want to thank Julie Stein, and please just give her a round of applause. (Applause.) And as my good friend and Canarsie kid Frank Carone is cycling out of the administration with the amazing Lorraine Grillo, my new team of leadership, I want to thank them. Incoming First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, my Chief of Staff Camille, and Ingrid Lewis-Martin. And I cannot say enough, and some people, they make it in a cosmetic way, but what you are seeing with the governor and the relationship, it's a real one. I like her personally as a individual, I like her as a leader, I like the fact that you can sit down and have a real conversation, and you don't have to agree.

That's the real indication of how well you're doing that even when you disagree, you're able to be a deep listener and seek to understand before you're understood. And we are able to do that. This is an amazing moment for our city and state. And we often talk about and we're going to get into the conversation about the significance of our central business district being the engine of our city and state. And many people don't know, but in my younger years I was an auto mechanic. And if you have cylinders in your engine, no matter how fine that engine is, if those cylinders are not aligned, if they are missing and they're off beat, the car is not going to produce the product that you deserve. Let me get that for you.

And that's what we're seeing. The four cylinders of our engine has been misaligned for a long time, we have to be honest about that. The cylinder of government, the cylinder of business, the cylinder of community, all of those cylinders have been offline. And January 1st, 2022, when we started reaching out to our business community and our corporate leaders, Kathy Wylde and JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs and other business leaders, for them to say this is the first meeting we've had with the mayor in eight years, think about that. And then when we held community meetings, New York City Speaks, 65,000 New Yorkers talked about the issues that are important to them. 18,000 young people responded to our survey to share their ideas. And in New York City, we have 8.8 million people, but we have 35 million opinions.

But in all those opinions, to find the common denominator, housing, public safety, mental health. We saw that although we communicate in different languages, that we had the same desires and we focus and zero in on those together. And so the alignment of government, corporate, of community coming together, staying on the same mission and focus to ensure the financial engine of our city is going to continue to produce in the post pandemic. This is a 1930 moment. In the midst of the Great Depression, we saw within a year the Empire State Building was able to be completed because of the dedication, the coordination, and the commitment of the people that were involved. And it's about stop dividing our city. To continually attack high income earners, where 51 percent of our taxes are paid by 2 percent of New Yorkers.

It's blowing my mind when I hear people say, "So what if they leave?" No, you leave. Who are my high income earners right here in this city? I want them to be part of… The person who drives a limousine to be paid a good wage and a person sitting in the back of the limousine to continue to use their discretionary funding to go to our restaurants, our hotels, and travelers. And you're right, governor, the prerequisite to our prosperity is public safety and justice. They go together. We must be safe as a city and you can't be safe as a city if you continue to allow people who are violent in our city to return to our streets and inflict violence on innocent people. It can't happen. And we can do it by having the humanity that's attached to it. And then we have to be bold. We have to be bold because part of a good city is not only the physical infrastructure, but it is also the visible presence, the presentation.

Can't be a city where people who have mental health illnesses are laying on your sidewalk in front of your businesses and we tolerate it and say it's acceptable. No, I'm not going to do that. That is part of our presentation as a product as we attract businesses here. And yes, it's hard. But I will be honest with you. If we didn't have COVID, asylum seekers, crime, economic challenges. If we didn't have all these things, I wouldn't want this job. I want it because it's hard. Winners want the ball when the game is on the line. Give me the ball. Give me the ball. I want the challenges that we're facing as a city and all I need is a partner and that's what we have. Going back to my days of policing, when my partner and I would respond to a dangerous environment and run up the steps because someone is either in a shooting or a crime, we didn't argue with each other while we going to that crisis.

You deal with the problem, you fix the problem, and then you deal with the petty differences later. We're responding to that 911 calls for service in our city and I have a partner that's on patrol with me, and we are going to respond in a coordinated way. We're going to continue to do what we're doing, the 12 percent decrease in subway crimes. Police commissioner should be commended. 7,000 guns removed off our streets. We'll continue to look into childcare, as the governor alluded to, 41,000 children looking for childcare so their parents can get back to work. We're going to continue to redefine what our office spaces should look like, like we did during 9/11 and made 24-hour work communities. And we're going to lean into the difficult conversation about what work should look like. That's what this “New” New York panel was about. Yes, we're going to have a combination of remote work, we're going to have to have a real conversation on how that impacts those mom and pop stories that depend on the foot traffic. Then we're going to think differently and bold.

