COGE on tour, Knicks in four

Happy Monday! The sun is shining and the vibes are immaculate. Dust off your finest blue and orange and clear your schedule this week: it’s time to testify in front of Mayor Mamdani’s Charter-Revision Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE)!

Amidst the extended budget season, JLo’s subway take (100% disagree), and, fine, the Knicks, you might be forgiven for missing Mamdani’s announcement of a new commission to streamline government processes. But charter revision commissions are our basketball playoffs, and the issues COGE is taking on—procurement, nonprofit contracting, hiring, permitting, service delivery—are the kinds of unglamorous machinery that determine whether big mayoral ambitions actually translate into real outcomes for New Yorkers. And unlike the last charter commission, which had the luxury of several months of hearings, COGE has to go from announcement to ballot language by August 3. Which means the window for the commission to hear good ideas is right now.

Over the next month and a half, the commission will be hosting ten public hearings across the five boroughs to source ideas from experts and laypeople about how to modernize city government, improve service delivery, and strengthen accountability to New Yorkers. Three hearings are this week: tomorrow’s, in Manhattan, will focus on “Streamlining Government for Infrastructure Projects and Public Realm”; Wednesday’s, in the Bronx, will cover “Streamlining Government for Small Business and Community Organizations”; and Thursday’s, in Brooklyn, will address “Modernizing Government and Streamlining Government Technology.”

We’ll be testifying at multiple hearings on topics that we covered in our Abundance Agenda, and that have specific intersections with the city charter. We take a hard look at workforce planning and development: as the Mamdani administration gears up to launch major public programs, from universal childcare to ambitious transit and housing projects, it is hamstrung by slow, convoluted hiring processes and scattered workforce functions. A centralized, streamlined workforce board will allow new mayoral administrations to plan ahead for the talent they would need to launch and execute ambitious projects—as well as anticipate shifting workforce needs with the advent of new technologies like AI.

We also look at ways to centralize and streamline permitting processes to speed up housing and clean energy development; to modernize procurement policies to accelerate the deployment of city resources; and to change how the Department of Finance assesses properties, which could pave the way for a land value tax that incentivizes housing development.

You can see our full set of charter revision recommendations here.

Do you have great ideas for how the City could modernize government service delivery and/or expedite infrastructure projects? We encourage you to testify online or in person at upcoming hearings—and, along with Daniel Golliher from Maximum New York, we’re hosting a virtual “office hours” tomorrow at noon to lay out what high-quality testimony looks like and help you refine your talking points.

It’s playoff season in New York—for the Knicks and for us. You joined this community because you believe the city can work better, and now’s your chance to put something on the record. Bring your real-life examples of broken processes and your boldest ideas for fixing them. The commission is listening, and the (shot) clock is ticking.