Dear John,

If you’ve seen a construction fence go up around a beloved library or playground, you know that sinking feeling. Yes, some improvements were probably needed. But will it take years until our family can use it again? And how will we even know?

Your gut instinct is right. About half of the City’s larger capital projects are over budget and behind schedule [[link removed]] . New York City’s capital projects management system is in need of improvement.

Currently, there’s not even a place where the public (or officials at City Hall) can go to keep track of all of the City’s capital projects. To check when a project will be finished, or find out why it’s delayed. To see if it’s coming in on-budget. To look for patterns, hold project managers and contractors accountable, and find ways to make the process more efficient.

So here’s some good news: last week, in a partnership with the de Blasio Administration, the City Council approved my legislation which will bring together officials across a dozen City agencies to create a publicly accessible, online capital projects tracking system. (Read about it in The City [[link removed]] ).

What we don’t measure, we can’t manage. The lack of transparency around how projects are going, where money is being spent, and why things are delayed diminishes both public trust and the actual ability of government to get things done effectively and equitably.

An online public capital projects tracker will help improve accountability, transparency, and project management so that we can better keep pace with needed investments in our City’s future.

With each passing year, we struggle to maintain water mains and bridges that are over a century old, and risk falling further behind the curve in making critical investments in our future, from broadband to renewable energy to preparing our infrastructure to weather the climate crisis.

As we plan for our collective future, we have to be able to critically assess where we are falling short and where we need to invest. A public, comprehensive capital projects management system will help get us here.

An unusual project brought to you by participatory budgeting:

Even though you never voted for it, the new Citywide Capital Projects Tracker is a project that came about thanks to participatory budgeting.

When we started doing PBNYC back in 2012, many of you wanted to know the status of projects you had voted for. We were surprised that no citywide tracking system existed -- so we launched our own. Our office maintains a map and spreadsheet to track capital projects funded by my office or through PBNYC. [[link removed]] .

But this kind of oversight should extend beyond the borders of the 39th Council District -- so I’m glad my new legislation will expand it citywide.

Participatory budgeting is a tool for bringing people together to focus on important investments in our communities. With public transparency over projects after funding is allocated, we can have participatory oversight as well.

Pledge to vote in PBNYC again this year! [[link removed]]

If all this talk about online tracking of public capital projects has you excited to generate some more, good news: Participatory Budgeting NYC Vote Week 2020 is almost here!

There’s no need to wait to see the projects show up in the capital project tracker. Look out for more information soon about the great projects that will be on the ballot this year

Pledge to vote here [[link removed]] .

Brad

456 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718-499-1090
[email protected]

[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]

unsubscribe: [link removed]