Background:
The de Blasio Administration and One New York plan established bold goals and specific targets for a strong, sustainable, resilient, and equitable city – 800,000 people out of poverty by 2025, zero waste to landfills by 2030, elimination of long-term displacement from homes and jobs after future shock events by 2050, and much more. “Environmental and economic stability must go hand in hand and OneNYC is the blueprint to ensure they do,” said Mayor de Blasio.
You are the new director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability and Mayor Bill de Blasio has asked you to prioritize some of the guiding strategies the city must follow in order to implement the OneNYC plan (see framework on page 10). He asked you to focus on the following four visions that should be able to generate substantive results by the end of the current mayoral term in 2018:
Growth: Population growth, real estate development, job creation, and the strength of industry sectors.
Equity: Fairness and equal access to assets, services, resources, and opportunities so that all New Yorkers can reach their full potential.
Sustainability: Improving the lives of our residents and future generations by cutting greenhouse gas emissions reducing waste, protecting air and water quality and conditions, cleaning brownfields, and enhancing public open spaces.
Resiliency: The capacity of the city to withstand descriptive events, whether physical, economic, or social.
Assignment:
Using the Action Memorandum format, prepare a three-page memo to the Mayor prioritizing ONE of these four visions, addressing the following tasks:
1) Identify and describe at least one technical environmental issue integral to implementing your recommended initiative;
2) Identify and describe at least one financial/economic issue integral to implementing your recommended initiative;
3) Identify and describe at least one organizational management issue integral to implementing your recommended initiative; and
4) Identify and describe at least one government/public policy issue integral to implementing your recommended initiative.
To support your recommendation, you may use the document One New York, (PDF)(Website), assigned course readings and case studies. You may also consult outside sources if you wish to support your case.
Your alternative options should be TWO other visions (from the list above) that you believe can also meet the mayor’s criteria. Remember to present each option (with pros and cons) in a way that demonstrates its viability, but ultimately shows why your recommended action is best.
Your implementation section should include a timeline of concrete steps that will allow the Mayor to measure progress in each of the next three years.
Issues:
Paragraph 1: Describe your recommended action in greater details. Why undertake the recommended action? What is the rationale? What is the probable effect of taking this action? What will be accomplished? What are the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing this action?
For subsequent paragraphs, answer the questions posed for each case. Depending on the number of questions, a good rule of thumb is to use a separate paragraph to answer each question. So for example, paragraph #2 should answer the first question, paragraph #3 the second, and so on. However, if you judge certain questions can be answered jointly in a single paragraph, do so.
Options
Here, you will give TWO alternative actions to the action you recommended above. This section is TWO PARAGRAPHS – one paragraph for each alternative option. These must be plausible alternatives that your manager might choose to authorize. Describe the options in declarative sentences and discuss the pros and cons of pursuing each option.
Implementation
ONE paragraph – The immediate, mundane, first task involved in carrying out the initial recommended action. In this section you are outlining the first several steps necessary in order to move forward, as well as one or two medium- to long-range steps that should be taken. Make sure to state the time frames for each steps.