Williams on transportation equity goals and underserved communities

Back to the racial equity plan.

So the desired outcome of one of DOT's midterm goals was to achieve citywide equity in transportation infrastructure.

by building and implementing a comprehensive plan to serve 100% of underserved communities by 2030.

This is a lot of a goal, but it does seem very vague and unrealistic.

And I just think a lot about my community in Southeast Queens, where we have a lot of sidewalks and curbs that contribute to a wide range of things like illegal dumping, flooding, et cetera.

So how can DOT achieve this transportation equity goal in underserved neighborhoods by 2030 if according to another one of its

long-term goals, DOT does not expect to build meaningful relationships with those underserved communities until 2036?

Essentially, none of the indicators for this outcome relate to any new infrastructure investments that would be needed to achieve a citywide equity and transportation goal for infrastructure.

So we just want to understand why there's a lack of indicators that match this critical aspect of the outcome.

Thank you, Council Member.

I mean, I do want to underscore that transportation equity is central to what we're doing.

I think the agencies make great strides, but it's going to be even more of a priority in this administration.

We've brought on some new senior leadership, and we've kind of reorganized some of our offices to really create one group that can think holistically around long-term planning, how we embed equity in everything we're doing.

We take it really seriously.

You know, one thing we've done is...

As part of the New York City Streets Plan, it established for the first time a citywide metric for how we measure transportation equity and how we identify underserved neighborhoods and invest in them.

And it's really translating into all of our programs where we're prioritizing our investments in those top tier equity priority neighborhoods.

So I want to underscore that.

I'm not sure, you know, I might have to get back to you on specifically the metrics in the racial equity plan, and we're happy to do that.

Yes, I would love for you all to get back to me because we're doing a budget hearing now, and if in your goals you set a goal

for 100% of underserved communities by 2030 to have equity in transportation infrastructure, to me all of those things carry a price.

And so we want to make sure that as we continue towards adoption, that your agency's budget reflects the resources that can get you to your goal.

And I think based off of what we've received, it doesn't, and that there are indicators that don't really match what you've put forward.

So I hope that as you go towards finalizing your racial equity plan, that you make the necessary adjustments to actually achieve your goal versus just writing some things on a piece of paper because it may sound good.

Thank you.

Understood.

Thank you.

Thank you.