This is a moonshot moment for us to redefine what our businesses are like. That's why we invested into life sciences. And we must engage in a real conversation with our local elected officials that are yelling, "Build more housing, build more housing," but then in the next sentence, "Not on my block." No, every block must be open to building housing in the city. And then we must do something else. We have to tell our news publications enough. Enough. Enough. When I go to other countries and other cities to recruit like they're recruiting from us and they pull out a front page story and point out the worst thing that happens in the city, as the person who sat down for a portrait told them, "I know I have a scar, but remember I have a face." Don't point every scar we have. Yes, we have a scar of six felonies a day on our subway system, but 3.6 million people use that same system every day and they get to their place of employment all right. That's our face.

Our face is that we're leading the major hotel market. We're number 1 out of the 25 major hotel markets in our city. We're number 1. 56 million tourists come to this city, predicted 65 million next year. We have a face, New York, and that face is not always perfect, but we don't need to look at the worst part of our day and highlight that over and over again to give this signal that this city is not a city of productivity. New York is not coming back. New York is back. We're back and we have to believe we're back. So let me conclude with this as we open up the panel. I remember clearly as a lieutenant in the Police Department on September 11th, 2001, and I talk about this all the time, watching our center of trade collapse and there was a question mark that lingered over not only the city but the country. We wondered what was going to happen and we give acknowledgement every year to those that we've lost.

But I want you to also remember September 12th. We got up, teachers taught, builders built, retailers sold their goods. And when New York got up, America got up. We are America's city, and the way goes New York goes America. We have an obligation again in post COVID, not terrorism, but terror devastated our economy, overly impacted our medical system, loss of job, loss of wages. But once again, we were the epicenter of terrorism, we were the epicenter of COVID. But again, we're going to get up, we're going to show the country why we are New York, and this “New” New York conversation is going to show how together we get all cylinders operating on the same engine to regain our economy, regain our city, and we leave no one behind as we deal with the inequalities that historically have been pervasive in this city. One city, one New York, one destination, one goal, and together we will accomplish that. Thank you very much.

Melva Miller, CEO, Association for a Better New York: Good morning everyone. All right, we're going to jump right into it. If I can have Dan and Rich join us on the stage, that would be amazing. Governor Hochul, Mayor Adams, thank you so much for convening this panel and for investing so much in New York City. Under your leadership, we know we will have amazing results.

So let's jump right into it. This is the recommendations that the panel put together, and this question is really for Rich and Dan. Thank you so much for co-chairing this all-star panel of veteran New Yorkers who have been doing this for decades, and I think that this report shows that there has been amazing results from this. Can you walk us through the plan? What are some of the major recommendations in this document?

Richard Buery, Co-Chair, “New” New York Panel: Well, sure. Thanks Melva, and good morning everyone. It's great to be here with you. First of all, I would encourage everyone to read the plan. We're not going to begin to go through all of it in detail here, but I guess I would start by saying when we accepted the call to do this work six months ago, us and the other members of the panel, we understood that it was a big challenge ahead of us. Obviously, we're all living through the challenges of the last few years, and we all seen how the pandemic really fundamentally shifted the way we work and live in the city. And clearly, we all understood that those impacts were not equally felt in every part of the city, that whatever challenges we felt in some neighborhoods in the south Bronx and East New York, in other communities, the impacts were twice as devastating.

People dying at higher rates, people more likely to be out in the front lines when other of us had the luxury of working from home. So we took this very seriously, and as the mayor and the governor both said, this is a city that this is not the first crisis we faced. If you look back in the history of the last hundred years, World War, the Depression, 9/11, of course, Hurricane Sandy. If there's anything that marks New York City that makes us who we are, it is truly the ability to adapt and rebound from these challenges and to rebuild. I mean that is what makes us us. But we also realize that after those prior crises, as the city rebuilds, and as opportunity develops, and as growth happens, that growth was not always equally distributed. Not everyone has had access to the recoveries that have followed each of these crises.

So one of the central elements of this report, as you go see it, you see a real anchor in equity. It's not enough for us all to come back, for the economy to come back, we have to make sure that every community has an equal share in that renaissance. So that's a part of what is anchoring our report. The other thing that becomes very clearly when you think about these challenges, our charge, of course, was around the city central business districts and how do we build those districts post the pandemic. But what becomes very clear is that you can't have a strategy around the central business districts without having a strategy for the city and for the region because those districts are part of an ecosystem. And so very quickly, we as a panel realized that our scope had to be broader than the initial direct charge, and so those are the ideas that really drove our work forward. When you go through the plan... I mean, again, we're going to talk a little bit about some of the elements of the plan. But there's sort of a three part formula that anchors our work. So, the first is reimagining New York... I'm looking at that like I can see without my glasses on. 

