Letter from the President

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Regional Plan Association's redesigned web site. I hope that you will find it a helpful resource for information and a useful tool for two-way communication about our far reaching initiatives and programs.

As RPA celebrates and moves into its 80th year, 2008-2009 will be one of our most important.  While we are humbled by the challenge in front of us as financial markets fall and we begin the economic rebuilding process, we also have the experience of history on our side.

In spring of 1929, Regional Plan Association released a monumental plan for New York and the surrounding metropolitan region. Only a few months later, financial havoc hit the markets and the United States plunged into the Great Depression.

To combat this crisis and restart the American economy, the federal government eventually started investing in programs to get people back to work and to build the systems we would need for future prosperity, including housing and communities, energy supply and hydroelectric dams, and roads and bridges. With the most comprehensive plan in the nation, New York successfully captured many of these federal dollars and built the regional systems that made our metropolis the world city it is today.

That's what the nation and the region need to do again, and that's RPA's agenda.

We are well aware of the current political and economic realities but we need to look beyond this short-term crisis to the region's long term needs.  We must invest.  In fact, in every recent recession, the government has invested in infrastructure to spur recovery. 

We've started this conversation with decision makers here and around the country. Our Regional Assembly last spring brought together national leaders, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to push the notion of infrastructure spending as economic stimulus.  Our America 2050 project continues this beat as we meet with stakeholders throughout the nation on strategic infrastructure goals.

Building infrastructure - rail, water, powergrid or broadband - provides steady construction jobs, lays a foundation for growth through smart development, gives the region's residents critical money-saving alternatives to ever-escalating energy costs and lessens our dependence on foreign oil. It also helps keep us competitive abroad.

Right now we're being outspent by our global competitors in India, China and Europe.  Where we once provided the capacity for growth by building the New York City subway and commuter rail system in our Region and the Interstate Highway system throughout the entire U.S., we now are falling behind as cities and countries around the globe outpace us.

It has been and will continue to be a unique time for RPA as we work on the front lines to find sensible solutions in tough times.   Unquestionably, what RPA does best - bringing together diverse interests, advising government and private interests, and providing recommendations based on smart policies - is what will be the driving force in making monumental and sustainable changes happen. 

We look forward to another exciting year of planning for the future of our region and around the nation

Sincerely,

Robert D. Yaro
President