Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday plans to announce that Ya-Ting Liu, a former transit advocate, will become New York City’s director of the public realms. The highly anticipated new role in City Hall is expected to expand and manage popular programs such as the pandemic-inspired outdoor dining and Open Streets.
“Our city’s public spaces are too important to fall through the cracks of bureaucracy, and now they won’t,” Adams said in a statement. “New Yorkers need to know there is one person at City Hall whose number one goal is to improve their quality of life by creating incredible, new public spaces and ensuring the ones we have are clean, equitable, and safe.”
In a phone interview with Gothamist on Wednesday, Liu said the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown has changed New Yorkers’ relationship with public spaces and made people more appreciative of the emotional, mental and physical benefits of being outdoors.
“I think that now, as the city’s trying to recover, there’s just this kind of broad consensus that creating vibrant, attractive, inclusive public spaces is absolutely critical to the city’s recovery,” she said.
Liu, who had worked as a chief strategy officer at City Hall, is well known in transportation and environmental advocacy circles and her appointment has been rumored for weeks. She previously worked at Transportation Alternatives, a bike and pedestrian advocacy group, and the New York League of Conservation Voters.
Prior to working for the city, she served on Adams’ transition team that worked on infrastructure, climate and sustainability issues. She has also been an outspoken critic of hostile architecture.
Liu, who starts her position on Thursday, will be paid an annual salary of $195,000. She will be tasked with coordinating with various city agencies, including the transportation department, as well as community and business groups.
Under her new role, Liu will continue to report to Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi.
Adams first…
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