Reimagining New York City business districts as vibrant 24/7 destinations, especially Midtown and Lower Manhattan. Just the idea that in a world where one of the transformations that we've seen in our economy is that people don't necessarily have to come back to those neighborhoods just as you all were describing. But if people don't have to come back to the neighborhoods, then our charge is to say, "How can we make those be neighborhoods that people want to come back to? How can we create and reimagine Midtown as a vibrant 24/7 community where people not only go to work, but where people go to work and play and live." And so, many of the initiatives here are really centered around that idea.

The second is that we have to make it easier for people to get to where they're working. Now, that's true whether you're commuting from a suburb to midtown, and surprise, surprise, the data shows that people don't like long, dreary commutes. I don't know if we needed the data to tell us that, but certainly that's what the data told us. So, one, we have to make commutes easier. We have to make it easier for people to come to Midtown, whether you're coming for work or play. But also, if you're working at one of the emerging and growing hubs, business hubs in the outer boroughs, places that in some ways have done really well over the past two years, make it easy to work there and to live there and make those places more accessible. But even if you're working from home or working near home, if you're one of the New Yorkers who have access to a hybrid work environment, make it easy to work from home. Thinking about libraries as places for remote work, making sure that people have... So, wherever you're working, wherever you're getting it to, making it easier to get there.

And the third, and maybe in some way the most important, is to lean in to our strength and to have an agenda that is pro-growth. Because growth is what drives everything else. People get mad at employers and we need employers because if you want jobs you got to have somewhere to work. And so, supporting an economy and leading into our strife and investing into a future focused economy. But again, doing that with equity at the center. So, making sure, as we're creating opportunity and we're investing in growth, investing in the business of the 21st century, making sure that we're doing it in a way that truly every New Yorker can benefit from. And we always say that, we say that about every policy, but it's got to be true. This has to be a city that works for everyone.

There are a range of things that have to happen for a lot to work. There's legislative action at the state and the city. There's regulatory action, there's investments. And I hope... I'll hand it over to Dan to speak a little bit more detail about each of those anchors. But I want to say one other thing before I pass it to you. It's come up a few times in this conversation already. I have really been amazed by the level of cooperation between the state and the city. And the truth is none of this can happen without that collaboration. It obviously starts at the top, but you all should know it goes down to your teams. The collaboration among your teams at the state level and at the city level has truly been extraordinary. And more than anything else, is what gives me hope about the ability to actually act on this ambitious agenda. It's knowing that we have teams in Albany and City Hall that are actually committed to working together to make it happen. And for no other reason, it's been a blessing and an honor to be a part of this work.

Daniel L. Doctoroff, Co-Chair, “New” New York Panel: Before I get started on talking more specifically, I do want to echo what Rich just said. It's been 26 years since I first started the Olympic bid here. And I have never ever seen the level of collaboration at all levels that we have seen here between the city and state. And what you're about to see and what you'll see if you actually read the 159-page report with 40 specific initiatives that have legislative plans, regulatory plans, space related plans, all specific enough to get going is the fruits of that collaboration. And so, we said we've both been in government, we know it's really hard, but at a critical moment in time, which we are at today, where we can either take a step back or we can take a leap forward, as we have done so many times in the past, the foundation of cooperation is so critical and I have never seen it before.

So, it's a testament to the mayor and the governor and their teams. It's really, pretty remarkable. So, we're not going to go through all 40 initiatives here, but I want to elaborate a little bit on the three goals and the strategies that you'll read about when you read the report. And then, Rich will come back and talk a little bit more specifically. So, the first strategy, as Rich said, is rethink our business districts as... Reimagine our business districts as vibrant 24/7 places. And in order to do that, we have to do several things. Number one, we got to make it easier to convert commercial space into other uses. That's absolutely critical. And you'll see in here specific plans to do that. Secondly, what we have to do is we've got to make the central business districts, we've got to dramatically improve the quality of life in them.

