My fellow New Yorkers: 

New York City is at a crossroads. We need bold, clear leadership to unite  us and move us forward. But that path must also be lit with ideas for action.  As a lifelong New Yorker who faced homelessness, hunger, economic hardship  and brutality at the hands of police as a young man, I know all too well the  systemic problems that have kept this city from reaching its true potential  for generations. 

Now that we face this pandemic and its economic fallout, we must ask  ourselves a question that will determine the future of our city: Are we going  to try to fix our old problems, or just our new ones? 

Each mayoral candidate must answer that question and then provide real,  actionable ideas and goals to help us reach new heights. That is why I am  sharing more than 100 things I will do as mayor to ensure a better future while  addressing both the challenges of the present and the inequities of the past. 

All of these steps forward are guided by a simple truth: government  

inefficiency leads to social injustice. And these steps will make New York’s  government smarter and more effective in order to provide a safer, fairer  city that is better prepared for the future. 

When government performs better—more effectively and with the right  priorities—there is nothing that cannot be accomplished, including  

overcoming inequality, an economic crisis and COVID-19. 

But this is just the beginning. As the campaign goes on, I will detail specifics  about key action items on this list and put out other policy papers on critical  subject areas that can act as a blueprint for our new city. 

The people of New York are what make this city great. With better government  and the right leadership, they will get the city they deserve. That better brand  of New York government takes care of New Yorkers when they need it, provides  a path to success when they look for it, and leads the world in its commitment  to equality, opportunity, and quality of life. That is the promise of New York;  a promise that must be kept. 

Since I was a young man, that is the city I dreamed of. Now, this is my vision  for all of us. Here are my 100+ Steps Forward for New York City. 

 

Government

Build One Data Platform For The Entire City Government
Believe it or not, nearly all City agencies currently operate wholly separately from one  another, not sharing data or metrics. By combining all agency metrics onto a single  platform similar to CompStat and using analytics to track performance in real time,  we can go from a reactive approach to City management to being proactive and,  eventually, predictive. The cost savings and improved performance will save billions  of dollars and deliver far better services to New Yorkers. 

Give New Yorkers A Real-Time Score  For Government Performance
By creating one data platform for all City operations, we can also create a continually updated  public score for each agency going far beyond the Mayor’s Management Report, based on the  performance relative to its stated goals for the year. Boston already does this with its  CityScore program. 

Coordinate Public And Non-Profit Delivery Of Services
New York City relies heavily on non-profits to provide critical services to New Yorkers that are  funded by the City. But there is no central authority in City government that oversees and  coordinates delivery of these services on a day-to-day basis. Because of this, we are not finding  efficiencies and savings that can help us better deliver services to more New Yorkers. That is why  we will create a real-time reporting system for the delivery of services across a unified network,  overseen by the First Deputy Mayor. 

Save $1.5b And Avoid Layoffs By Simply  Not Hiring Anyone New For Two Years
We can significantly reduce labor costs by $1.5 billion through attrition by not replacing retiring  or resigning City workers and working with the State to offer early retirements to others over the  next two years. This will also allow us to retain the workers we need to deliver vital City services. 

Launch Mycity, A Single Portal For All City Services And Benefits
It has never been more important that New Yorkers receive the full support of their  government. Imagine typing only one number into a secure app or Web site and  instantly receiving every service and benefit you qualify for—such as SNAP—without  any paperwork, as well as constant up-to-date information that will help you protect  you and your family. If you own a business, you can manage City paperwork through  it. If you are making repairs to your property, you will have direct access to the De partment of Buildings. And, if you opt-in to using a chip-enabled City ID, you can sail  through in-person interactions with City agencies, instantly have access to a bank  account, and even get City loyalty discounts at participating local businesses. With  the technology now available, there is no reason New York City cannot do that for  every New Yorker. This is a 311 for the digital age, and so much more. 

Mandate Efficiency
By instituting a standing Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG), we will reduce agency spending  at least 3-5% by applying an efficiency mandate that eliminates ineffective programs and  unnecessary spending, while utilizing an inequality impact test so that programs vital to lower-in come New Yorkers are protected.  

Speed Our Turnaround With A Recovery  Share For Ultra-Millionaires
We can generate $1-2 billion annually by instituting a “Recovery Share”—a modest increase to the  income taxes of city earners who make more than $5 million a year, sunsetting after two years.  Those funds would go directly into initiatives that help us bounce back from the pandemic,  including testing and vaccination programs, anti-hunger efforts, and financial help for those  New Yorkers and industries hardest hit by COVID-19. 

Make City Agencies Work Together
The root of our City’s inefficiency is in its agencies, which work in parallel, instead of in  concert—and often in direct conflict with each other. By mandating inter-agency coordination  and designating existing senior staff to a citywide council that meets regularly to align goals,  we will institutionalize coordination to reduce inefficiency and inequality. 

That council will be tasked with three specific mandates: 

• Define the mission of each agency 
• Ensure the missions of the agencies meet the overall mission of the City government as  • defined by city leadership 
• Evaluate agencies to ensure no agency’s actions conflict with another agency 6

Bring The City To The Community
The problem with City services isn’t just the lack of them--it is access to them. We  must bring the City to the community, right to the doorstep of New Yorkers. Creating  a program that helps New Yorkers is only half the job; educating New Yorkers about  it and delivering those services is also necessary for it to be effective. We can do this  by equipping City workers with computer tablets that are connected to the City’s  unified digital platform and sending them into the areas with the greatest need for  City services, setting up shop in open storefronts, NYCHA complexes and even parks.  These workers can also connect New Yorkers to federal services and programs that  will help us return some of the $20 billion-plus a year that New York taxpayers send  to D.C.that we do not get back. 

Appoint An Efficiency Czar
Efficiency mandates mean nothing without oversight and a leader dedicated to ensuring success.  The Efficiency Czar will oversee the standing Program to Eliminate the Gap and conduct quarterly  agency and department audits to continuously uncover inefficiency in the City government and  make suggestions for changes. The Czar will also oversee the evaluation of large City contracts  —particularly related to recurring expenses such as utility bills—and partner with companies that  are incentivized to find cost savings. 

