Construction and the "new normal" in New York

The economy in general may be picking up, but construction activity in NYC is still off and unlikely to dramatically pick up in the short term. Welcome to the new normal of the post-Great Recession period. Residential construction spending will be only $1.9 billion in 2011 compared to $6.2 billon annually in 2006-2008, according to the New York Building Congress. Commercial work is steady, but is still hampered by the slow job growth and a difficult construction financing environment. Government will represent 62 percent of all construction spending this year. Not since 1996 has the government share been this high, and the odds are that such spending will soon start to decline because of budget pressures from Washington, Albany and at City Hall. In the meantime, the public is not clamoring for more infrastructure spending. In fact, just the opposite is true. A recent New York Times/CBS News poll found that, nationally, voters prefer to cut spending rather than raise taxes; and given a choice between cutting infrastructure and spending for education, science and medical research or aid to the unemployed and poor, cutting construction spending was preferred by a very significant margin. This is consistent with a poll of New York state residents last fall. But New Yorkers also want their new governor to focus on creating jobs even more than solving the state's budget deficit, a November Sienna Poll found. And many people place a high priority on investing in environmental projects and mass transit. Given that construction work is a jobs generator, that infrastructure is critical to the business climate, and that there is strong public interest in sustainability, how can this disconnect be addressed? Now more than ever, engineering leaders need to become civically engaged and encourage their staffs to do the same, both by being active with organizations that speak for the industry, such as the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York, and by speaking up through social media outlets, in their community activities and every time they encounter a politician. The message? As President Obama urged in his State of the Union address, investment in infrastructure today will create the jobs we need now and help us win the future. Kenneth Fisher is a member of the law firm of Cozen O'Connor, and municipal affairs counsel to ACEC.