And that includes sustainability, it includes sanitation, it includes road safety and other aspects. Because at the end of the day, we want people to come to these places and they're not going to come unless they're great actual places to come. In order to do that, in order to make them more vibrant, another critical element is making them great places in and of themselves. So Midtown, for example, which is where we have the biggest problem, you don't see a lot of public space in there. So, there is a very specific plan to dramatically improve the public spaces in Midtown, but that'll take time. And in the short run, what we also have to do is we've got to make these places fun to go to. And we can create, in the short term, by doing things fast and spontaneously, we can actually provide reasons for people to come.

So, that's four main strategies for creating these vibrant 24/7 places, particularly important in Midtown, and I'd say secondly, Lower Manhattan. Let's do the second goal, make it easier for people to get to work. How do we do that? Well, the first thing we got to do is we got to provide better mass transit options for people. The commute is too long and too painful. And we have been working extensively with the MTA and I have to commend Jana Lieber and his team on a whole series of options in order to make that happen. A second piece of it is, in order to make some of those options more feasible, we got to get some cars off the roads.

There's lots of approaches to do that. Congestion pricing is obviously one. We have a new approach called curb management that we think can... But the third way that we get people closer to their jobs is by actually having employment and making it easier to work near people's homes. Over the last 20 years, we have seen the dispersion of jobs in our city. The growth rate in jobs will have been much greater in Brooklyn and Queens and Bronx and Staten Island than it has been in Manhattan. We're not going to dictate how people are going to work. We can certainly make it more appealing to come to Midtown and Lower Manhattan, but we also have to accept the fact that people are going to work where they're going to work. And what we need to do is make it this place the best place to work, period.

Third strategy, as Rich said, is all about growth, but it's about inclusive growth and it is about future focused growth. And I always like to say, you got to be prosperous to be progressive, you've got to grow. And the way we grow is by, as Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams said, by bringing businesses here, starting businesses here. By creating the conditions that make them want to thrive, but also focusing on things that are our competitive advantages. We can be a leader, for example, in urban innovation. The world looks to New York, businesses can create urban innovation to focus on sustainability, mobility, social infrastructure here because this is the place that they look to for leadership and inspiration.

But that growth has to be inclusive. And a big part of making that inclusive is dramatically expanding the housing stock, as the governor and mayor have said. We have a goal of getting to 500,000 new units in New York City alone over the next 10 years. And there's a series of initiatives in here that will help us to get there. But this is a political issue. The winds, I think, are shifting, but we're going to have to take that window and we are going to have to be incredibly aggressive in order to make it happen. And then, most importantly, we all know that sometime in the past that growth has not been fair or equitable. And so, what you'll see in here is a whole series of approaches ranging from workforce development to childcare. And Rich will elaborate on some of them that we believe can make this city, as it grows, create opportunity for everyone. So again, I really encourage you to read the report. I think it is pretty remarkable. We got to execute on it, but we're at a very good place right now. Rich.

Buery: Yeah. I'll just be brief and then I want to get to the conversation again. The details are all on the plan, but one thing I will say is that one of the things the governor spoke about is being accountable. And one of the ways to be accountable is among the 40 ideas, five big ideas that we want to make sure that we are, in some ways, prioritizing and planning a down payment on. So, one area that we've talked before is about making it easier to drive the reuse and redevelopment of outdated Midtown office buildings, whether for housing or for making it easier to use those spaces for other types of economic activity, a big set of priority there. And those little one things that we're going to be making sure that we're pushing on in the first few years. Secondly, we already talked about housing, a set of initiatives designed to reduce barriers to radically improve the growth of housing, including affordable housing throughout New York City.

A third is around the public realm. So many of the priorities described in the plan are really about, again, everything from taking cars off the roads to making communities more… Neighborhoods more walkable, including Midtown. One of the commitments is to create a position, director of the public realm, in City Hall to help coordinate a range of activities and planning activities so that some of the dreams described can come to reality. Getting to and from work, a range of initiatives from the MTA. One that I'm very excited about is city ticket, expanding city ticket to be 24/7 so that rides that start and end in the city on Metro-North or the Long Island Railroad are $5. I think this could have a radical impact looking at the data, the number of New Yorkers whose commutes could be severely reduced if they could take Metro-North or the Long Island Railroad, but they don't because of the current fares.