Find Better Deals
Far too many City contracts just keep getting renewed or extended despite poor performance.  At the beginning of the new administration, all contracts over $10 million will be put under  immediate review, and those that are ineffective, or can be done better by the City,  will be eliminated. 

Find Value And New Revenue From City Properties
New York City owns and controls billions-of-dollars worth of property across the five boroughs,  representing huge potential value and revenue to pay for critical City services when we most  need them. We will immediately do a complete inventory of all City properties and determine  best use—whether they should be utilized by government agencies, used for housing or services,  sold or leased—in order to reduce costs across City government and yield income that can be  put toward core services to maintain and improve quality of life. 

Maintain Our Infrastructure with Non-Profit Partnerships
At a time when we are facing massive multi-billion-dollar City deficits, New York needs to be  creative about how it pays for and manages expensive pieces of its essential infrastructure.  For instance, by expanding the role of franchises to handle capital projects in our parks,  we will partner with conservancies who can execute work faster and cheaper than the City. 

Use Our Leverage As A Client To Create A Fairer Economy
To keep good jobs in New York and advance our goals for a fairer economy, we will reward busi nesses that hire local workers and benefit minority and female owners and workers—especially  on City-financed projects. Specifically, businesses will be asked to commit to hiring 75%  city-based workers, prioritizing M/WBE contractors, and ensuring their contractors pay a living  wage and report their workers’ residency and ethnicity statistics. Employers who agree to  these terms could benefit from tax breaks and special consideration for City contracts.

 

Public Health

Bring Health Care Resources Directly Into Low-Income Areas
Two major reasons that the pandemic hit lower-income communities the hardest are  lack of access to healthcare and a near total failure by government to effectively reach  those communities on the ground. During the pandemic and after, health profession als should be paired with local organizations and workers to go into those same com munities and set up in NYCHA complexes and open storefronts, partnering with public  and private providers, creating a one-stop shop for basic exams, preventive care, and  resources to live a healthier life. These locations would be accessible to any New Yorker,  including those who are uninsured or undocumented. 

Treat Social Issues As Part Of Health Care
Poverty, homelessness, unemployment and food insecurity all directly lead to poor health—yet  hospitals are largely not equipped to address those issues. By utilizing the extra capacity in H+H  hospitals to co-locate social services, we will address both the social and physical causes of  illness, leading to much better outcomes and cost savings. 

Integrate Housing Assistance Into Hospital Stays
Every $1 invested in housing and support is estimated to reduce public and hospital costs by  $2 the following year and $6 in subsequent years. That is why we will identify if there are  housing issues for each indigent patient and offer direct housing help at hospitals through  community-based organizations. 

Expand Preventative Healthcare At H+H
Our healthcare system should include far more education and resources to promote lifestyle  medicine habits, such as healthy eating and self-care, that can treat and prevent illness. We will  open additional health clinics like the one we established at Bellevue Hospital, the Lifestyle  Medicine Program, to teach healthy habits, prevent and reverse chronic disease, and promote  preventive care. 

Significantly Increase Covid-19  Testing, Education And Treatment
During the pandemic, the City is relying far too much on private health companies  and hospitals to conduct COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. And we have failed to  adequately address the lack of information and spread of misinformation in hard-hit  lower-income communities—especially those that do not speak English—through  credible messengers who can help prevent the spread through education and re sources. Now we must also get those same communities vaccinated as quickly as  possible. To do that, let’s engage an army of messengers using the infrastructure of  the recent census outreach program, working with local organizations. And let’s put  COVID-tasked health workers directly on the ground in dedicated spaces in lower-in come areas, including storefronts and pharmacies for an expanded footprint. 

Form A Unified Citywide Hospitals Network
COVID-19 showed us how lack of coordination between our health providers creates  inefficiencies and inequities that cost lives. When the system is set up to equitably distribute  poorer, uninsured patients, outcomes will improve. We will form a unified citywide hospitals  network that coordinates care for indigent patients and shares data for more efficient use of  the city’s collective healthcare resources in a crisis across both private and public hospitals. 

Manage Our Food Resources To Fight Hunger
There is an overall lack of information of available food resources throughout the five boroughs.  Poor communication and information sharing negatively impacts efforts to connect food  insecure individuals with SNAP benefits, food pantries, soup kitchens and other food resources;  and this is evident now more than ever in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will form an  integrated and community-engaged structure to coordinate food policy in NYC. A critical  component of this structure will be to create and maintain easily accessible databases that  New Yorkers and public officials can use to monitor and ensure equitable access to nutritious  food across all of our communities. 

Address The Needs Of Those Living With  Serious And Persistent Mental Illness
Sometimes the best policy is not something new and flashy, but rather to double down on  programs with proven track records. We know, for instance, that the Fountain House model of  care—which creates structured therapeutic social settings for members—helps people living  with serious and persistent mental illness transition from therapeutic to non-therapeutic settings.  Individuals who use Fountain House for residential rehabilitation services are consistently less  likely to be admitted to the hospital or to use the emergency department. So we will expand this  program citywide. 

Rein In Hospital Costs
Costs for care and procedures to patients can vary wildly from hospital to hospital in the city,  surprising New Yorkers—even those with private insurance plans—with massive bills and indicat ing that pricing in some cases is more about profits than the actual cost of healthcare. To reduce  the cost of healthcare for New Yorkers we will: 

• Reveal the true cost of healthcare by requiring greater transparency by providers both at the  point of care directly to patients and in providers’ overall reporting to the public. • Convene a roundtable of unions across sectors to collectively bargain with hospital systems in  order to standardize pricing. 
• Push the State to require hospitals to charge the same amount for each procedure and require  insurance companies to pay the same amount as well. 

