AI Summary
5 min read🎙️ The Voices & The Context
- The Format: Casual interview with two industry experts, interspersed with hosts' banter and historical references.
- The Key Players:
- Elizabeth Crowley: President/CEO of Building Trades Employers Association (BTEA), representing 1,200 contractors building NYC's skyscrapers, subways, hospitals; former NYC Council member.
- Michael Capasso: President/CEO of CAC Industries, a unionized public works contractor handling projects like the High Line for MTA, Port Authority.
- Hosts: Jill Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway (with Joe Weisenthal noted later), Bloomberg's Odd Lots duo—sharp, curious economists probing NYC's building woes.
- The Vibe: Educational and optimistic, blending frustration over red tape with hope for reforms; light banter on viral MTA costs keeps it fun.
🗝️ Key Themes & Topics
The episode dives into NYC's sky-high construction costs, debunking myths and pinpointing fixes amid a push for "abundant building."
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **🎙️ Introduction: Elizabeth Crowley & Michael Capasso**
- 2 (05:12) **Union Labor & Cost Breakdown**
- 3 (07:27) **Project Delays & Hidden Costs**
- 4 (13:33) **NYC Geography & Logistics Challenges**
- 5 (16:35) **Scaffold Law & Insurance Crisis**
- 6 (22:31) **Rise in Claims & Reform Momentum**
- 7 (33:36) **Viral High-Cost Examples**
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
It's hard to imagine New York City becoming significantly more affordable as long as it remains so expensive to build things. Whether we're talking about new housing or transportation, the city is a famously expensive place to do construction. There are reports of subway elevators costing $100 million per station. Public bathrooms end up costing millions as well. One driver of costs is insurance, which is a major national issue, but particularly acute in NYC, with costs as a share of a given construction project having surged over the decades. So what's the story? On this episode we speak with Elizabeth Crowley, the president and CEO of the Building Trades Employers' Association, as well as Michael Capasso, the president and CEO of CAC Industries, a civil engineering firm which works on various heavy construction projects in the city. We talk about regulations that push the cost of operation higher, along with other factors such as project delays and labor availability.
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