NYCHA against the law
For what feels like an eternity, Mayor de Blasio has excused outrageous mold and lead-paint perils to the health of thousands of children living in public housing, complaining about predecessors’ neglect and a drought of federal funding when he hasn’t downplayed the risks.
New York City Housing Authority chairwoman Shola Olatoye promised and promised and promised change — then resigned.
In the strongest terms Tuesday, two judges ruled that pervasive, sickening mold and widespread failures to monitor lead paint — including at projects where children have been poisoned — are both NYCHA’s problem to fix.
Now, not after lead poisoning claims a fresh generation of toddlers and asthma sickens entire families. Now, not after the gradual fixes de Blasio and Olatoye have proffered kick in — new roofs here and there, more look-sees for lead on a schedule of their own convenience.
The first extraordinary rebuke came in an ruling from Manhattan State Supreme Court Judge Carol Edmead, in response to a lawsuit filed by tenant leaders.
She forcefully ordered NYCHA to promptly inspect thousands of apartments where lead paint likely lurks — inspections that had all but stopped circa 2012 despite a federal law requiring them, resuming in 2016 on a limited scale after the Daily News exposed the calamity.
Even then, inspectors lacked federal certification — contrary to what Olatoye assured the City Council under oath. Sure enough, some kids ended up with dangerous levels of lead in their blood.
Emead signaled her lead-inspection order could just be the beginning of her demands for NYCHA to protect tenants. Your honor, don’t let up.
Manhattan Federal Judge William Pauley meanwhile shredded a proposed update of a deal other tenants reached four long years ago with NYCHA to clear up infestations of mold — noting the Housing Authority had flagrantly violated its commitments from the get-go.
“Quixotic” is what Pauley called the goal of “eradication of mold in NYCHA buildings within timeframes that NYCHA has not proven it can meet,” allowing “NYCHA to maintain a façade of action without any definite obligations.”
Expect similar themes to emerge when federal prosecutors release the long-awaited findings of their investigation into NYCHA’s handling of lead and mold.
Promises made, promises broken, promises made once more. Let the infernal cycle end now.