Protect Safety Net Hospitals 
Our safety net hospitals have long been under-funded and were teetering on the brink even  before COVID hit. Federal funds to fight the virus have kept them afloat for now—but the State  has to adjust funding to shore them up long-term. And the City must also do more. To help  safety net hospitals survive, we will pair them up with wealthier hospitals that are able to  negotiate more financially beneficial rates with commercial insurers because they treat far  more of their customers. The hospitals will then share those savings in a pool, using their  buying power to lower costs for outer-borough safety net hospitals that need financial help.

 

Public Safety

Reduce Crime By Having Cops Focus On Police Work
Most people don’t realize that a large number of our cops don’t actually spend their  workdays fighting crime. Many, for instance, do clerical work, move barricades, and  drive trucks. And even police officers tasked with fighting crime spend huge amounts  of their time on court appearances and paperwork, not out in the street or conducting  investigations or preventing crime. We can save $500 million annually through strategic  civilianization of NYPD units where the existing ratio of police officers to civilian workers  is simply not necessary, and by lowering overtime costs using technology to limit time  wasted on paperwork and court appearances. That money can then go right into pro grams proven to reduce crime, such as our Crisis Management System. 

Target Gun Violence
The number one driver of crime spikes in the city right now—and the perception that we  are moving backward on crime—is gun violence. We must reverse this troubling trend, fast.  To do that, we will: 

• Reinvent the anti-crime unit as an anti-gun unit, hiring officers with the skills and  temperament for this kind of intense, on the ground police work, targeting known  shooters with precision policing tactics. 
• Fully fund the City’s Crisis Management System and allow for more centralized  coordination between violence interrupters and different organizations throughout  the city, including our hospitals. 
• Convene citywide clergy leaders and law enforcement officials to partner on public  safety initiatives in hotspots. 
• Form a Tri-State commission to formulate policy proposals that would stop the flow  of illegal handguns into our communities. 
• Prevent guns from coming in through our bus and train stations with spot checks  like the ones we use in subway stations. 

Deal With Crime Spikes Before They Get Out Of Control
By using real-time governing tools and tracking crime trends to become predictive, we can  quickly shift NYPD resources from one community to another to reverse bad trends. For instance,  we will regularly shift detectives and other officers from low-crime areas to crime hot-spots.  

Tackle The Trauma That Festers In  Communities Experiencing Gun Violence
Living in a high-crime community and experiencing gun violence creates trauma that impacts  a youth’s ability to perform in school and achieve in life. Without adequate services that address  trauma and allow for healing, youth are placed at higher risk of incarceration, teenage pregnan cy and homelessness. Prevention and follow up measures that serve to heal and support these  youth are best delivered by trauma-trained credible messengers paired with mental health  professionals, social services and violence interrupters. We will recruit, hire, and train community  residents who have real-life experience to provide an immediate post-crisis healing space for,  and to develop a working relationship with, affected youth. This helps reduce feelings of isolation  and mistrust, cultivate shared investment of community-centered healing, and reduce the fear  often associated with living in a high-crime, high-poverty neighborhood. 

Add Local Black And Brown Officers Who Will Respect  And Protect New Yorkers
One reason the NYPD continues to be plagued by incidents of bias and brutality is  that the department still needs to become much more diverse. We will address this  by recruiting from the very same neighborhoods that are suffering from crime, which  are mostly Black and Brown, and by allowing peace officers at City agencies—who  are not police officers and who are also more likely to be Black and Brown—to be  promoted to the NYPD. 

Train New Nypd Leaders At Top Institutions
The biggest companies in the world regularly send their executives to executive training programs  at elite institutions. Our next generation of police leadership should have access to the same  training to improve department performance—both on crime and civil rights. The department will  work with private companies who are willing to sponsor spots for NYPD supervisors at the leader ship academies they send their own management staff to, helping train a new generation of brass  to think critically, behave honorably and lead effectively.

Publicize The List Of Cops The Nypd  Is Monitoring For Bad Behavior
The NYPD keeps its own “monitoring list” of cops with records of complaints and violent incidents.  We will make it public to be transparent and build trust. 

Make It Easier For Good Cops To Identify Bad Cops
Most police officers could tell you about a few bad cops they work with or have run in to—and  most cops resent their behavior because it brings down their profession and makes it harder for  them to do their job. At the same time, it is dangerous for cops to report those bad apples. So we  will make it easier for cops to anonymously report bad behavior by their colleagues that results in  swift action through an outside system overseen by the Department of Investigation, protecting  whistleblowers and exposing problem police. 

Create A Citywide Law Enforcement  Intelligence Committee
To improve NYPD transparency and oversight over sensitive policing operations while still  maintaining needed information security, we will create a citywide law enforcement intelligence  committee. The NYPD will regularly report to and share information with the committee, which  will include the mayor, council speaker, council public safety chair, public advocate and borough  presidents. Each of these individuals will receive top secret clearance. The committee can also  then vote to determine when and how information on operations is disclosed to the public,  rather than relying on the NYPD to make proactive disclosures. 

Connect Precincts To The Community
To make precinct houses more accessible to the communities they serve, we will revamp them  to be more welcoming; improve them with public high-speed internet and wi-fi access; and hire  specialized outreach and public information staff to change the culture of the houses into places  where residents can come to learn about and participate in social and NYPD services and  programs, particularly for families, children and youth. 

Empower Communities To Have A Say In Their Precinct Leadership
Community policing is just a slogan if the NYPD is not, in fact, acting on what a community wants  and needs. We will empower community boards and precinct councils to play a role in approving  and vetoing by supermajority any precinct commander candidates and community affairs officers  within their respective areas.

Address Domestic Violence Abusers’  Trauma So They Stop Perpetuating  Violence
The NYPD responds to approximately 230,000 domestic incidents each year and 18% of  homicides in NYC are due to domestic violence. Many abusers are repeat offenders. We must  acknowledge that current programming to change abusers’ behavior is insufficient and doesn’t  deal with root causes, which are often traumas experienced by the abuser themselves. To address  this, we will launch the “Family Violence Perpetrator Program”, based on cognitive and behavioral  therapy, in order to evaluate abusers’ traumas and treat them to prevent further violence

 

Economy

Keep Businesses Open And Employees Working With Tax Relief
Business owners are struggling to stay open as income for many stays low during the  pandemic, forcing them to lay-off workers and close-up shop. To keep New Yorkers  working—particularly in the service industries—we will allow businesses that pay the  Commercial Rent Tax a break for two years if they demonstrate hardship and commit  to certain employment levels. 

