Letter from the President and the Executive Director

It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to Regional Plan Association's website. We 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.

For over 85 years RPA has been an indispensable source of ideas and plans to policymakers and opinion shapers across the tri-state area. RPA's in-depth studies, relentless advocacy and staying power ensure that critical transportation, urban development, housing and open space projects move forward across business downturns and election cycles. And RPA's America 2050 program is advancing national efforts to strengthen our aging infrastructure and protect vital natural resources.

Just consider some of RPA's successes this past year.

RPA completed a plan for the future of the region's airports which calls for the speedy implementation of NextGen technologies to transform the nation's air traffic control system and the expansion JFK and Newark airports. A task force of top government officials and policymakers staffed by RPA is taking these recommendations and building support for the major investment our air travel system will need, including better transit links to the airports.

RPA's Center for Urban Innovation provides research and formulates concrete, feasible public-policy solutions to build on New York's strengths and to promote its competitive success in the future. The Center's report Construction Labor Costs in New York City: A Moment of Opportunity has been credited with facilitating the labor contract negotiations this past summer.

In June, the RPA-led Blue Ribbon Panel released its final recommendations on revitalizing Floyd Bennett Field, the former municipal airfield in Gateway National Recreation Area. The report was released at a special event at Gracie Mansion hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and attended by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and marked the start of a commitment by the City and federal government to transform the 1,400-acre field into an iconic urban national park.

The RPA-led Governors Island Alliance helped secure a commitment from the Mayor for $77 million to continue efforts to redevelop the Island and create a spectacular 90 acre park. A record half million visitors this summer turned the once forgotten Island into the hottest destination in the region.

RPA's America 2050 and the Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility are building the case for investment in our rail system nationally and in the Northeast corridor. America 2050 has become a national leader in the debate on High Speed Rail, and where and how federal and private funds should best be employed.

RPA's annual Regional Assembly is New York's premier civic event, bringing together several hundred top business, civic, philanthropic, media and government leaders from across the metropolitan region and the country. Each year the Assembly focuses on a priority issue.

The 2011 Assembly, "Innovation and the Global City," considered the New York region within the context of the global economy and discussed innovative approaches to the building of global cities.  The program included addresses by Governors Dannel Malloy and Mario Cuomo, Barbara Kux, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG, London School of Economics Professor Richard Burdett and Harvard economics professor and author Ed Glaeser among others.

The 2012 Assembly, "Bold Plans - Big Innovations - Bright Future," on Friday, April 27, will include high-level panel discussions with the region and nation's leaders on economic development, housing, sustainable design, energy, mobility, technology and governance. It will also serve as the culmination of the Transit Leadership Forum, a weeklong summit, hosted by RPA, for the leaders of the world's largest and most dynamic transit authorities, who will share their experiences and ideas on how to deal with the myriad challenges running integrated transit systems.

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.

Robert D. Yaro       Thomas K. Wright
President               Executive Director