I think that alone will be transformative. But a range of other commitments... I was seeing in general over there, a range of other commitments that the MTA is making. Really amazing leadership, Janno. And then, childcare. I happen to believe... You always speak so passionately about childcare. A range of commitments around childcare ranging from clarifying and simplifying some of the rules that make it difficult to build childcare facilities in basements or on second floors, changing some eligibility requirements. For example, creating categorical eligibility for certain New Yorkers, including those on SNAP benefits and others. Continuing to expand incentives for private employers to create childcare options.

Childcare is such a powerful one two punch. Obviously, childcare has a transformative impact on human development, on brain development. So much brain development happens before the age of five. Childcare prevents a tremendous opportunity to deliver high quality, early education experiences to young people. But also, just time and time again, it is a single barrier that keeps so many New Yorkers, especially women, from being able to return to the workforce. And so, again, not to elevate any set of goals over the others, but those five in particular, I think, are going to be critical to driving the work forward and that they represent some of the priorities that we're going to be moving forward in the first instance.

Mayor Adams: I just want to add on the childcare piece. And we cannot thank the governor… Last year, during the last legislative session, we leaned into childcare and we were able to come up with incentives for those who retrofit their retail space into childcare locations. If you come back to the office and you know that you have a childcare provider downstairs of your building, it's just a real incentive. And we were able to get a substantial amount of money to decrease the cost of childcare for families. And then, yesterday's announcement, the chancellor, we looked at children with disabilities. It was unbelievable that we were not providing childcare seats universally for children with disabilities.

And we made a strong commitment to make sure we get an additional 800 seats so that those parents with children with disabilities. Number one, we made sure the hours were the same for the general student population and we made sure we increased the pay for the teachers. Because that bond between child and teacher, particularly with the child with disability, it's a crucial bond. And we have not been retaining those teachers and it was a big mistake. And so, as we look at the different rivers that's going to feed our sea of prosperity, we have to make sure not one of those rivers have a dam. And right now, there are too many dams. We got to tear down those dams and let that river flow freely.

Governor Hochul: On the topic of childcare, I have been, for 10 years, wanting to see the evolution that has occurred. Because for the longest time, people said, "If you're going to have kids, well that's your family's problem. You work that out yourself." And I've said, "No, this is an economic challenge for society, it's a problem for businesses." And I spent time as chair of the task force, as lieutenant governor, going all over the state. And I finally, during the pandemic, would talk to CEOs from Manhattan to Buffalo and say, "Why aren't people coming back?" And I finally heard from male CEOs saying, "Well, they're not coming back because we don't have childcare for them." I said, "Bingo." Because it's society's responsibility.

And the beneficiaries will not just be the children and the parents, but the businesses. This makes you more competitive. And I've said to CEOs from big tech companies all over, I said, "You build a childcare center on your site and you make that an employee perk or help share the cause, people..." You can say, "Why aren't more women in tech?" Women and young men will be banging down the doors to work at your place. So this is to your competitive advantage. And if we have to work out the barriers of where the childcare centers can go, we'll work on that. I mean, that's regulatory, but I'm so glad that finally, people are getting it. And that is progress.

Miller: Thank you. So thank you for sort of unpacking the plan a little bit, talking about the three goals. So we want to reimagine our commercial districts in Manhattan and outside of Manhattan, really important. We want to make sure folks can get to work. We talked about that as well as making sure that our city continues to grow because if we're not New York City, if we're not continuing to grow. And then you talked about specific strategies, we know that this is a big and comprehensive plan. We're talking about childcare in terms of economic development. That's major. So this is a complicated, comprehensive plan and it's going to take all of us. It's going to take the public sector, the private sector, the nonprofit sector. And I know there'll probably be some announcements coming at the State of the City address and at the State of the State inauguration address. So we look forward to that.

But I want to set the stage for that. I want to set the stage and unpack some of the challenges that this plan is really solving for. If you can just really talk about, and this is for everyone on this panel. Dan, from your experience, you talked about the Olympics and sort of that comprehensive planning process. Richard, experience in administration standing up pre-K, and I mean that was major. And Governor Hochul, I mean, you were the governor of the best state in the nation. And Mayor Adams, you are the mayor of the biggest city in the nation. From your perspective, can you talk about… And best. (Laughter.)… Could you talk a little bit about what this plant is solving for? If we can unpack some of the issues and challenges from your specific experience, that would be great.

