Culture of Innovation at the heart of Bloomberg's PlaNYC

As Earth Day approaches, new numbers have been released for Bloomberg's forward-thinking PlaNYC.  The program was launched three years ago on Earth Day, and it's multiple initiatives are bearing some impressive fruit. 

• 100,000 affordable housing units created or preserved
• 319,054 trees planted and 113 schoolyards-to-playground sites opened
• 200 miles of bicycle lanes installed and a bike-access law enacted
• 86 energy-efficiency projects completed as part of plan to reduce City government energy use 30% by 2017
• 25 percent of the yellow taxi fleet converted to hybrid vehicles
• 9 percent decrease in citywide carbon emissions due to cleaner power generation and less sulfur hexafluoride release

At the heart of the plan is tireless planning, extensive data collection, and establishing a "culture of innovation" within city government that previously was not encouraged.

"But Mayor Bloomberg took care not to over-manage the process from the top down. Instead, he hired the most talented staff he could find and encouraged a culture of innovation, empowering city staff to experiment with new ideas—and giving them permission to be bold and take risks. This is a major distinction to the business-as-usual approach so common in jurisdictions around the country."

Other cities are following suit using the PlaNYC model HERE.

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