Attract New Out-Of-Town Businesses
The Relocation Employment Assistance Program (REAP) has successfully drawn new businesses  here from outside the state by providing a tax credit per employee per year if they locate in  certain areas of the city. We will expand that to bring more business to New York. 

Make NYC The Life Sciences Capital Of The World
Life sciences is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world—and these companies want  to locate in cities where they will have access to leading hospitals, universities and investors.  To bring them to New York, we will double-down on the existing life sciences initiative with incen tives and zoning changes that will draw in private investment and federal dollars for research. 

Create “Tax-Free Tuesdays”
Out-of-town tech companies, such as Amazon, have asserted market dominance in our city at  the expense of small business owners—an existential problem for our small businesses that only  deepened during the pandemic. This is why we will implement a weekly sales tax holiday, every  Tuesday, on services and products that are more likely to be paid for in-person to incentivize  New Yorkers to spend locally. We will offset the cost of this weekly holiday by more fairly taxing  online transactions such as streaming services, which are not currently taxed. 

Allow For More Local Economic  Development Groups
To create on-the-ground leadership that will aid local economic growth, we will ease restrictions  for communities to form new Business Improvement Districts and merchants’ associations along  diverse commercial corridors. 

Expand The Earned  Income Tax Credit
In order to keep precious dollars in the hands of New Yorkers who most need it—and  who are most-likely to put it right back into our local economy—we will boost the City’s  Earned Income Tax Credit amount for frontline workers by increasing their share to 30%  of the Federal return. 

Be The Back Office For Our Small Businesses
It is estimated that on average, small business owners spend 120 work days a year on all of the  administrative tasks that come with owning a business. If the City offers “back office” assistance  for these small businesses through local Chambers of Commerce, our mom and pop shops and  entrepreneurs can save time and money on accounting and compliance needs, and focus on  growing their businesses.  

Slash The Red Tape
Small businesses pay huge fees just to launch and stay in business, and then face large fines  for relatively small violations—many of which are due to lack of education about the law, not  knowingly breaking it. We will make the permitting process easier and cheaper through our  online system, and institute a warning system for violations that are not related to serious health  or safety issues so that first-time offenders are given education in lieu of a fine. We will provide  additional clarity to those who commit violations by categorizing every violation in a three level  warning system: red, yellow and green. Each color corresponds to the number of days the owner  has until the cure must be implemented. 

Eliminate The Fees For Starting (Or Re-Starting) A Small Business
The last thing we want to do in an economic crisis is charge people to start a new  business—and re-start a closed one. All filing and registration fees will be eliminated. 

Save Our Hotel Industry
Tourism is a key sector of our economy, and we must keep the welcome mat out for visitors who  bring billions of dollars into our city every year, employing hundreds-of-thousands of New Yorkers.  That means our hotels must stay open and their 50,000 workers must stay at work. To do that, we  will suspend property tax debt interest for two years so that we do not push financially distressed  hotels deeper into debt, forcing closures and layoffs. 

Serve Restaurants And Bars Relief
In addition to providing building owners tax abatements so that their tenants—such as restau rants and bars—can remain open, the State should also share the cost of restaurants’ workers for  a period. Instead of simply paying unemployment to out-of-work food service workers, the State  should be splitting the cost of their salaries with restaurant owners who commit to a certain level  of employment, wages and hours while adhering to capacity limits and other health regulations.  We will fight for this critical initiative to save our restaurant industry in Albany. 

Start A Citywide Incubator To Incentivize Solving Intractable City Problems
The City, in partnership with investors and businesses prepared to invest in the long-term  success of New York, will start an incubator to fund innovators focused on solving systemic  citywide problems that lead to inequities. New Yorkers do not need another meal delivery  service or another social media sensation nearly as much as we need our brightest minds to  come together and solve issues such as job placement and outer-borough transportation. 

Encourage Startups In Industries  Of The Future To Locate Here
It is far too difficult for innovators and entrepreneurs to start their businesses in New York City.  Real estate costs and high costs of living have made some of the most brilliant talent turn to  other cities. We have suffered as a result because we have missed out on the job opportunities  and the birth of fast-growing industries. So we will incentivize startups to move to our outer-bor oughs where property costs are more affordable and to develop fellowship programs with CUNY  schools in exchange for tax credits. We will also interview failed start-ups to see how the city  could better serve entrepreneurs. 

Make New York City The Wind Power  Hub Of The Eastern Seaboard
With waterfront assets like SBMT, the Red Hook Container Terminal, Port Richmond, the  Brooklyn Navy Yard, and others, we have an opportunity to corner the market on wind power  manufacturing and other green technologies. We must create a pipeline of education training  from middle school, high school, college to educate our young people in this field using the  forthcoming Harbor School Middle School, the Harbor School on Governors Island and  universities like Kingsborough CC. 

Expand The City’s M/Wbe Program
Right now, the City does not do nearly enough to ensure that its M/WBE program is effectively  leveling the playing field for business owners of color, who are now in a much more dire situation  during COVID. For instance, M/WBE companies are often unable to participate in the City  contracting process because prime contractors are not aware of how to connect with them.  To fix this, we will match M/WBE companies with prime contractors and other agencies. We  can do that by developing a Preferred M/WBE questionnaire to determine which companies  are qualified to participate in bids and log the survey data in a searchable database.20

Develop A Next-Level Citywide Job  Training And Placement Program
The City has been trying to train its workforce and connect them to better job opportu nities for generations, with varying success. Now we face a global marketplace where  there is more competition than ever for labor and the skills needed for emerging, lucra tive industries like artificial intelligence, cyber security and life sciences are in demand.  We are woefully underprepared for this moment, revealed by the fact that we had hun dreds-of-thousands of jobs that we could not fill before the pandemic. 

