Procurement and Project Delivery

AIANY letter to Governor Hochul expressing support for a number of housing, sustainability, and transportation and infrastructure policies in the Fiscal 2025 Executive Budget. New York is facing crises like never before with affordable housing being out of reach for many New Yorkers, more frequent extreme weather events, and an uncoordinated use of public space. The policies outlined in the FY25 Executive Budget are important incremental steps towards addressing these challenges and are essential for achieving these overarching goals of change.

AIANY and AIANYS testimony to the NYS Assembly Committees on Cities and Local Governments on local government procurement expressing support for expanding the procurement tools available to NYC with the authorization of alternative delivery methods to allow for increased use of quality-based selection and improve fairness and transparency in the project development process. With these additional tools, the city will be able to ensure quality project delivery, provide accountability and transparency at all stages, and embed robust workforce engagement and community participation in the process.

Thank you for holding this hearing today. I am Ben Prosky, Executive Director of the American Institute of Architects New York, also known as AIA New York. We represent New York City’s public-sector and private-sector architects, who are employed at government agencies, firms, and universities. Our members include unionized and non-unionized architects, as well as workers and management.

This hearing’s topic is very timely, since architects at some of New York City’s architecture firms are in the process of unionizing. Support for unionization has arisen from the poor compensation architects receive, as well as the workplace issues working for low wages creates. The US Department of Justice does not allow AIA New York to collectively bargain for our members or organize work stoppages. This means we cannot work with agencies, owners, and developers to set fair fees and wages for their employees.

According to the 2021 AIA Compensation Report, the average salary in New York City for a recent architecture school graduate is $58,000 per year. This is not enough to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt accrued over a decade of education, nor the high cost of living convenient to most offices. Comparatively, first-year associates at New York City law firms earn $215,000 per year.

In addition to being underpaid, architects are pressed to work incredibly long hours. Agencies rarely receive sufficient funding for staffing, leading agency leadership to overwork their architects. Meanwhile, firms are unable to collectively bargain for fees, allowing owners and developers to set high work requirements for low fees. As a result, firm owners push their architects to work incredibly long hours, with 60- to 70-hour work weeks not being uncommon.

Unionization in architecture is an important tool to strengthen workers’ rights but it will not solve many of the industry’s core problems. Our unionized members at agencies are paid less than our non-unionized members at firms. For instance, the starting salary for a Department of Design and Construction Junior Project Manager is $51,000 a year.

Fortunately, Council Members can strengthen workers’ rights for architects. They can assign larger budgets for agencies, specifically to hire more architects and pay architects higher wages. The Council can also require that agencies stop demanding free work from architecture firms. Agencies regularly require a significant amount of upfront work from firms before awarding a contract, yet that work is not compensated. Combined with unionization, changes like these will create a better working environment for architects.

Consumer Affairs and Business Licensing Committee Testimony on Int. 1957-2020

Thank you, Chair Cohen, for holding this hearing today. We also want to thank Speaker Johnson, Council Member Reynoso, and the other sponsors of this bill. The American Institute of Architects New York, also known as AIA New York, is strongly supportive of the Council’s innovative effort to help restaurants and street vendors, as well as restore normal street life. As architects, we understand the importance of utilizing our open space for a variety of public purposes, including dining.

Nevertheless, some critical changes should be made to the bill in order to protect the safety of the public and ensure its effective enactment. We have attached recommended language revisions which are summarized below. We recognize that the events of the last few days may change the city’s outlook on public space. Therefore, these comments are made solely regarding this bill as currently written, with the understanding that the city may need to adjust its laws and rules regarding access to public space.

The bill currently states that, “a proposed layout for such space may be submitted to the department [of Consumer Affairs] without the seal and signature of an architect or engineer licensed by the state of New York.” As currently written, this bill allows restaurants to undertake unsafe and unsupervised work that bypasses Department of Buildings plan reviews. Rather, the bill should allow restaurants to make minor alterations that do not necessitate the seal and signature of a registered architect or professional engineer.

Furthermore, the bill places the burden largely on the Department of Transportation. Other agencies should be included as well, particularly the Parks Department and Department of City Planning. They supervise parks and privately owned public spaces (POPS), respectively, which should also be considered for temporary outdoor dining areas, where safe. There is no reason to limit this effort to streets and plazas, as parks and POPS also provide opportunities for dining. The city faces the worst financial crisis in nearly fifty years, which means that every agency’s resources will be strapped. Under these circumstances, a single agency should not be held responsible for this bill’s provisions.

While we strongly recommend the Council amend the bill to include these changes and others, we are also very supportive of the concept of the bill. We hope the Council incorporates these comments to write a safer and more effective bill.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Prosky, Assoc. AIA
Executive Director, AIA New York

Kim Yao, AIA
2020 President, AIA New York

April 2, 2020

Honorable Bill de Blasio
City Hall
New York, NY 10007

Mayor de Blasio,

During this crisis, we understand that difficult decisions must be made and thank the City and State for their tireless efforts in keeping the public safe and informed. We trust that the City will meet the ensuing challenges in the short term, while considering the steps necessary to support the long-term vitality of its businesses, industries, and workers.

As such, we write to you asking that the City reconsider its decision to immediately halt design work for public projects. Design work is essential to construction projects, and, as you know, necessary for public projects to be shovel-ready. Additionally, unlike other aspects of construction, design work can be safely and properly completed in the safety of our homes.

As we explore ways to maintain basic levels of economic activity, permitting design work for public projects to continue will serve as an important opportunity to keep workers safely employed with wages and benefits during the current crisis, and to help prepare New York for the groundbreaking of construction projects that will employ tens of thousands of union construction workers once this crisis has been overcome.

Delays to work that can safely continue from our homes will further hinder our city’s recovery efforts and create challenges for middle-class New York families, including many union construction workers and MWBE architects, engineers, and general contractors.

We strongly recommend that you allow design and construction work to continue to the maximum extent permitted under New York State guidance. Furthermore, we ask that all design and construction that has already occurred be compensated.

This is a very difficult time for all New Yorkers, and we understand the gravity of the City’s circumstances. We all share a common goal of ensuring that our economy gets back on its feet once the virus passes and we believe construction will take the lead in our city’s recovery.

Sincerely,

American Council of Engineering Companies New York
American Institute of Architects New York
Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York
Building Trades Employers’ Association of New York City
New York Building Congress
New York City Central Labor Council

CC: New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson

AIANY testified before the New York City Council Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations on the Public Design Commission. The Oversight Hearing introduced a bill (No. 1276-A) that would require the PDC to submit an annual report.

AIANY testified in favor of SOM’s proposed renovation of 28 Liberty.

On April 28th, AIANY provided testimony to express serious concerns about Intro 265. AIANY feels that Intro 265 would add an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy to architects’ already highly regulated processes.