Monday, June 11, 2018

News roundup: Feds say that the NYCHA covered up public housing dangers for years


Here are some excerpts from today's news coverage about how the city reportedly covered up dangerous public health conditions at NYCHA properties for the past eight years.

Via The New York Times:

The federal government on Monday delivered a withering rebuke of New York City’s housing authority, accusing officials of systematic misconduct, indifference and outright lies in the management of the nation’s oldest and largest stock of public housing.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said the authority, which houses at least 400,000 poor and working-class residents, covered up its actions, training its staff on how to mislead federal inspectors and presenting false reports to the government and to the public about its compliance with lead-paint regulations. The failures endangered tenants and workers for years, the prosecutors said, and potentially left more children than previously known poisoned by lead paint in their apartments.

Via Politico:

The report concludes a two-year investigation into one of Mayor Bill de Blasio's biggest managerial failings.

De Blasio signed a consent decree with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan that commits the city to $1 billion over four years and $200 million in subsequent years to fix dire conditions throughout the housing authority's 325 complexes.

In doing so, he took more ownership of an agency whose head he appoints but which is legally a responsibility of the federal government. Any changes will be made under the watch of a federally appointed monitor.

Via NBC 4:

As a result of the settlement, NYCHA will now have to create three new departments: one for compliance, one for environmental health and safety, and one for quality assurance.

Via the Post's coverage of the news conference with Mayor de Blasio:

When a New York Times reporter suggested the mayor had been forced to sign the decree by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, rather than agreeing to it willingly, Hizzoner blew up.

“It was not forced, it was a decision, my friend. Seriously my friend, you represent a rather prestigious journalistic entity. Do not put words in someone’s mouth. That’s really not cool,” the mayor said. “I was not forced for a minute. I had the choice if I wanted to do something different to do something different. So really try and respect the truth.”

Earlier in the day, de Blasio issued a statement blaming NYCHA’s problems on "decades" of underfunding by the federal and state government, and "neglect" by prior city administrations.

You may read the consent decree here ... and the complaint here.

5 comments:

JQ LLC said...

And no one, no one at NYCHA is going to jail. Not Shoya Olatoye, not shitty John Shea and not mayors bloomberger and de Fasutio, who through willful indifference and cognitive dissonance allowed the lying. Actually in Bad Bills case, he clearly encouraged the lying and exposed himself for the devil he is by denouncing the study in front of the press and admonishing not for the facts of the horrid conditions that were ignored or covered up but the fact that the study was released and now has to pay for it.

The city could have saved 2 billion if they just spent that money making the improvements the projects needed in the first damn place. He should be happy as pig in slop how lucky he is that he will escape indictment. Again.

Impeach de Blasio.

https://impunitycity.wordpress.com/

Giovanni said...

Remember when DeBlasio was going to deliver hundreds of thousands of afforable housing units to the city? What we got instead was a massive $220 million tax giveaway to StuyTown’s new owners, a tax break which did not result in a single additional housing unit being built or preserved, and now this, a massive multi-billion dollar budget buster which could have gone to build more housing, or to fix the problems when they happened years ago.

This looks like a decades long, bipartisan conspiracy and coverup that went from Bloomberg and DeBlasio to turn NYCHA into the biggest slumlord in this city’s history. DeBlasio seems to be playing the same game he played with the Rivington House nursing home scandal. DeBlasio looked the other way (or was asleep at the wheel if you believe his lame alibi) while developers profited. Once again DeBlasio feigns ignorance, even though it appears he was enabling and defending the former NYCHA Director from public scrutiny until she was forced to resign in disgrace.

What I find most amazing is that NYCHA never had any department in charge of Environment, Health and Safety or even Quality Assurance, assuring that residents lived in bad environments, without health or safety, and in poor quality housing. How do you have an agency with over 400,000 tenants in over 2,600 buildings with a footprint that is three times the size of Central Park and NOT have anyone overseeing health and safety? This is a disgrace, and iDeBlasio must fix it if he wants to have any chance of cleaning up his reputation and delivering on his campaign promises.

Anonymous said...

Bill was just too busy being wined and dined by big developers to actually give shit about the poor and working class who actually voted his ass in office twice by dangling that pre-school promise for 6 years.

Most people cannot aford to hire a lawyer when the very homes they live in are poisoning them and their children so we turn to the system put in place to keep things legal.

Meanwhile projects which only benefit the wealthiest and tourists keep getting built to generate money for the city while citizens are pretty much ignored.

Anonymous said...

As far as I can tell, DeBlasio seems to suck at everything except putting $$$$ from developers/donors into his bank account. IMO, he just doesn't give a shit about NYC. Get lost, DeBlasio - and your wife and her "aspirations" too.

Anonymous said...

When not starting a sentence, it's de Blasio.

As in, "Boy, do I really hate de Blasio!"