With a week to go until the state’s budget deadline, the governor and Legislature should find common ground on a set of legislative proposals that would lead to a measurable improvement in the speed with which the city builds parks, resilience projects, libraries and other critical infrastructure. These changes would help New York tap into federal infrastructure funding that will end up in other states if we don't reform our slow, burdensome construction process.  

In this op-ed, CUF’s Jonathan Bowles and Trust for Public Land's Carter Strickland urge the governor and Legislature to support the nine common sense legislative proposals advanced by the city’s Capital Process Reform Task Force, a group that includes leaders from labor, the construction industry and the minority- and women-owned business enterprise community. The bills would cut years off New York’s delay-ridden capital construction projects and save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year. Mayor Eric Adams's administration is in the process of taking 30 key steps to adopt several much-needed recommendations from its Capital Process Reform Task Force that are within city control. But the city cannot do it all on its own—many of the most important reforms can only be addressed with legislation in Albany. 

Read the full op-ed here. 

This op-ed builds on the Center's ongoing research on the city's aging infrastructure and capital construction process, including reports Stretching New York City's Capital Dollars, Caution Ahead: Five Years Later, A New Leaf: Revitalizing New York City’s Aging Parks Infrastructure, Slow Build, op-ed "Let’s Overhaul The City’s Capital Process For The Sake Of Our Parks, Playgrounds And Libraries," and event "Reforming NYC's Capital Construction Process  for Libraries, Parks, Museums, and Other Public Buildings."