This past year, I had the extraordinary honor of serving as a commissioner on New York City’s Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE). Early voting is now underway, and with PSC members asking questions, I wanted to share some of what I learned serving on this body and explain why I believe you should vote yes on all five ballot measures being put to New York City voters. I am writing only in my capacity as a union member, not in my capacity as a commission member.
Susan Kang served on the mayor’s Commission on Government Efficiency.
I was one of several labor representatives; fellow commissioners included Marco Carrion (President of the Consortium on Worker Education and former legislative director of the NYC Central Labor Council), Henry Garrido (Executive Director of DC 37), and Esther Rosario (Executive Director of Climate Jobs New York). Patrick Gaspard, the former Executive Vice President for politics and legislation at 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, chaired the commission.
I strongly encourage you to watch recordings of the hearings or read their transcripts. They were complex, remarkable events, featuring a mix of expert testimonies and commentary from regular New Yorkers.
I want to address concerns that these measures would reduce or shut out public testimony or weaken safeguards. Having sat through the hearings and the expert testimony, I believe those fears are addressed by the ballot measures. To be clear: I’m advocating for these changes, informed by my role on the Commission, not only under a mayor with whom I’m politically aligned, but under any mayor.
Between now and November 3, every registered voter in New York City can flip over their ballot and consider COGE’s five ballot measures. These ballot measures are part of a mandate by Mayor Zohran Mamdani for the commission to find ways to revise the City Charter to make municipal government processes more efficient and speedy. They include: 1. speeding public space use (outdoor dining, ramps, and benches); 2. reforming the contracting process to improve procurement (private government contracting) for small business and non-profits; 3. fast-tracking street safety infrastructure changes (such as bike lanes, office space, and activation of city land); 4. simplifying building permitting; and 5. enacting rules for a city rainy day fund to ensure emergency financial reserves.
At first glance, COGE may seem like a confusing project: why is a left-wing mayor focusing on government efficiency, especially when it carries a name reminiscent of the disastrous Elon Musk-led DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). DOGE led to the loss of 260,000 federal jobs and devastating cuts to research funding and other government services ranging from the National Institutes of Health, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and even cuts to the Internal Revenue Service.
Government efficiency became a concern for the Mamdani administration because of the $12 billion deficit left by Mayor Eric Adams, the largest since the 2008 financial crisis. Mayor Mandami came in with an ambitious agenda to solve key pieces of the affordability crisis, including childcare costs. Other left-aligned mayors, such as Brandon Johnson in Chicago, found themselves politically frustrated because of the massive budget crises they inherited. There is a popular idea that only right wing, “business savvy” politicians know how to handle money; Mayor Mamdani aims to make well-run, effective government services a hallmark of his administration. These ballot measures are a first step in making our city run better and faster.
Many of the suggestions that the Commission received were implemented without charter changes. PIT crew, for example, isa group of public employees who are tasked with creating better tech and software tools for our city. The crew was established as a result of fantastic testimony at our first Brooklyn hearing.
Before Mamdani’s COGE could be assembled, he had to manage former Mayor Adams’ last-minute obstructionism. As part of a string of lame duck appointments (including landlord aligned members of the Rent Guidelines Board), Mayor Adams launched a new charter commission on his last day in office, led by his first deputy mayor Randy Mastro. This commission focused on promoting jungle primaries (sometimes self-styled as “open primaries”) in New York City, which would replicate the two round non-partisan elections held in California. This “zombie” commission, led by political moderates, sought to frustrate left candidates like Mayor Mamdani from winning major ballot lines for general elections, and held required public meetings. Mayor Mamdani could not legally disband the Mastro commission and needed assistance from the state legislature and governor. Thanks to CUNY champion Senator John Liu and Governor Kathy Hochul, the state legislature included a provision in the 2026 budget to allow the mayor to dissolve commission hatched by lame duck electeds. While the Mastro commission and allies have not gone quietly, filing lawsuits and launching petition drives, they have largely abandoned their attempts at getting jungle primaries on the ballot this year.
I want to address some of the concerns I’ve heard from union members and others about each of the ballot measures, and I welcome further dialogue on these questions.
Measure One: Speed up revocable consent for public space: This ballot measure streamlines the approval process for structures on streets and sidewalks, such as sidewalk cafés, ramps and planters.
