Environmental assessments are NIMBY? Well regardless, the point is it should be the same for everyone.

> Environmental assessments are NIMBY?

It's a kiosk being added to a concrete sidewalk in the middle of Manhattan, by the city itself.

There must be a way to do projects of this small scale without spending years on paperwork.

The whole point is in principle these things are good ideas but in practice they are tools weaponized by NIMBYs. This is the fig leaf that keeps them around. "But why would you do away with environmental review???" As if you were to stab 55 gal drums of toxic waste and dump them into a river. But really you were trying to build an apartment as large as many other existing apartments in the middle of the city. Or in this case, install something on the sidewalk.