IT'S MY LEAD TAINT
Blas: I should have admitted paint lapse
Mayor de Blasio admitted on Monday that he should have revealed the Housing Authority’s lead-paint scandal when he learned about it last year — and said at least two kids were poisoned due to a lapse in safety inspections on his watch.
Hizzoner also said a federal probe into NYCHA’s handling of lead hazards could be completed shortly and result in the imposition of a court-appointed monitor.
At a press conference in Queens, de Blasio was asked why he didn’t immediately correct his March 2016 statement claiming NYCHA apartments were being checked for lead annually, as required by law.
“I think that’s a fair point and, in retrospect, I wish we had,” he admitted.
A “NYCHA Fact Sheet” distributed by City Hall disclosed that four unidentified kids living in lead-tainted apartments tested positive for elevated blood-lead levels between 2014 and 2016.
Deputy Mayor Herminia Palacio said two of those kids were poisoned by lead paint, while the causes of the other cases “were sort of non-lead-paint hazards that were identified.”
Palacio did not elaborate on the nature of the “non-lead-paint hazards,” and de Blasio claimed that “no additional medical consequences have been observed” in any of the children.
“Thank God there has not been harm done to any child because of the mistakes that were made,” he said.
Despite last week’s blistering revelations by the city Department of Investigation — which detailed how NYCHA falsely told the feds the inspections had been performed — de Blasio continued to defend embattled NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye, whom he appointed in 2014.
The mayor also insisted that last week’s forced resignations of two high-ranking NYCHA officials and the demotion of a third came “when it was time to take those actions.”
Although legal experts have told The Post that Olatoye could face prosecution for admittedly signing a false testing certification last year, de Blasio said she “acted in good faith” because she had previously told federal housing officials that “something’s wrong here.”
City Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx), who chairs the Public Housing Committee, said the unfolding scandal showed that NYCHA “cannot be relied upon to hold itself accountable.”
“If anyone would lie to the federal government under oath, they would face severe consequences, but when NYCHA lies to the federal government under oath, it expects to get a pass,” he said.