Doctoroff: Well, there are a lot of challenges that we have. Governor Hochul named a number of them. If you look at just the statistics, foot traffic in midtown and downtown is down significantly. Retail spending in midtown and downtown is down significantly. Restaurant and bar revenue is down across the city substantially. Lease rates or occupancy rates for commercial space are down. They're double the historical average over the last 25 years. And probably only going to get worse. That by the way, has huge implications for our tax base. I think in 2022, and this is phased in over time, the revenues from the commercial office space is down $384 million. And that's only going to grow unless we reverse these trends. 62 percent occupancy compared to pre pandemic on the subways on the weekdays, 70 percent on the weekends.

And by the way, as the governor said, we're stuck at roughly 47 to 50 percent of people coming into the office every day. So we know the world's going to change. We don't know exactly how it is going to change. And what this plan does is it says, yeah, the focus initially was on our central business districts, by the way, business districts around the city. But in order to address these issues and to address the problems that exist in the businesses, we have to think comprehensively. We want to give people the best options they can. We want to make New York the best place to work, period. But in order to do that, New York has to be the best place, period. And this plan is designed to dramatically accelerate that.

Governor Hochul: Just at a granular level. When I walked through Midtown and I see buildings that are only 40 percent occupied. Now back in 2020, 2021, 2022, I said, well, they're got to still come back. I never gave up. But at some point you have to deal with realities. I don't want to head into 2023 to 2030 and say, "Boy, I wish we had done something sooner." So let's not let a situation deteriorate because it just takes creativity. Take the same building that is 40 percent full, I'm looking at can people live there, can there be a childcare center there, can there be a nice restaurant, can we have co-working space, can we just use something creative? Have a tech hub. Bring in dorm housing for students.

I mean, there's some million things we can do, but I guarantee there's a barrier, a law, or a regulation that says, no, you can't. And there'd have to be financial incentives because the conversion of commercial space into residential, putting in all the bathrooms in the shower, it's expensive.

So we can't just sit in here in La La Land and hope it happens someday. We have to say, "Let's start now," because it's going to take some time. That's how a lot of people who work in our buildings, whether they're making a big salary or they're working at the hotel check-in desk where I'm friends first name base with everybody because I've lived there for eight years. I mean, these are people who don't want to have to commute in. They'd love to work and live in the same place. And we have this window of opportunity that if we seize it with the boldness that's required, we can get it done. That's what I'm talking about, that micro level… Take that building and make it magical.

Mayor Adams: And that was part of our Get Stuff Built blueprint that we put out because as we move forward, clarity is crucial. Each entity must be clear on their role. And so we saw from our Get Stuff Built with my chief housing officer and our team, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, we broke down what are the barriers, what can we do as a city? Let's not look towards Albany and the business community. Let's first see what must we do, the regulatory problems that were in place, bureaucracy of a bureaucracy going into our agencies like the Department of Buildings, the Fire Department and permit for fire extinguishers. We broke down every area that we are in the way of building. And then we put a real blueprint together for Albany and stated, "Here's what we need on the Albany and the federal level." Everything from bonding to bond increases and to just making it stop being so difficult to build in New York City and be creative and look at this landscape differently.

And the partnership of seeing what we must do on the city level, what we must do on the federal level and what we must do on the state level. And then the opportunities are here. We have Hakeem Jeffries leading the Democratic Conference in Washington, D.C. We have Chuck Schumer leading the Senate. We have a mayor and a governor here. If we operate as a team, we can start doing the type of building we need. We can start retrofitting some of the buildings that we need to fit today's situation. Before I forget, all the people who are walking around with the white coats on, let's thank them also. Let's thank our service because part of our recovery is being kind. Again, part of our recovery is acknowledging that our Jewish brothers and sisters are seeing 125 percent increase in anti-Semitism.

Part of our recovery is our AAPI community. Elders are afraid to go out because of the hatred that we're seeing. So part of our recovery as we build brick-and-mortar, we have to rebuild our spirits. People are in pain after COVID. And the emotional impact of COVID, it has made us turn on each other. And so part of this recovery is not on these pages, but it's in reality of our city. We must become a loving, kind, caring city again and saying thank you to these services and smile and acknowledging them, their presence. Saying thank you to the person that sells you that Metrocard, saying thank you to the firefighter or the police officers, a simple smile will make people feel good about doing this entire recovery that we are facing.

Miller: So I know I have to get the mayor and a governor out of here. So this is the last question. So we talked about equity. This plan is really looking at making sure that the entire city recovers through this economic development strategy. And we've seen a lot of plans in the past. Some are still sitting on shelves. What is it going to take to make sure that this plan gets done? Where is the city in the state and the private sector, everyone in this room as well as the panelists in getting this plan done? What is it going to take?

