If a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, what could $5 billion worth get you to swallow?
How about a Gotham-sized load of garbage called the City of Yes.
That’s what the Mayor is betting on, and unfortunately, it’s a bet poised to pay off.
Last week, two City Council committees conditionally approved the Mayor’s citywide rezoning plan designed to spur vast housing development after Hizzoner, with an 11th-hour assist by Governor Hochul, agreed to kick in $5 billion of “investments.” The full Council is expected to vote on the plan Thursday.
According to details of this deal sweetener provided to the Council this week, less than half, about $2 billion, would go toward improving storm water and drainage systems, sewers and streets, and expanding open spaces. Another $2 billion will provide a direct subsidy for affordable housing preservation and construction. Exactly zero dollars would go toward new schools, libraries, community centers or significant improvements to transit or utilities – you know, the kind of things that hundreds of thousands of new residents might need.
This is an absolute insult to every New Yorker.
First, a sum of $5 billion is paltry compared to the real-world cost of maintaining, upgrading and constructing the infrastructure necessary to keep this city running. Our ten-year capital strategy is a whopping $165 billion. It will cost at least $5 billion just to fix a section of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Last year the city and state broke ground on two new underground storage tanks to prevent sewage overflow along the Gowanus Canal. The cost? $1.6 billion.
And that’s if any of these projects finish on time and on budget, which is highly unlikely given our city’s track record. Just ask the residents of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, who waited nearly a decade for the Department of Environmental Protection to install 500 feet of sewer pipe between East 61st and 63rd streets.
Second, our city’s infrastructure is already woefully inadequate. Given the fact that City Planning’s flimsy environmental impact statement on the City of Yes barely addresses the infrastructure is needed to sustain tens of thousands of densely built new housing units, it’s clear the Mayor just pulled this $5 billion figure out of thin air.
Third, and perhaps most insulting of all, this money isn’t really real. There is nothing legally binding, no resolution, no law requiring this Mayor, or any future Mayor, to make good on these promised “investments.” We just have to take his word for it.
Color me skeptical.
For years, we’ve been grappling with excessive flooding, not just in coastal communities but in neighborhoods nowhere close to bodies of water, as well as deteriorating bridges and highways, and crumbling roads that have turned driving in this city into a Mad Max movie.
Last year our city had to declare a state of emergency after flooding from Tropical Storm Ophelia inundated our streets. In 2022, heavy rainstorms flooded subway stations and cut off service to parts of our city. In 2021 we tragically lost at least 13 New Yorkers to flooding during Hurricane Ida.
Where was the urgency then to make these critical “investments” in our infrastructure?
The truth is, the City of Yes really isn’t really about New York’s housing crisis. It’s about a flagging Mayor trying to secure his legacy.
If Eric Adams wants to be remembered as the mayor who “modernized” New York City, he should start by addressing our current infrastructure problems. He should start by finding a way to deliver projects without running up a tab that would make the Kardashians blush. He should work with city agencies and industry experts to cut through the bureaucracy and delays that make New York the most expensive city in the world to build anything. He should put together a comprehensive, long-term strategy for smart growth in our communities, and this time listen to the people who live there.
Maintaining and upgrading infrastructure is the most basic responsibility of our city government. It is not a bargaining chip.
Any promise to spend billions after Council approves the City of Yes is mere fool’s gold.
Joann Ariola is a member of the City Council representing neighborhoods in Queens that include Glendale, Ozone Park, Howard Beach and the western Rockaway peninsula.