Our program will go to the next level to prepare our workforce by utilizing metrics and  connecting human services nonprofits, the private sector, and the communities that  most need jobs to identify skill gaps and focus our training on areas we know will have  jobs available for our workers. We will implement a data-oriented system with holistic  and detailed skills mapping of the labor force by City Council district. Companies look ing to hire will then submit a set of jobs and skills profiles. From there, we will match  workers with job training and placement providers using local organizations and work ing with landlords with open storefronts to create service centers and outreach pro grams. Lastly, we will develop a public-private partnership with large companies estab lished in New York to develop a talent portal with a centralized system of resumes and  hiring information using a tool similar to the college admissions Common App process. 

Invest In Green Infrastructure Through The City’s Capital Program
New Yorkers spend roughly $19 billion per year on energy and it happens through the city’s  highly interdependent electricity, natural gas, and steam networks. This infrastructure is  considered some of the oldest and most concentrated in the nation. By upgrading our electrical  grid, transitioning our power source to wind and away from natural gas, and implementing traffic  controls to reduce idling, we can improve the quality of life of New Yorkers and create thousands  of new jobs, especially those in low-income communities facing environmental injustice. These  investments are not only the moral path to take, they also make common economic sense  because they will create good paying jobs for New Yorkers and businesses will be able to rely  on resilient infrastructure in the face of a rapidly changing climate. 

Make The Summer Youth Employment Program Year Round
We know summer jobs programs help youth develop crucial skills, which lead to better criminal  justice, academic, and employment outcomes. In the immediate term, they also help families  make ends meet. We need to make these programs year round—and we will. 

Ensure Diverse, Equitable Growth
To ensure we are making our economy fairer as we make it larger, we will hire a Chief  Diversity Officer to drive change on equity for minorities and women, and also create a  tool to track the share of M/WBE contracts and how much the City is spending on those  companies versus others in real-time. We will also much more closely track who these  M/WBE employers and contractors are employing. And the Officer will be tasked with  tracking gender pay equity and the progress we are making toward closing the gap.  First they will focus on pay equity within City agencies and then we will push to track it  across private employers in the City. 

Help The Unbanked And Underbanked Build Wealth
New York City has 350,000 households that are unbanked and another 680,000 households  that are underbanked, meaning they must rely on services such as check cashing or payday  loans. Without access to proper banking we are sidelining thousands of people from our  economy and we are allowing industries such as payday lending to flourish that profit off of  poverty. Community-based banks in lower-income areas that remove minimum balance  requirements and overdraft fees will be granted property tax relief, or their landlords will,  in exchange for sharing that relief as a rent break.  

Create A Network Of Community-Based  Banks To Invest In Underserved Areas
Our locally owned businesses did not get adequate help from the federal aid package because  the federal government funneled money through big banks who were either unable or unwilling  to provide direct assistance—especially to small businesses in communities of color. We will  create a formal local banking network and help these lenders have a more robust equity base.  Once these lenders are eligible for State and federal loan programs (the way big banks have  long been eligible), they can work with the City to determine the best local small business  owners to lend to. 

Remind The World That Nyc Is Still  The Center Of The Universe
We will organize the largest employers in New York to develop, fund and implement a  marketing plan for our city to the rest of the world unlike any ad campaign we have ever  undertaken. In addition to pitching our city as the place to visit, live and invest, we will  showcase our commitment to public health and public safety to inspire confidence that  this is the place to be. 

Return To Urban Agriculture
Centuries ago, New York made its own food and the agriculture industry was one of its  largest employers. Today, we rely almost entirely on out-of-town, out-of-state, and out of-country producers for everything from the apple we buy at the bodega to the meals  

served to our kids in school. By creating a new set of building codes, business rules  and tax programs for urban farmers—and supporting local producers with guaranteed  City contracts—we will create jobs by building vast in-city sites that produce food for  restaurants, schools and food-insecurity programs through cutting-edge techniques  such as vertical farming and hydroponics, often sharing space with renewable energy  plants and other sustainability infrastructure. 

Reinvest In What Makes NYC Beautiful 
The pandemic has had an outsize impact on the arts and cultural institutions. Long-term this will  also hurt tourism, which provided 400,000 jobs pre-COVID. We will reduce unemployment in this  sector while returning our city to the pinnacle of arts and culture by: 

• Providing free space for artists to create by repurposing vacant storefronts to create free  co-working and studio spaces for creatives and collaborators. 
• Turning our open spaces into spaces for art by tasking the Department of Cultural Affairs  to greenlight more open spaces to be utilized as stages and for art installations. • Investing in green art by commissioning artists to paint murals with paint that turns  pollutants and harmful compounds into harmless nitrates and carbonates in the  atmosphere, beautifying our city as we rejuvenate it. 
• Creating a public/private partnership to create murals on blighted properties. 

Empower Immigrants With Municipal Voting Rights
There are more than 3 million immigrants in New York City. The vast majority of these  New Yorkers cannot vote in local elections even though many are legal tax-paying  residents. By allowing lawfully permanent residents and other non-citizens authorized  to work in the United States the right to vote, we will enfranchise nearly 1 million New  Yorkers who deserve a say in how their city is run—and who runs it.

 

Housing & Development

Add Housing—For Everyone—In Wealthy Neighborhoods
For years, our rezonings focused on adding apartments in lower-income areas—which  often just led to higher-income people moving in, making communities less affordable,  and often forcing out longtime residents. Instead, we will build in wealthier areas with a  high quality of life, allowing lower-and middle-income New Yorkers to move in by adding  affordable housing and eliminating the community preference rule in those areas, which  prevents many New Yorkers from living in desirable neighborhoods. 

Repurpose City Office Buildings
We will convert some City office buildings into 100% affordable housing by taking advantage  of more City workers working from home and consolidating workers that will still be in-person  to free up space. 

