Empire, strike back — only aiming high can make New York great again

Storm clouds are hovering over the Empire State.

Federal cuts will cost New York billions.

Rightful frustration about the affordability crisis is being met by socialist policies that will spur a new fiscal crisis.

It couldn’t happen at a worse time.

The Public Policy Institute of New York State just released a report declaring, “New York’s economic performance and population metrics more closely resemble the economic and demographic trends of Louisiana or Michigan as opposed to some of the fastest-growing states, particularly Texas and Florida.”

State and city budgets have more than tripled over the past 25 years — but no one thinks we’re getting more for our money.

Our population has flatlined, losing ground in competition with red states like, yes, Florida and Texas.

Folks aren’t moving there because they like six-week abortion bans and stretches of 100-degree heat.

They’re going because of lower cost of living and a better business environment.

Here’s a snapshot of how much we’ve gotten stuck: The Empire State Building was built in one year, during the Great Depression.

Today, you couldn’t get past the permitting and lawsuits in that time.

But imagine a future when New York is growing again instead of managing decline by debating what taxes and fees to raise.

The solutions won’t come from the far left or the far right. We can do it by building on the foundations that made New York great in the first place.

While other states started as religious colonies, New York began as a business proposition by the Dutch West India Company.

From our earliest days, we were an opportunity economy, open to all immigrants if they worked hard and played by the rules.

This entrepreneurial spirit, combined with strategic public-private investments, built the Empire State.

The Erie Canal exemplified this ambitious vision — a bold idea that many thought unrealistic.

President Thomas Jefferson called it “madness,” so Gov. DeWitt Clinton financed this bet without federal help, using dedicated state bonds backed by Wall Street capital.

It worked: The canal paid for itself within a decade through tolls and economic development, bringing our state together while transforming our collective fortunes.

High-Speed Rail: Connecting the Empire State

The best way to build on the Erie Canal’s legacy is to invest in high-speed rail.

Imagine connecting New York City with Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo in under four hours.

On Long Island, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller envisioned high-speed rail connecting Manhattan with Riverhead in under an hour.

These are ambitious but achievable plans. A recent NYU Marron Institute Transit Costs Project study shows how a Northeast Corridor could be constructed for one-tenth of previously estimated costs, while its Momentum analysis lays out a faster New York route.

To avoid a taxpayer boondoggle — as so many high-speed-rail projects have been — the private sector should take the lead with government incentives.

Brightline is doing that with higher-speed rail in Florida and soon from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

Such infrastructure investments could reshape New York by lowering cost of living and improving quality of life while priming upstate to benefit from northern migration due to climate change in the decades ahead.

Nuclear Power: Fueling Our Clean-Energy Future

New York also needs to lead in energy innovation again, as we did in electrification’s early days in New York City, Schenectady and Buffalo.

With congressional cuts in wind and solar, nuclear power is one of the few bipartisan areas where energy independence combats climate change.

That’s why Gov. Hochul deserves much credit for her commitment to build a new 1-gigawatt nuclear-power plant.

The market message it sends — New York will not obstruct new nuclear energy — promises to spur the construction of at least 4 gigawatts in new nuclear power, which could include small modular reactors.

We can use decommissioned coal plants upstate to ease siting.

But we need smart-grid follow-through to transfer energy downstate, where consumption is highest, fueling the artificial-intelligence revolution while cutting skyrocketing monthly energy bills.

A New Reform Era

To renew the state, we also need reform. A new Unite New York survey finds 84% of New Yorkers support term limits for state legislators and statewide offices.

Nearly 60% support open or nonpartisan primaries, which compel candidates to reach beyond their base and empowers 3 million independent voters statewide.

This would incentivize problem-solving across partisan lines — cutting crime and taxes, building more housing by responsibly cutting overregulation, passing lawsuit-abuse reform to reduce costs that get passed on to consumers and using AI to speed up government responsiveness for families and business.

New York needs big-goal energy to get our swagger back.

Now is the time to restore the state as a beacon of economic opportunity and innovation so we can rise again.

John Avlon is Citizens Union of New York chairman. This piece is adapted from a speech he gave at the Economic Club of New York.