Will Preet Rescue NYCHA?
MARCH 2016
In July of 2015, the Liberal Party sent Julian Castro, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) a registered letter asking him to appoint a Federal Task Force and a Federal monitor to initiate an investigation of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and learn why half a million New Yorkers live in unrelieved slum conditions despite billions of dollars of Federal aid and promises of repair that are never kept.
The investigation was just revealed in a letter from Bharara’s office following an order from Judge Deborah Batts that compels New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to produce information about the cases of elevated blood-lead levels among residents and documented complaints of “unsafe, unsanitary or unhealthful conditions” throughout public housing.
The Judge’s order was necessary to peel back the City’s safety screen on medical records in order to avoid violating city and state health codes relating to privacy; a screen that protected the City from revealing the truth about NYCHA.
Mayors come and Mayors go. Bloomberg and DeBlasio hired two chairpersons without any housing experience whatsoever: DeBlasio’s “voice” Shola Olatoye has proved to be a better storyteller and promiser than her predecessor John Rhea – who was invisible.
But facts are facts and such politicians, as City Councilman Richie Torres and influential State Senator Jeff Klein have had no problem documenting such egregious violations as electrical wiring, endless mold and peeling paint as well as damaged and broken pipes and walls.
This following the city audit by comptroller Scott Stringer that said NYCHA officials lied about repairing apartments they never even entered and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s audit which could not find $50 million granted by the Governor to fix NYCHA’s crumbling rooftops. The next $50 million was withheld.
THE LAW STEPS IN
Ignoring various city and state officials who come seeking information is easy for NYCHA people who’ve been ignoring truth for perhaps 30 or 40 years…covering up the names of corporations doing business with them…taking the money…and never completing the work.
But a Federal court-order is a very different thing…and that difference may be the answer.
The initial demand for information came on November 20th when the prosecutors sought the addresses of all NYCHA buildings where lead levels in blood were higher than normal, the date when such levels were tested; the date when they were identified; the date of any environmental investigation; the date when results were identified and then sent to the agencies and the date when lead hazard control was initiated and completed in the properties in question.
Court documents indicate that NYCHA must comply with federal requirements regarding lead-based paints and must by law maintain public housing so that it is safe, sanitary and in good repair.
Because this is about the possibility of false claims and illegality in reports submitted by the city to HUD, prosecutors are also looking at complaints about health conditions such as leaks, water damage, mold, particulate matter peeling from peeling paint, lead paint, rodents or insects and they are seeking any information about whether or not these complaints have been investigated or evaluated by city and state agencies.
It is clear that the US Attorney’s Office may very well be examining NYCHA as it has never been examined before. Preet Bharara’s reputation as the man who finally took a single step to fix the open corruption in Albany by successfully prosecuting the leaders of the State Assembly and State Senate suggests that he and his office could do something for 500,000 New Yorkers living throughout the city that no one else has ever done: care and fix. We shall see.
LATE BREAKING NEWS
According to Will Bredderman of the Observer, who has been closely following NYCHA for the last several years, Shola Olatoye, chairwoman of NYCHA has testified that Preet Bharara is looking into every aspect of NYCHA… a far more expansive investigation than just lead levels in the blood. Of course Ms. Olatoye hastened to remind the City Council that this is really not an investigation…just an inquiry.
Bredderman quotes her as telling the City Council’s Committee on Public Housing that the inquiry has been about all of NYCHA operations. She reported that the US Attorney’s Office has requested and received some 440 million records from the housing authority pertaining to every facet of its internal workings.
If Ms. Olatoye thinks this is not an investigation of NYCHA than she has a lot more to learn beyond what she clearly doesn’t know about housing.