Members of NYC Council Urge Victims of NYCHA to Sue

Former NYCHA Chairperson Shola Olatoye
(Marcus Santos, NY Daily News)

Probably the Mayoral scandal that infuriates New Yorkers the most is de Blasio's disdain and silence on the lies and corruption of NYCHA and it's former Chairperson Shola Olatoye. There is no end in sight, nor should there be. Innocent people - including countless children - were poisoned by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's deafness to cries of help over lead in apartments and general fraud.

Shame on Bill.

Betsy Combier
betsy.combier@gmail.com
betsy@advocatz.com
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Council speaker hopefuls rail on NYCHA for lead paint inspection crisis by Erin Durkin, NY Daily News, August 5, 2018

City Council speaker candidates bashed the embattled city housing authority over its failure to inspect residents' apartments for lead.

Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan) encouraged families affected by the botched inspections — and NYCHA's false certification that it completed them — to file a class action lawsuit against the city.

Rodgriguez said the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development should go just as hard on NYCHA as it does on private landlords.

"We have failed," he said at a forum Tuesday night hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network. "We should not go just after Shola (Olatoye, the NYCHA chair). The rest of the people, anyone responsible for what happened, from the top to the bottom should pay for the consequences."

A Department of Investigation probe this month found that NYCHA falsely reported to the feds for years that it was handling all required inspections.

"There were documents submitted to the federal government that were lies," said Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn). "I don't want to sugarcoat this. The mayor has said that he knew about it."

The Daily News reported that de Blasio was informed last year that NYCHA was violating the lead paint rules.

"If people lie, and they lie knowingly about a health situation, they should be fired," said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens).

Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens) speaks as Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn) (left) looks on at a forum at the National Action Network. (Jimmy Van Bramer via Twitter)

A spokeswoman for Mayor de Blasio dismissed the criticism from the field. "Politicians are going to be politicians," said Olivia Lapeyrolerie.

At the forum, hopefuls also grappled with the role race should play in picking a speaker to replace Melissa Mark-Viverito, the body's first Hispanic leader.

There has never been a black speaker, and Sharpton said he won't necessarily back one this time — but it must be someone who grasps racial inequality.

"That does not mean that ultimately the person will be black. I supported Mayor de Blasio over a black," Sharpton said, referring to his support for de Blasio over Bill Thompson in the 2013 election.

"Some are saying because we've never had a black City Council president, that that's what we're looking for. No, we're looking for the best candidate for the black community," he said, but added, "It is horrific we've never had a black (speaker), because it gives the connotation we're not qualified."

Some candidates were less shy in arguing that the Council should be sure to pick a non-white speaker.

"I am not ashamed," said Councilman Robert Cornegy (D-Brooklyn). "It is a reasonable request that the speaker of the City Council of New York be representative of the demographics not only of the City Council body, but of the city of New York."

With the top city and statewide posts mostly held by white men, Williams said it would be a "travesty" for the Council to join them.

"We shouldn't just put anybody up there because of the color of our skin," he said. "But there are five of us... One of us probably has the qualifications that everybody's looking for."

Shola Olatoye, Chairwoman of the New York City Housing Authority, Lied To the Federal Government

Shola Olatoye

New Yorkers are fed up with the corruption of Mayor Bill DeBlasio, but have 4 more years to cry over him.

Yep, he was re-elected. He is part of the well-oiled Clinton political machine, after all, so there are globs of immunity attached to him, his office, and the people who work with and for him. The DeBlasio culture is "play-if-you-pay" and "deny, deny, deny" if you are asked questions.

So sad to see the New York City stuck in such sewage.

Betsy Combier
betsy@advocatz.com
betsy@advocatz.com

Editor, Advocatz

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Editor, Parentadvocates.org
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Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials

City Filed False Paperwork on Lead Paint Inspections, Inquiry Finds

By J. DAVID GOODMANNOV. 14, 2017

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The chairwoman of the New York City Housing Authority knew in the middle of 2016 that the agency’s inspectors had not been checking apartments for lead paint, in violation of federal rules and local law. But in the fall, city investigators found, she signed off on paperwork certifying that the inspections had been completed.

The finding came Tuesday in a short but damning report from the city’s Investigation Department that described how the agency, which runs the city’s 180,000 units of public housing, had for years failed to inspect for lead paint, but told the federal authorities that it was doing so.

And even after the chairwoman, Shola Olatoye, learned of the lack of compliance, the agency filed paperwork stating that it abided by the requirements, which are tied to federal funding.

“Although Chair Olatoye, the general manager and other senior executives were aware that Nycha was out of compliance,” the report said, “Nycha nonetheless submitted a false certification in October 2016, and had no reasonable explanation why this was acceptable.”

The issue of lead paint in city public housing is an element of an expansive and continuing federal investigation by the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York that came to light last March, and appears to include whether the agency filed false claims for payment from the federal government.