Buery: I'm going to just start quickly. I mean, one thing you are talking about, equity. In the plan, there were a variety of initiatives that are squarely focused on equity. Everything from affordable housing to physical accessibility. So it is embedded specifically in a number of the plans. But part of what we tried to do is to make sure that in each plan, those values were centered. And so when we think about how to move this forward, as you'll see in the plan, one of the thing that the city and state have committed to in this plan, and one of the things that I love about this, it's not a bunch of citizens making a recommendation to the mayor and the governor. It's really the mayor and the governor embracing wholeheartedly this vision in collaboration with the panel. Is that the state and the city have committed to a set of principles and operating mechanisms to make sure that within City Hall and within Albany, within the second floor in Albany that there is a institutional commitment to drive this progress forward.

But then beyond that, that's where we sort of come in. The way ultimately that we hold ourselves accountable to moving this forward is by holding ourselves accountable. This plan exists. I will speak for the panelists because I know we've all spoke together that although this part of the work we've done, this is probably the easiest part of the work. Like you say, it's pretty easy to ride a plan. This is a good one, but relatively easy to write the plan. I know that all of the panelists are all committed to continuing to both partner and pushing legislatures in Albany to make sure that the legislative agenda moves forward, holding the mayor and the governor accountable. And I know you're welcome and make sure that we actually move these things forward.

Like anything else, we're going to do it because we're going to do it. And if you were just saying to me backstage, you were the governor, but you were the governor are still one person. You need an army behind you to help push through the things that matter. And so I hope as we all read it, we all find ways to sort of find what resonates with us, what embraces with us, and then as business leaders or civic leaders to make your voices heard over the coming sessions to make sure that these plans move forward in the way that we design them too.

Mayor Adams: That's so true. And writing a plan, as you stated, is the easy part. Execution. How do we execute? How do we gauge each week, each month, each year? Are we moving towards our targets? Where do we need assistance from? The governor and I can't be the only two people who are navigating and lobbying our city lawmakers, our state lawmakers, our federal lawmakers. We all must be a part of it. Historically, you can't be a detached spectator on this one. We all must get on the field together. And so as we execute this plan, it is imperative that the entire team, it becomes part of the conversation. We need to read it. We need to look at, okay, what is our role in the plan? What am I supposed to do? We must do a self-reflection. Are we doing our part in business, government, community, nonprofits?

If those four cylinders are operating together, we can move this engine forward. And we cannot ignore the panelists on both sides. Those who have sat down, spent hours going over this, these are New Yorkers. We love this city, and we're not going anywhere. And those who decided to leave, my heart breaks for them because they're going to come back. This is New York City. We are resilient and together we can execute this plan. The “New” New York, we're going to build on our success.

Governor Hochul: And I understand. Well said, mayor. There's always cynicism because, well, one more group of people coming up with a plan and are the shelves big enough could go stack that on top of all the other decades of well-intended plans, but never executed. I've been an elected official since 1994. I have overseen master plans in towns. I've been in charge of the execution. I have scorecards that I look at. I'm very driven by data, but also the people. We've assembled the smartest people known to man or woman in governments, and I'm proud of that. And I know that we have the desire because we're going to be held accountable, not just to ourselves and to voters someday, that's all fine. But the generations from now who will look back and say, just like after 9/11, just after Sandy, just after the depression, people stood up and they fought back and they never gave up.

That's the whole genesis of the concept behind Albany. So we are going to keep at this and we'll come back a year from now. I'm going to make a date with the mayor. We're going to see you right here. Let's bring it out here and talk about our successes, where we failed, why we failed, and how we're going to try again.

Mayor Adams: That's right.

Governor Hochul: I mean, that's what you do. You keep moving the ball down the field no matter what. And we are the type of leaders who will get that because we have this sense of urgency about it because not just people in this room, but there's an entire city waiting and counting on us, and we will not let them down.

Mayor Adams: That's right.

Miller: We're going to hold you to that, a year from now. We're going to reconvene. Dan, Rich, Governor Hochul, Mayor Adams, thank you so much for gracing the ABNY stage today. Thank you so much for all the work that you've done on this plan and your commitment. We know that it's not going to be easy, but we are all dedicated to making sure that it happens. And thank you for all that you do for the city that we love, in the state that we love. Thank you.