Last week, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced PlaNYC, a far-reaching initiative to reshape one of the world’s greatest cities. The proposal will transform New York into a metropolis of the future: one that is free of traffic congestion and smog, consumes less energy and has enough housing for people of all income levels. For a politician, these are unparalleled, innovative ideas but there will be many challenges and obstacles to overcome to make PlaNYC a reality.

The city created by PlaNYC is going to be a place I, and certainly countless others, would want to live. But before we begin to build toward this ultra-modern and environmentally-friendly Utopia, we must not lose sight of the potentially risky and possibly insurmountable roadblocks.

For one, it will be expensive. The cost will be hundreds of billions of dollars over the next two decades, much more than Mayor Bloomberg can collect by charging motorists to drive on city streets or by banking current and future surpluses. Luckily, New York is the financial capital of the world and fiscal wizards abound. As he formalizes his Capital Financing Authority for PlaNYC projects, the Mayor will have the luxury of recruiting the best and brightest Wall Street has to offer to create practicable financing structures that are dependable, as well as doable.

A second consideration is public buy-in. The rest of us, including many of our elected representatives, are not as visionary as the Mayor. Most of the world is just trying to get to work while our political leaders are worried how they will get reelected every two, four or six years. PlaNYC will take many election cycles to implement and it will undoubtedly cause a variety of political pain for all. The enormous size and scope of PlaNYC seemed to catch more than a few people off guard and reaction by many of the City’s elected leaders has been mixed, especially when it comes to congestion mitigation fees.

Now that the Mayor has thrown down the gauntlet, he will have to work hard to sell such a wide range of ideas. Aside from his natural allies, such as the various environmental groups, housing advocates and the Regional Plan Association, who will surely jump on board, others may also be easily convinced to grab an oar. And for good reason. The initiative, as much a public works program as anything else, will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Organized labor, construction contractors, planners, engineers and manufacturers of clean power and transit equipment should be overjoyed by the prospect of reinventing New York. However, unless interest groups such as AAA and freight movers (marine, rail & truck), are included in the process going forward, it will be difficult, but perhaps not impossible, to sell PlaNYC to them. The tourism industry may also be cringing now at congestion pricing, but in the long run, more people than ever will flock to a cleaner, more livable, and most likely safer, New York City.

Finally, can the Mayor conquer the inevitable bureaucracy through leadership, vision and pure force of will? It is not enough to create a capital financing authority to pay for projects, no matter how necessary they may be. The Mayor does not control many of the institutions that will play a key role in the transformation. These include the Port Authority, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Public Service Commission, the State Department of Transportation, and public utilities, to name a few. Other Governors, past and perhaps present, have had trouble making these agencies take direction and collaborate on projects. The World Trade Center redevelopment plan and the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project are examples of how high profile projects can be held up for years by turf battles between politicians and government agencies. Unless one person or government agency is in charge of all city planning and capital construction, infighting will delay and ultimately kill the Mayor’s progressive plan.

The only area in which there is no deficit is human capital. New York City boasts some of the world’s best minds in finance, engineering, architecture and planning. Combined with strong leadership that is deeply committed to implementing an across-the-board and aggressive rebuilding program, this brain trust can be tapped to develop and execute a plan that will improve the City’s infrastructure, create jobs and make New York an even greater city than it already is.

Mr. Lattuca is also a principal at Binnacle, a government affairs consulting firm located near Rochester, New York (www.binnacleconsulting.com).

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