NYCHA’S CRONY BALONEY
Dem insider picked to monitor failed agency — without waiting for feds’ OK
The head of the City Council’s investigation committee says Mayor de Blasio and NYCHA are already violating a federal consent decree by handing a political patronage hire the crucial task of ensuring NYCHA complies with all health and safety rules.
Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx), blasted the recent appointment of Vilma Huertas-Cymbrowitz as chief compliance officer. Huertas-Cymbrowitz was appointed as NYCHA’s board secretary years ago as a favor to her mentor, the late Brooklyn Democratic powerhouse Vito Lopez.
She’s also the wife of Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Assembly Housing Committee.
The Housing Authority board last month approved Huertas-Cymbrowitz as chief compliance officer, despite the consent decree with federal prosecutors to first consult with an expected federal monitor who has yet to be ppointed.
Both NYCHA and de Blasio agreed to enter into the consent decree, which still must be approved by a judge.
Torres contends NYCHA’s decision to put Huertas-Cymbrowitz in that crucial job violated the intent of the consent decree, and he questioned Huertas-Cymbrowitz’s qualifications. Before her recent promotion, Huertas-Cymbrowitz’s job was as recording secretary, keeping minutes of board meetings.
Though she has been on the NYCHA payroll for years, she has had zero involvement in policy decisions or authority operations.
“It is unclear how these responsibilities remotely qualify one to oversee regulatory compliance in a multi-billion dollar bureaucracy bound by a mind-numbing maze of federal, state and local laws,” Torres wrote in a letter sent Monday to Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman.
NYCHA’s longtime failure to comply with multiple rules and laws on lead paint and mold abatement has created unhealthy and dangerous conditions for its tenants and is at the heart of the federal investigation that led to the consent decree.
Torres notes the new role of compliance officer is essential to turning things around.
“The Compliance Department, if led by a real reformer, could serve as a powerful catalyst for change within the agency,” he wrote.
“But the potential for internal reform will remain unrealized as long as NYCHA insists on appointing someone so patently unqualified. Add to the appointment the unseemly appearance of political patronage, and the result is a Housing Authority that remains utterly uninformed by repeat revelations of its own malfeasance.”
NYCHA Interim Chairman and CEO Stanley Brezenoff insisted the appointment did not violate the proposed agreement.
“We are not in violation of the consent decree. There is no way on this Earth that I was going to wait for the monitor’s arrival to put a compliance officer in place. We chose the best candidate for the job after sifting through dozens and dozens of resumes. Vilma is supremely qualified for the job,” he said.
In her role as board secretary, Huertas-Cymbrowitz was paid $159,764 last year. NYCHA spokeswoman Jasmine Blake said Huertas-Cymbrowitz’s salary was given a significant bump to $200,000 and emphasized that her long tenure at NYCHA gives her extensive insight into how the agency is run.
Huertas “worked at NYCHA for almost 24 years, and has extensive institutional knowledge which will be critical to implementing change in compliance at NYCHA,” she said.