Council Member Banks on small capital projects efficiency bill

Councilor Banks, followed by Carr.

Thank you, Majority Leader, and thank you to Speaker Menon for your support.

Today I'm proud to introduce Intro 991, legislation that will help New York City deliver small capital projects more efficiently and cost efficiently and with less bureaucracy.

Too often the city spends valuable time and resources designing similar small-scale structures from scratch,

resulting in unnecessary delays and avoidable costs and lower delivery of services and infrastructure that our communities depend on.

This bill would require the DDC in consultation with

DCAS and other relevant agencies to establish and maintain a catalog of pre-approved standard designs for small capital structures by leveraging proven and

ready-to-use designs whenever feasible.

The city can streamline planning and procurement, reduce design costs, and accelerate construction timelines while still retaining the flexibility needed to address unique site conditions or project requirements.

At a time when every taxpayer dollar must be spent wisely, we should embrace the practical solutions that make government more effective.

This is a very important issue.

Legislation is about improving efficiency, strengthening accountability, and ensuring that public projects move from concept to completion more quickly.

Whether it is in a comfort station or a maintenance facility, storage building, or other neighborhood infrastructure, New Yorkers deserve projects that are delivered on time, on budget, and with minimal administrative delay.

This is a common sense reform that will help modernize the city's capital process and minimize the impact of limited public resource.

By reducing redundancies and promoting consistencies across projects, we can deliver needed infrastructure faster, better, and serve community across the five boroughs.

I urge my colleagues to support this.

Thank you, Council Member.

Amendment 991.

Thank you.