The proposed change, which modernizes the community consultation process, would improve the ability of the public to comment on proposed changes. Under the current charter, a small business must pay about $800 for a newspaper ad to start the process. As most people do not read print news, this process has proved ineffective in generating engagement. Under ballot proposal 1, notice of any such public hearings would be placed on a city webpage where community members can submit concerns online. That opens up the process for public review, reaching people often excluded, like caregivers or those whose work schedules are incompatible with attending public meetings. Many of these are ordinary, desired changes involving sidewalk cafes, roadside dining, and handicap accessibility ramps. At our hearings we heard from business owners, mostly women and people of color, who said only large, successful restaurants and cafes could afford to apply (and as a result the vast majority of any kind of outdoor dining set ups are located in Manhattan and Brooklyn). One owner who works hard to keep her prices affordable described how many hot dogs and soft drinks she would have to sell to cover more than $1,200 in costs, all to wait six months for consent.
Measures Two: Reduce contractor paperwork; require regular Procurement Policy Board meetings. This Board would set up a vendor questionnaire, replacing the current version, and be required to meet at least quarterly.
This measure would speed up payment to nonprofits and small businesses who are providing essential services to some of the City’s most vulnerable residents. Currently, nonprofits are sometimes forced to take out loans which carry interest to cover costs while the city’s procurement process chugs along. City contract money cannot be used to repay that interest, so non-profits must fundraise to cover the costs. Many smaller non-profits have shut down as a result of this financial strain, cutting their communities off from services and laying off staff. This proposal would only cover contractors who are already approved through existing city procurements processes.
Measure Three: Speed up street safety projects, unused City property dispositions and office leasing. This measure proposes three things: 1. The Department of Transportation would consult agency heads instead of local firehouses on major projects, work to begin quickly at high risk locations. 2. Some small City-owned lots and landmark air rights would move to the faster Expedited Land Use Review Procedure (ELURP) review, and the “SAIL Away” program, which facilitates the sale of tiny “sliver lots,” would become permanent. 3. The DCAS commissioner would decide office leases without Council or City Planning Commission review.
The third measure will not shut out community boards, residents, or elected officials from street safety design. At our second Queens meeting, community boards and residents were the biggest proponents of faster design, because they are closest to the traffic injuries and deaths. Too many projects have taken years because of unfounded fears that safety changes would lead to more traffic and less parking. That has not been the case. The loudest voices for faster change were seniors and parents of school-age children who walk through our neighborhoods. The measure’s property piece concerns only city-owned lots that no city agency wants. These are usually very small plots that make no sense for city needs, and they could be housing or business space instead of sitting empty.
Measure Four: Simplify building permitting; move waterfront permitting to DOB: A single online permitting hub run by the Department of Buildings (DOB) would replace the current dozen-plus agencies who manage this process. It would allow senior DOB officials to sign off on certificates of occupancy, rather than two deputy commissioners and one borough superintendent per borough. Waterfront structure permitting and enforcement would move from Small Business Services to DOB.
I know the fourth measure draws the most concern, but it does not reduce the current level of review required on construction projects. Rather, it simplifies the application process for any building approval through a single webpage. Consultation with every existing department is still required, and the same procedures and safeguards apply. The commission did not want to make construction less safe. Many union construction and trades workers testified at our first Manhattan hearing about prioritizing worker health and safety. The measure does not make the process frictionless, only a little simpler: one application to a portal that routes it to all the relevant departments, instead of several applications to several departments. That matters most for small projects. Big developers already have full-time staff to handle government paperwork, while someone renovating a co-op apartment, as I might, does not.
Measure Five: Rainy Day Fund contribution targets: This sets a reserve target of 12% of the prior year’s total City tax revenue and requires OMB, in consultation with the Comptroller, to build a deposit formula and update it every four years. Withdrawals would be capped at 50% of the fund unless the mayor certifies a compelling fiscal need.
The fifth measure comes from Mayor Mamdani, who wanted a charter amendment to encourage contributions to the rainy day fund that Mayor de Blasio and the previous City Council created. It is a necessary step for the city’s fiscal health, especially in a crisis or contraction, so we can maintain services. If contributions stay a purely political decision, I expect the City Council will not want to set money aside, and the fund will go unserviced. Those of us who remember the 1975 fiscal crisis know we do not want to return to a time when bond agencies held the city hostage. A robust fund helps keep them from lowering our credit rating. At a COGE hearing, we heard from PSC member Professor Josh Mason about building flexibility into the measure, and we brought in many heterodox economists to speak at our meetings.
Colleagues have raised real concerns about privatization, public space, and who gets heard, and I take them seriously. That’s why I point back to the hearings. The commission asked for testimony from many interests before making its recommendations, and many of the worries PSC members have voiced were addressed there by the experts who testified.
For these reasons, I’m voting yes on all five. I’m in good company, as the Working Families Party and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also support this position. Supporting these measures for faster government also supports our mayor, a proven CUNY champion, and will benefit so many members of our beautiful CUNY community.
Susan Kang, an associate professor of political science at John Jay College and a member of the PSC executive council, served on the mayor’s Commission on Government Efficiency.
