What New York—and Other U.S. Cities—Can Do to Win Over Residents and Get Back on Track
The Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting economic downturn have taken a devastating toll on the entire nation. These crises have hit cities particularly hard, exacerbating existing fiscal shortfalls and coinciding with ongoing urban unrest. New York, hit so hard by the pandemic, is perhaps the most prominent case, with some insisting that Gotham is dead forever. But urban decline is not inevitable — it is a choice, and it's one that our leaders don't have to make.
This July, Manhattan Institute teamed up with the pollsters at Echelon Insights to better understand where New Yorkers stand on key issues and which solutions they support. We found New Yorkers divided and pessimistic on the future of the city, but open to pragmatic reforms to restore growth, enhance quality of life and preserve essential public services. Though our findings speak mostly to public opinion in New York, they may hold lessons for cities across the country, which face similar problems.
The economy and public safety are NYC residents' leading worries -- among them, the popular Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) system, which operates the city's subways and buses. The pandemic has brought about an unprecedented decline in ridership, sending the transit system into a financial crisis that New Yorkers worry will result in drastic service cuts and fare hikes. Separately, the city's police department earns the support of more than half of New York City adults, even as calls to defund it intensify and shootings and murders are on the rise. Still, many believe they can get ahead and stay safe, despite the rise in unemployment and shootings.
Yet, almost across the board, lower earnings and poor education have reduced satisfaction with living in New York City. Nearly two in five New Yorkers say they would leave the city if they could. Those struggling for work or who reside in areas hard hit by Covid-19, like the Bronx, express a greater desire to leave the city, while those who can better afford to live in the city said they are more willing to stay. However, only one-third of New Yorkers say they are generally able to afford the city's cost of living, and 44% rate the availability of housing as poor.
Other cities face similar problems. Transit ridership has plummeted nationwide, threatening a "death spiral" of service cuts, fare hikes and disinvestment; officials from Miami, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles say they need billions in federal aid just to fund basic operations, let alone capital improvements. Protests of police departments have led to budget cuts in Minneapolis and Seattle, and murders are on the rise in those cities and others. Meanwhile, restrictive zoning regulations have been driving up rents in cities across the country for years.
Leaders nationwide should pay attention.
Our survey found that, even with New York City facing billions in deficits, residents are strongly opposed to higher taxes, preferring that public services be made more efficient. Indeed, of the eight policy proposals we tested for reforming New York City, lowering taxes was the most popular, with three-quarters of respondents saying they would support such a measure. And to the politicians contemplating a "wealth tax," they should also consider that 44% of New Yorkers earning six figures or more say that they have considered relocating outside the city in the past four months, with cost of living cited as the biggest reason, according to another recent poll commissioned by the Manhattan Institute with the Siena College Research Institute.
We tested seven other policy measures that, taken together, constitute an agenda that would trim city budgets while keeping services effective, lowering costs for residents and maintaining public order. Each of them received majority and mostly bipartisan support. New Yorkers support community policing, reducing regulations on small businesses and loosening land-use regulations. They support more choice in education as well as selective public schools. They are also in favor of granting more flexibility to bargain with public sector unions. And to the question of "allowing more judges to consider an offender's risk" in setting bail, 55% were in support, though recent New York laws denied courts this discretion.
Could these policy measures constitute an agenda for the improvement of other cities? Rising crime, excessive regulations, flagging public schools and high rents are not just a problem in the Big Apple.
America's cities can no longer take growth for granted. Worryingly, New York City's population was shrinking for three years straight even before Covid-19. Now, the Big Apple is hardly the only big city fearing an onslaught of moving trucks. Mayors should be laser-focused on making their cities attractive to newcomers and responsive to residents, and that starts by doing the basics well: more jobs and housing for more families, governments that do more with less and safer and cleaner streets where we can live, work and play.
Current and would-be leaders of American cities should support policies to restore a city that grows and works for all, ushering in a post-pandemic era that brings not the demise of American cities, but a new way forward.
This piece originally appeared at CNN Business
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Michael Hendrix is the director of state & local policy at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.
This piece originally appeared in CNN Business