Mayor Adams, Governor Hochul Launch "New" New York Blue-Ribbon Panel on Future of NYC's, Region's Economy

May 24, 2022

Robin Hood CEO Richard Buery, Former Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff to Lead Expert Panel Set to Convene in June

Panel Will Develop Recommendations for Reimagining How and Where People Work and Driving Inclusive Growth for the City and Region

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul today launched a “New” New York blue-ribbon panel to examine the future of New York City and the region’s economy, to be led by co-chairs Robin Hood CEO Richard Buery and former Sidewalk Labs CEO Daniel Doctoroff. The “New” New York panel — one of 70 concrete proposals Mayor Adams first announced in his “Rebuild, Renew, Reinvent Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery” plan in March — will develop actionable strategies for the resurgence and resilience of the city’s commercial districts. The initiative also builds upon Governor Hochul’s ambitious 2022 State of the State agenda and fiscal year 2023 New York State budget, which made historic investments to advance economic opportunity for New Yorkers across all communities.

The panel’s recommendations will focus on how and where people work as well as the mix and use of space in key employment centers, with a goal of minimizing vacancy, catalyzing vibrancy, and bolstering the tax base. It will also inform New York City’s path to an inclusive economic recovery with increased opportunities for New Yorkers to thrive in family-sustaining jobs.

“While our city continues to add jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the country, we have more work to do to ensure all New Yorkers can access family sustaining careers,” said Mayor Adams. “The experts on our ‘New’ New York panel will identify actionable strategies to build a more equitable economy, reimagine our central business districts, and prepare our city to lead in the industries of the future. I am extremely pleased to have Richard Buery and Dan Doctoroff lending their experience and creativity to this critical effort.”

“It is critical that we find new, innovative solutions to move New York’s economy forward as we continue to build back better than ever from the COVID pandemic,” said Governor Hochul. “The ‘New’ New York panel is laying the groundwork today to usher in a brighter tomorrow, and their expertise will help support bold initiatives in every corner of the state. I thank Richard Buery and Dan Doctoroff for leading this effort, and look forward to working with them to create a New Era for New York.”

“As we continue to rebuild our economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a responsibility to make sure all New Yorkers can share in the promise and opportunity of our city,” said New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development Maria Torres Springer. “A truly equitable recovery will require coordinated efforts from both the city and the state — and the ‘New’ New York Panel will provide us with a concrete roadmap for that collaboration. I look forward to working with Richard Buery and Dan Doctoroff in the months ahead as they lead this diverse group of experts.”

“There’s no place that is more innovative and primed for equitable economic growth than New York City,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Andrew Kimball. “I am thrilled Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams are convening the ‘New’ New York panel, and I am confident that their recommendations will improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers while also supporting the ways people will live and work in the future.”

“The economy of our region — and the nation — depend on a strong, vibrant, resilient New York,” said Empire State Development Commissioner, President, and CEO Hope Knight. “The ‘New’ New York panel convened by Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams includes some of the brightest and most determined New Yorkers, who — with their collective experience and expertise — will undoubtedly provide a thoughtful, actionable blueprint to expand New York’s economy and ensure it provides opportunity for all.”

“New York City has always found new ways to reinvent itself, and the post-COVID era will be no different, because New York’s dynamism, ambition, and entrepreneurial spirit cannot be matched. The central question for the future is not if New York will rebound but how and who will get to participate,” said Richard R. Buery, Jr. “How we reimagine our region’s economy and who we create new opportunities for will determine our city’s future competitiveness. Creating vibrant centers for commerce throughout the city underscores our commitment to inclusiveness and equity while positioning New York City as an engine of opportunity for all New Yorkers and our economy, a global example of how to foster universal prosperity.”

“After 9/11, we rethought and replanned central business districts across the city — in Hudson Yards, Lower Manhattan, Downtown Brooklyn, Long Island City, Harlem, Flushing, and Jamaica. Never would I have thought that we would need to do it again, just two decades later,” said Daniel Doctoroff. “But work is changing, technology is opening new opportunities for placemaking, and we can be far more intentional about the way in which we connect people to opportunity. The one thing about New York that hasn’t changed is we are unafraid to take the big leaps that make it the most interesting, dynamic, and open city in the world, which is why I know what will emerge from this effort will be bold and actionable, and it will help to ensure a vibrant future that is more equitable and inclusive.”

The “New” New York panel will identify high-impact ideas to spur the equitable recovery of the New York City region by addressing the changing needs of workers, residents, and companies stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the longstanding and systemic challenges of underserved workers and entrepreneurs. Comprised of a broad and diverse cross-section of civic leaders and industry experts, the panel is charged with creating a shared city-state agenda for investments, legislation, development projects, infrastructure, and long-term, transformative initiatives. The panel is expected to convene in June and present recommendations before the end of 2022.

The panel will focus on transforming the city’s job centers, including Midtown Manhattan, and other neighborhoods to support the ways people will live and work in the future. It will also identify key industries of the future, areas for regional cooperation especially related to infrastructure, and robust talent development opportunities to position local workers for careers in those industries.

The panel is expected to focus its efforts across three sets of goals: (1) investing in placemaking, (2) growing future industries, and (3) supporting our people.  Specific goals will be developed by the panel, and additional panelists will be announced in the coming weeks.

About Richard R. Buery, Jr.

Richard R. Buery, Jr. is the CEO of Robin Hood, New York City's largest poverty fighting philanthropy. He has spent his career fighting to advance equal opportunities for families and communities often left behind. Buery served as Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives for the City of New York during the DeBlasio administration and was the key architect of the City’s Pre-K for All initiative, enabling 50,000 additional 4-year-olds to get an early start on their education through a free, full-day program, among other key programs in education and mental health. He has also worked for or led four major nonprofits, including the Brennan Center at NYU’s School of Law, KIPP, Children’s Aid, and Achievement First. Additionally, Buery founded Groundwork to support the educational aspirations of public housing residents in Brooklyn, and was cofounder of the national nonprofit, iMentor, which pairs high school students with mentors to help them navigate to and through college. Buery also serves as a Public Service Fellow at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, where he was the Distinguished Visiting Urbanist during the Spring of 2019. He is also a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, a Senior Fellow at the GovLab at NYU, and a partner at the Perception Institute. He serves on the boards of the Kresge Foundation, iMentor, United to Protect Democracy, Atria Health Collaborative, the Grace Church School, and on the Alumni Advisory Council of the Tsai Leadership Program at Yale Law School. Buery graduated from Harvard University and Yale Law School. He lives in Manhattan with his wife Deborah and their two sons.

About Daniel L. Doctoroff

Daniel L. Doctoroff led New York's recovery after 9/11 as Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Together, they developed a Five Borough Economic Development plan that transformed neighborhoods across the city, promoted new industries, produced hundreds of thousands of jobs, created a record affordable housing plan, and developed a pathbreaking sustainability plan. Mr. Doctoroff then led Bloomberg LP for seven years, including through the financial crisis, during which revenues nearly doubled and the company expanded beyond its core Terminal business. Then Mr. Doctoroff and Google created Sidewalk Labs, an urban innovation company that developed a vision for an innovation district and leveraged that vision to start companies that have created new models for urban health care, urban data and information, advanced infrastructure, building energy efficiency, and master planning, among others. Mr. Doctoroff is the Founding Chairman of The Shed and the Founding Chairman of Target ALS, which has pioneered a new approach to ALS research.

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