Allow Private Office Buildings And Hotels To Become Housing
The pandemic has unfortunately left many of our hotels and office buildings empty. In some  cases, their owners want to convert the buildings to housing, but current City regulations make  that either too expensive or too challenging. By making some zoning tweaks and other rule  changes, we can facilitate conversions where appropriate and add desperately needed housing  stock—particularly at hotels in the outer boroughs. 

Think Big By Building Small
Outdated rules prevent New York developers from building the kind of small, cheaper micro units that are common today around the world. Homeowners in single family zones are also  prevented from legally leasing “accessory units” like “granny flats”. And single room occupancy  units, or SROs, and basement apartments are still illegal, despite their common use elsewhere.  By allowing for all of these to be built or legally used, we will quickly add hundreds-of-thousands  of affordable apartments. 

Empower Community Development Corporations
Community development corporations (CDCs) were a major reason New York was able to build  its way out of the fiscal crisis in the 70s and 80s—by granting these local organizations property  and funding to bring economic investment to their own neighborhoods. We will do that again  to reinvigorate distressed lower-income areas by creating new economic activity and  affordable housing. 

Give Faith-Based Institutions The Tools To Provide Housing
Faith-based institutions have the social vision and local understanding to advance affordable  and supportive housing projects with excess development rights on their own properties,  but they also often do not have the financial or technical capacity to do so. We will partner  with faith-based institutions across New York City to leverage these development rights  for a public purpose. 

Prioritize Those Who Need Supportive Housing The Most
New Yorkers in local shelters—especially those who lived in the neighborhood beforehand and  were displaced—will be prioritized for supportive housing. So too will young people aging out  of foster care, who should be given every chance at starting off adulthood on the right foot. 

Improve Rent Subsidies To Prevent  New Yorkers From Becoming Homeless
New Yorkers on the brink of homelessness and in shelters need far greater assistance than is  available now to transition into permanent housing. One way we will accomplish this is by  increasing the value of the City FHEPS housing vouchers so they reflect the value of the housing  that is actually available in our city. There was a time when $1,323 for a one bedroom and $1,580  for a two bedroom was sufficient, but that time is long gone. And when the cost of a person in  the shelter system is $124, and the cost of a family is $196 per day, increasing the value of  vouchers is common sense governing. 

Give City-Owned Property To Non-Profit Land Trusts To Create Affordable Housing
Vacant and underutilized City property is a massive waste of our resources and often a blight  on neighborhoods. In the midst of this housing crisis, we will aggressively seek to partner  with community land trusts by offering properties to organizations that commit to building  permanently affordable housing. 

Establish Universal Broadband Access
Access to information should be guaranteed, like electricity and clean water. Yet, after  years of promises to close huge gaps in broadband access across the city, New York is  still shamefully behind in guaranteeing service—and now students forced to learn from  home are receiving sub-par or no education at all because of it. We will finally close the  broadband gap by using rezoning powers to require affordable Mandatory Inclusionary  Internet, creating incentives for 5G providers to offer affordable access, and forcing  cable providers to expand affordable internet offerings to every single low-income  New Yorker using requirements for their City contracts that are already in place. For  transparency, New Yorkers will also be able to track progress as companies lay fiber  optics in our communities through real-time GIS mapping that will be made available  online. And we can use proceeds from our Data Tax on Big Tech to pay for any capital  and digital literacy costs needed to ensure access to the Internet. This will allow for us  to create the remote learning option students need and deserve, while also providing  telehealth services to far more New Yorkers during the pandemic. 

Streamline The Process To Help New  Yorkers Who Are Behind On Their Rent
Currently, when New Yorkers fall on hard times and are behind on rent, their options to get help  involve navigating a long trail of red tape and bureaucracy with the City’s One Shot Deal and  CBO’s rent relief programs. It is an unnecessarily demoralizing process to endure multiple long  application processes while feeling the threat of eviction. Rent relief programs largely need similar  information from applicants such as amount owed, proof of residence, and a summary explaining  the hard times fallen upon. The City can create a common application for those in need of rent  relief and allow approved CBOs access to the information. It will also allow an applicant to go to  one place to see the status of their various applications for help with paying back arrears. 

Create Live/Work Communities
Neighborhoods that have a healthier mix of residential, commercial and retail space have done  better than single-use areas in the city during the pandemic because people are traveling less.  Live/work communities also use City resources more consistently and efficiently, are more  resilient to economic downturns, and can be safer because they are in constant use. 

Allow Building Inspections By Drones
One of the most expensive regulatory costs and biggest potential slowdowns for any building  developer is the inspections process—and those costs either stall growth or are eventually passed  on to tenants. Drones can and should be used to cut costs by performing inspections much more  efficiently and cheaply. 

Use City Offices As Anchor Tenants  In New Outer-Borough Development
By moving City offices from Manhattan to the outer-boroughs, we will free up density for  housing in high quality of life areas while stimulating growth in under-developed, underserved  areas around outer-borough transit centers. This shift must also be accompanied by increasing  intra-borough transit options—which will be one of our overall citywide transportation goals. 

Invest New Yorkers’ Taxes In New Yorkers
We will boost the local economy by prioritizing procurement of locally provided services and  city-made products for City contracts, and by adjusting building and zoning rules to speed the  growth of local manufacturers and producers. We will also engage in a “Loyal to NY” marketing  campaign to remind New Yorkers what great products and services are available to them that  are made and provided right in their own city. And we will report quarterly the percentage of  City contracts that are held by out-of-state vendors. 

Sell Nycha’s Air Rights To Raise Billions For Nycha Tenants
By selling the developable “air rights” over NYCHA properties to builders within the same  community district, we will raise up to $8 billion that can be used to make badly needed repairs  and quality of life improvements for NYCHA tenants. Local community developers—especially  non-profit groups—should get first shot at these air rights if they want them. 

