Tenants suing agency, claim chronic failure
Federal and state investigators did not charge de Blasio or JAD, but both the U.S. attorney’s office and Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. admonished de Blasio at the time, with Vance writing that “the transactions appear contrary to the intent and spirit of the laws that impose candidate contribution limits, laws which are meant to prevent ‘corruption and the appearance of corruption.’ ”
JAD’s attorney, Roland Riopelle, said the company has a longstanding relationship with NYCHA and that the Parks Department controversy “was put to bed a long time ago.” But a review of the city comptroller’s contract database did not show any contracts between JAD and NYCHA.
NYCHA spokesman Nekoro Gomes said JAD has been vetted.
“All vendors interested in doing business with NYCHA — including JAD — undergo a stringent vetting process,” he said.
JAD was not the only controversial contractor on the agenda Wednesday.
NYCHA’s board also voted to authorize four funding increases — worth a total of $2.55 million — to Simco Enterprises Corp., a company whose former part-owner, Husam Ahmad, pleaded guilty to bribery last May in connection with a scheme to illegally direct cash to de Blasio’s 2013 mayoral campaign.
Ahmad was forced out of the company after the scheme came to light. Simco is now under the oversight of a state monitor and is paying off a $1 million fine in connection with that case, according to its attorney, John Martin.
“NYCHA has utilized the services of Simco Enterprises since 2015, and today’s board action is a funding increase to an already existing contract,” Gomes said.
Three New York City Housing Authority tenants filed a class action lawsuit Wednesday in Brooklyn Supreme Court accusing the authority of forcing them to live in deplorable conditions.
They are demanding damages and want their rents reduced.
The tenants — Latisha McGriff, Ricardo Reed and Claresa Ward — are accusing NYCHA of failing to “provide decent, safe and sanitary housing.” All three live in Brooklyn’s Red Hook Houses. “It’s time for somebody to stand up,” Ward, 42, told the Daily News. “We need help.”
Ward raised three children to adulthood in her Red Hook West apartment. All three suffer from asthma, which she claimed has been exacerbated by mold she’s pleaded with NYCHA to address for the past several years.
“If someone does come, they come to look, not do repairs,” she said.
Her and her co-plaintiffs’ claim — that NYCHA failed to repair plumbing, inspect for lead paint and maintain safe elevators — is generally supported by dozens of news accounts and NYCHA’s agreement more than a year ago to be overseen by a federal monitor for those very same issues.
“Residents of apartments have gone without gas or a stove for months,” read a statement by Berg & Androphy, the law firm representing the residents. “Rampant elevator outages trap physically challenged or wheelchair-bound NYCHA tenants in their apartments. Proliferating mold, often caused by pervasive leaks, causes or exacerbates asthma and forces tenants to buy inhalers.”
The lawsuit claims breach of contract based on NYCHA’s “intentional violation” of its lease agreement with tenants. Lawyer Jenny Kim said any resident NYCHA has failed to provide with safe and sanitary conditions within the past six years could be eligible to join the class action suit — meaning that hundreds, if not thousands, of people could potentially join.
“NYCHA has flagrantly violated numerous contractual, statutory and common law obligations,” the lawsuit states.
Agency officials had not read the legal papers as of Wednesday afternoon. “NYCHA will review the complaint when we receive it,” said spokeswoman Rochel Leah Goldblatt.
The lawsuit specifically cites former NYCHA head Shola Olatoye’s “serious misrepresentations” about the existence of lead paint in apartments.
Olatoye stepped down in the wake of revelations that agency falsely certified it was in compliance with lead paint laws when it was not.