A spokeswoman for the Investigation Department, Diane Struzzi, said the findings had been referred to federal prosecutors, who ultimately decide whether or not charges would be appropriate. A spokesman for the Southern District declined to comment.

Asked of the federal inquiry last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the administration would “fully cooperate” with the investigation, “and anything we find, we will fix immediately.”

The housing authority is struggling with the costly job of maintaining its sprawling network of aging buildings, and, after reaching a settlement with residents in late 2013, is already under supervision by a court-appointed special master to address mold.

Lead poisoning is less common in public housing than in private apartments, according to city officials, and the number of children with lead poisoning has declined by about two-thirds since 2005.

“Under Chair Olatoye, Nycha identified gaps in its lead-based paint inspections and is making operational changes to prevent lapses like this,” said Melissa Grace, a spokeswoman for Mayor de Blasio. “We do not believe there’s any evidence that anyone intentionally made any misstatements to H.U.D.”

According to the eight-page report, the city ceased conducting annual inspections of apartments for general conditions after the Department of Housing and Urban Development relaxed its rules for doing so in 2012; it was in the course of those checks that the authority looked for lead paint, which can cause serious health and developmental problems, particularly in young children.

The federal government did not end its requirement for annual inspection of all apartments where the possible presence of lead paint has not been ruled out. But the city did not institute a new plan for lead paint inspections. About 55,000 apartments in the city’s public housing system fall under the federal rules for annual inspection; of those, roughly 4,200 have children under 6 years old and must be inspected each year for lead paint under city law.

The city did not meet those requirements after 2012, according to the report, but filed paperwork saying that it had from 2013 to 2016 — the last year of the Bloomberg administration and the first three years of Mr. de Blasio’s tenure. The housing authority acknowledged as much in an amendment to its filing with federal officials in July 2017, after the Investigation Department and federal prosecutors had begun inquiries into lead paint in the city’s public housing.

But long before that public acknowledgment, the report said, senior officials in May 2015 were aware that the required checks under local law were not being done and were meeting to come up with a plan. It was not until the following spring, the report said, that Ms. Olatoye learned of the violation of local law, and not until the summer of 2016 that the agency determined it was not complying with federal rules.

During that time, investigators determined that “Nycha failed to put in place a system to confirm the accuracy of federal forms before they were submitted.”

A spokeswoman for the agency, Jean Weinberg, said in an email that the agency “began addressing these issues more than a year ago” in connection with the federal investigation. “Nycha has acknowledged not only gaps in lead compliance,” she said, “but gaps in communications between senior Nycha officials and Nycha’s top leadership, which resulted in incorrect certifications to HUD”

She said that after the agency understood “the full scope of the issue,” and after consulting with the U.S. attorney’s office and federal housing authorities, the agency in July told residents of the issues, “along with the plan to address them.”

A spokesman for the federal housing department said in a statement that officials there were aware of the “deficiencies,” and that they had “requested that Nycha account for its noncompliance and provide an action plan” to ensure it meets and abides by the rules.

NYCHA lied about doing lead paint inspections, shocking report claims

By Yoav Gonen and Bruce Golding

, November 14, 2017

NYCHA boss hides behind NYPD 'bodyguard' after explosive report

November 15, 2017 | 1:54pm

The city’s embattled Housing Authority chief showed up late for work Wednesday morning shielded by an NYPD officer — and refused to address serious allegations from investigators that she lied about conducting lead-paint inspections in thousands of low-income apartments.

The uniformed cop followed NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye into the office building at 250 Broadway, across from City Hall, around 10:30 a.m., and appeared to be serving as her bodyguard.

He used his torso to try to block The Post from snapping a photo in the lobby, then accompanied Olatoye as she walked to a nearby Italian eatery about 90 minutes later.

Olatoye was spotted chatting on her cellphone inside the Gran Morsi restaurant on Warren Street, while the cop paced back and forth on the sidewalk outside.

An NYPD spokesman declined to say why it was providing Olatoye with that level of protection on the taxpayer’s dime .

Earlier, Olatoye ignored questions from The Post about Tuesday’s damning report from the city Department of Investigation, which revealed that she admittedly filed false paperwork with the feds last year.

Olaytoye instead smiled and said an NYCHA spokeswoman would be “happy to provide any statement that we’ve provided in the past, as well as answering further questions that you might have.”

“That’s the appropriate way to talk about this matter,” she added.

According to the DOI report, Olatoye — appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio on 2014 — falsely told the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development that annual lead-paint inspections had been performed in 55,000 NYCHA apartments.

Legal experts have told The Post that Olatoye could be charged with making a false statement to the government, with former federal Justice Department prosecutor Peter Katz saying she “made almost a full confession.”

Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) called the allegations against Olatoye “appalling,” saying that New Yorkers “need to have confidence that NYCHA is capable of performing the most basic of public safety functions.”

“Heads need to roll,” he said. “Somebody at NYCHA at the highest level is not performing the most basic function.”

Additional reporting by Shawn Cohen

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