A do-nothing NYCHA plan
Judge kills deal for monitor
A federal judge on Wednesday shot down an unprecedented agreement to bring in an independent monitor to oversee the city’s public housing, saying the deal doesn’t have enough teeth to trigger actual reform for NYCHA’s long-suffering tenants.
Manhattan Federal Judge William Pauley declined to sign off on a consent decree reached in June between Mayor de Blasio, the authority and the federal prosecutors whose in-depth investigation revealed years of lies about NYCHA’s failures to provide habitable apartments to its 400,000 residents.
“The court does not reject the proposed consent decree lightly,” Pauley wrote in his 52page decision. “But as it stands, the proposed decree suffers from fatal procedural flaws, including its formless injunctive relief and enforcement mechanisms.”
On June 11, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman filed a stunning complaint detailing how NYCHA managers have for years covered up failures to address a long list of health and safety issues, including pervasive toxic lead paint, mold infestation, heat outages and faltering elevators.
To settle the case, de Blasio and NYCHA agreed to the appointment of a monitor who would have the power to make sure NYCHA complied with all local, state and federal laws and regulations requiring that public housing apartments be maintained in safe and healthy condition.
Pauley, however, questioned whether the monitor would really have the ability to make that happen.
“The proposed consent decree’s indefiniteness as to NYCHA’s obligations and the enforcement mechanism forecloses approval of the settlement at this juncture,” he wrote. “The concerns over vague enforcement mechanisms are fully animated in this case.” The judge also took note of what he sees as a “wide chasm” between NYCHA and the feds over the role of the monitor. Prosecutors say the monitor would have the ability to intervene to remedy specific problems, but Pauley noted NYCHA management appears to envision the monitor as holding a limited role – a role that wouldn’t lead to actual reform.