Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks after the U.S. Supreme Court kills temporary protected status for Haitians and Syrians across the country.
Photo by Adam Daly
The Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE), the 2026 NYC Charter Revision Commission put together by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, released a preliminary staff report on Thursday outlining potential reforms designed to improve how city government works and delivers services.
There was an initial round of public outreach, which included seven public hearings, the mayor’s office said. The panel heard testimony from 178 speakers, looked over hundreds of written comments from the public, and received recommendations from 92 city agencies.
According to COGE, the preliminary report identifies four areas where reforms could help government better meet the needs of working New Yorkers: accelerate access to public space and infrastructure improvements, accelerate permitting and contracting, modernize outdated systems and requirements to bolster innovation, and ensure the city’s fiscal stability.
“We listened to New Yorkers across the city and worked to treat every idea—and the New Yorker behind it, whether City worker or professional association or individual who saw a sign for a public hearing and walked in—with genuine curiosity and respect,” Ann Cheng, executive director of COGE, said. “This preliminary report compiles that feedback and suggests concrete paths as the commission continues to hear from New Yorkers and considers commonsense reforms to the charter.”
Among the proposals is streamlining the outdoor dining approval process to lower costs and reduce delays for restaurant owners. The report also explores creating a centralized permitting system designed to speed up approvals for housing construction, renovations and infrastructure projects.
Additional ideas include modernizing the city’s procurement process by reducing paperwork and shortening timelines for businesses trying to get city contracts. The commission is also examining ways to shorten approval timelines for street redesigns and bus- and bike-lane projects.
The report proposes establishing clearer rules governing deposits into and withdrawals from the city’s rainy day reserve fund.
COGE officials said they will continue to hold public hearings across the five boroughs in the coming weeks as it develops proposals for the November ballot. More information is at nyc.gov/COGE.