Get More Money Out Of The Federal  Government For City Housing
NYCHA tenants are understandably skeptical of the City program to get more money out of the  federal government by transitioning some complexes to private management under the PACT  to Preserve program. But the program can also unlock billions of dollars to improve their homes.  To raise needed revenue and give tenants more control over the process, we will provide free  legal counsel to tenants going through the conversion. This will ensure that tenants can select  an attorney who they trust to fight for their needs and the confidence that they will end up with  the better housing that is promised. 

Keep Nycha Tenants Informed To Keep Nycha Accountable
NYCHA is notoriously opaque about progress on repairs and its own spending. This has led to  unacceptable conditions and huge deficits. We will apply crystal clear transparency through  constant reporting of progress on apartment and building repairs, as well as spending, posted  in real-time through a dashboard. We will also do an audit to see what budgeted money has  actually been spent. And we will promote further transparency and tracking by placing  QR codes on buildings as a way for anyone to point, click and track progress.  

Adopt Pet-Friendly Housing Policies
According to a study by the ASPCA, housing-related issues are the number one reason renters  give up their pets. NYC is a city of renters, and housing that is owned or operated by the City  of New York should not displace the cost of caring for animals on yet another City system—our  animal shelters. By adopting pet-friendly policies in our City-owned and operated housing  systems, we can keep pets out of the animal shelter by keeping them where they belong—with  the people who love them. 

Create A Livable City For New Yorkers Of All Abilities
Every New Yorker has the right to enjoy our city and to have access to the same basic quality  of life as their neighbors. Yet many of the approximately 1 million New Yorkers who live with a  disability are prevented from easily using City buildings, streets, and even housing because their  needs have not been prioritized. So we will conduct a citywide audit of City infrastructure and  properties —including cultural institutions and other groups that lease City property—to  determine where those needs are not being met, and then turn that into a plan for action.

 

Education

Move To A Full-Year School Year
Three hundred years ago, when children worked alongside their families on an agrarian  calendar, it made sense to take a few months off a year to tend to the crops. Those  days are long over. By moving to a full-year school year, we can much better utilize  our education infrastructure by creating more flexibility for parents in how—and when  —their child receives their education. This calendar change will also ensure our school  buildings stay open year-round and can be utilized for day-long activities, including  childcare, soft skills instruction and local programming. Learning during the summer  months also does not need to be limited to the school buildings; it can be a time when  teachers and students are encouraged to see the city as their laboratory, their theater,  and their museum. 

Give Homeless Families Local Preference For Schools
One of the worst effects of homelessness is how it destabilizes the day-to-day lives of children.  We will help prevent that by giving them priority at local schools, which can create needed  constancy and normalcy. 

Improve Health And School Performance With Healthier Food
There is clear evidence that what we eat—especially what children eat—significantly affects  mood, attention, and mental and physical health. Yet our schools continue to feed our children  empty calories and processed foods that impede their ability to thrive and achieve. Even worse,  some foods served in our schools, and the bad lifestyle habits eating them leads to, set children  on a path to developing chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. We were successful  in creating “Meatless Mondays” in schools—but that did not go nearly far enough. We will  completely overhaul the menu, focusing on whole, fresh foods, encouraging consumption  that leads to children’s improved health and school performance. 

Make Dyslexia Screening Universal
Studies show that up to 30-40% of inmates in prisons are dyslexic, indicating that students  whose learning challenges are not discovered are also not addressed, leading to avoidable  negative outcomes. By making dyslexia screening universal in City schools, we will identify  these challenges early and better ensure success for students.

Provide Every Parent Who Needs It With Childcare
Childcare in New York is outrageously expensive—and lack of affordable childcare is  harming parents’ ability to work and their children’s futures. Children without adequate  childcare—especially during the first 1,000 days of life—are much less likely to succeed,  and are much more likely to be Black and Brown. It is a moral imperative that we provide  childcare for every parent who cannot afford it, starting with children ages 0 to 3. This  will close a massive gap in care for the youngest New Yorkers at the most critical point  of their brain development, and free up parents—especially women of color—to power  our economy and excel in their own careers. 

We can start by removing the biggest cost to childcare providers of young children:  space. We will do this by prioritizing space in City-owned buildings for childcare,  offering density bonuses to residential building developers who guarantee permanently  free or low rent to providers, and with a tax break to office building owners and  other private building owners who create free space for providers—savings which will  be required to be passed on to parents. But we must also get much more out of our  federal government. And doing that on behalf of parents will be a top priority for the  Adams Administration. 

Greatly Increase Job Training In High School
We will expand programs for our high school students like the Career Technical Education  Industry Scholars Program and ApprenticeNYC, which teach fundamental skills that almost  anyone in manufacturing needs, and then match employers with employees. And we will add  and expand STEAM centers like the one at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to every borough and give  students the chance to earn certifications in fields that will lead to jobs, not just academic  degrees. 

Prioritize Schools Investment In Low-Performing Communities
There are both tangible and psychological problems created for students by a poor physical  educational environment—and student outcomes are clearly linked. That is why we will  prioritize Department of Education schools capital dollars to go toward the construction of  state-of-the-art buildings in particularly low-performing communities. Additionally, less than 20% of our schools are fully accessible to children with physical disabilities. All new construction  would be fully accessible. 

Institute A Robust Program For Culturally Aware Professional Development
Nearly one-half of all New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home, and new  New Yorkers from hundreds of different countries move here every year. Their kids may have  very different cultural norms that affect how they learn and their ability to succeed in an  American classroom. We will create a professional development program for educators to  ensure they are culturally responsive to those students. 

Create A Comprehensive Life Skills Curriculum
Every adult knows that life skills are just as necessary to live a productive, successful life as  academic knowledge. Unfortunately, our schools largely do not teach skills like social interaction  and job interview etiquette. We will create a life skills curriculum to prepare every public school  student to enter the adult world and work in it. We will also make internship and externship  programming available to every high school student to put those skills to work right away. 

Create The Best Remote Learning  Experience In The World
The City’s initial rollout of remote learning has been completely unacceptable. Tens of  thousands of kids are simply not logging-on on a daily basis because they don’t have  tablets or wi-fi, missing instruction that is costing them their future. At the same time,  educators have not received the training or support they need to ensure that the kids who are online are learning effectively. But remote learning is here to stay, and it can  improve education options for parents and students, as well as help desegregate our  classrooms if done properly. 

