. . . and his myopia

Ablast furnace would be hard-pressed to match the political heat Gov. Cuomo fires at Mayor de Blasio for his manifestly inadequate leadership of the New York City Housing Authority. Yes, Cuomo’s toying with his progressive nemesis. But in this case, he’s not wrong to do so.

Hither the governor races to the Bronx, to tour a roach-infested apartment and pledge to help repair boilers and steam pipes that this winter failed hundreds of thousands of tenants. He spares a moment to rail at moldy plaster and peeling lead paint and frayed roofs and the rest of the fetid rot (much of which, lest we forget, went unrepaired under Mayor Bloomberg and others).

Thither the governor and his top lawyer issue a frenzy of public statements declaring NYCHA management incapable of leading a fix, and outlining an idea cooked up with leaders of the New York City Council: to bring in a private construction firm, free of the suffocating Housing Authority bureaucracy, to get the job done.

No doubt Cuomo relishes twisting a knife or two in de Blasio’s back while — bonus! — burnishing his progressive bona fides in a reelection year.

But there’s serious substance to the showmanship. The guy did once run the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, after all — and here offers a potentially transformative idea where de Blasio at best would incrementally improve on a failed status quo. The details of Cuomo’s plan go like this. One, he’ll go to bat in the state Legislature to get NYCHA design-build authority to streamline construction, shaving many months and millions of dollars off of urgent jobs. That should have happened long ago; the place is a money pit.

Two, he’ll create, via executive powers, a new independent entity to hire a private firm to manage rebuilding projects, overseen by the mayor, Council and a delegate representing NYCHA tenants.

Only then will the governor deem $200 million in state funds budgeted last year to replace boilers and elevators, plus whatever this year’s budget yields, worth the state spending.

Design-build is a must. That three-headed entity smells suspiciously like an unaccountable bureaucracy piled atop what is currently an insufficiently accountable bureaucracy.

But really, does de Blasio have a better idea?