So, to create the best remote learning experience in the world for parents and students,  we will first place a Data Tax on the massive tech companies that sell our private data  to advertisers and others, and then use the proceeds to connect all New Yorkers who  need broadband access to a provider at subsidized or no cost, if necessary. We will  also use our buying power as a major client of Apple and Google to get hardware and  software at significantly less cost than what we are paying now. That cost savings and  new revenue from the Data Tax will help pay for a new unit of remote learning experts  who oversee the program and improvements, and who can improve the technological  literacy of students. From there, we will use remote learning as a vehicle to desegregate  New York City public education by opening citywide class opportunities with top-flight  educators and connecting them to students from all communities, transcending zip  code and income. 

Move From Cradle-To-Career To Prenatal-To-Career
It is true that early childhood development is critical and that attention on the 0-3 ages  must increase significantly, including much greater options for childcare, healthcare and  education. But we need to go even further and recognize that an expectant mother’s health  and environment during pregnancy can be just as critical to the health and ability of a child.  That is why we will become the global leader in the prenatal-to-career approach, with a much  more comprehensive citywide program for expecting moms and families that links them  to vital resources such as healthy foods, prenatal classes and doulas. 

Open Up School Buildings To The Community
Many useful school spaces lie dormant before and after school hours, as well as on the  weekends because extended use permit fees are a barrier to entry for those serving the  underserved. After years of advocacy, we launched a $2 million pilot program through the  DOE to provide community-based organizations with greater access to the use of school  facilities, without incurring the cost of space usage. We will expand this effort to reach a  greater number of CBOs that provide cultural, sports, or enrichment programming for youth.

 

Transportation

Build Out A State Of The Art Bus Transit System
New York City can’t build its way out of congestion so it must use its existing roadways  more efficiently. The fastest way to do this is to prioritize the infrastructure that  New York City controls, namely its street network. We must act quickly to improve the  commutes and quality of life for millions of New Yorkers through re-envisioning our  streetscape. This means striping more bus lanes, building an interconnected Bus Rapid  Transit system starting on roadways with service roads in transit deserts, and creating  more busways throughout New York City. 

Create Shared Electric Bike And Scooter Networks For Transit-Starved Communities
Millions of New Yorkers—mostly people of color in lower-income and middle-income  communities—are not within walking distance of the subway and do not have access to decent  public transit options. CitiBike says it will close some of those gaps—but it is right now largely in  higher-income areas. To connect underserved communities to mass transit and allow them to get  around their communities and connect to transit more easily, we will create a citywide network of  shared electric bikes and scooters that prioritizes those New Yorkers disconnected from transit. 

Commit Capital Funding To Bike Share Expansion
New York City is home to the only bike share system that does not receive public subsidy.  To quickly expand our bike and scooter share system to neighborhoods across New York City  that are transit deprived, we will upfront capital costs for private providers. 

Get Creative About Creating Safe Byways For Bikes
In addition to building out protected bike lanes throughout the city, we will also find  unused space such as road space under elevated highways and railways that can become  bicycle superhighways. 

Create A “Safe Routes To Parks” Program
Build out protected bike and pedestrian infrastructure to safely connect neighborhoods far  from large open spaces to destination parks. 

Make New York More Inviting And  Livable By Making It More Walkable
We will pedestrianize more of the city where there are multiple transit options and where we  can discourage car use to attract visitors with more open space and open markets, while  improving public safety and making the city more livable for its residents. 

Recapture Land Lost To Robert Moses-Era Highway Projects
New York CIty can’t grow more land so we must recapture lost land. That means jumpstarting  projects like the BQ Green and PX Forward, and map and analyze opportunities across the  five boroughs to recapture lost land to reconnect our communities. 

Implement Municipal Car Share
We will implement a municipal car share system so that we can reduce our municipal fleet,  and find efficiencies while sharing resources across agencies. This will reduce congestion in  our central business districts where many of our agencies are located and create more  livable communities. 

Close “Missed Connections”
In an era of scarcity we must do more with our existing assets and increase mobility  for residents, including: 

• Free transfers for unconnected subway stations within a half-mile of one another. • Reopening closed subway entrances to improve access and mobility for riders. • Making permanent and expanding the Freedom Ticket program.  
• Mapping and connecting disconnected bike infrastructure.

 

Environment

Lead By Example On Climate Change
The City has placed a number of regulations on industries to meet necessary climate  goals. But the City remains behind on achieving its goals for itself, particularly goals re lated to renewable energy use and emissions. Climate change requires the transforma tion of multiple sectors, including energy, transportation and food—and these sectors  will be tracked and included in further measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  But we will also invest significantly in leading by example as a City government, gener ating our own green energy at wastewater treatment plants and placing solar panels on  City buildings. And we will invest in our ability to store energy and use it more efficiently,  retrofitting City buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Pay For A Citywide Organics Program By  Partnering With Private Processors
The City cut its organics collection program as part of its deficit reduction measures for the  current fiscal year. That was a mistake. The methane released from organic waste in landfills is  destroying our environment and speeding climate change. And the cost of sending that waste to  states far away increases in cost every year. To offset the cost of the collection program now while  we face a budget crunch, we will guarantee private processors long-term contracts in exchange  for picking up the cost of picking up the waste now. 

Prepare The Next Generation Of Green Workers
The green revolution is not just about saving our planet—it’s about creating new, good-paying  jobs. We will create a green economy curriculum for our high school students, connect them to  internships in this industry, and build a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) school that will  focus solely on green technologies and training for the jobs of the future. 

Invest In Electric Buses
To both protect the environment and make an investment that will save the City money on fuel  and maintenance savings, we will significantly speed up our conversion to an entirely electric bus  fleet. This can be achieved by raising money through the City’s capital program to pay for the  higher up-front cost of the vehicles against the long-term benefits.