FINALLY! NYCHA SCANDAL BOSS QUITS
Beleaguered boss quitting at last
Embattled NYCHA Chair Shola Olatoye — who faced scathing criticism for her handling of lead-paint inspections and poor living conditions in public housing — is stepping down from her post, City Hall announced Monday.
Olatoye’s resignation will be effective at the end of the month and Mayor de Blasio will formally announce her departure at an event Tuesday in the Rockaways.
The New York City Housing Authority has been plagued with problems in recent months, most notably the revelation that Olatoye falsely certified inspections for lead-paint hazards in about 55,000 units.
A state probe also found that more than 80 percent of units had some kind of major issue that could pose a “health hazard.”
City Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) said Olatoye’s resignation was a necessity.
“I think the resignation of Shola was less a choice than the consequence of collapsed credibility,” said Torres, the former City Council Public Housing chairman who now heads the Oversight and Investigations Committee.
“You cannot mismanage heating systems and lead-safety inspections and submit false testimony to the City Council on two occasions and expect to remain NYCHA chair for a long time.”
A leading community-organizing group also blasted Olatoye Monday — but said de Blasio, too, is to blame for the “systematic rot at NYCHA.”
“Chairwoman Olatoye might be gone, but the systemic rot at NYCHA won’t end with her,” said the Rev. David K. Brawley, leader of the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation.
“She may have failed, but she’s not the failure. Mayor de Blasio has talked big about making NYCHA fixes, but over the last four years, the mayor has continued to treat hundreds of thousands of black and Latino New Yorkers like second-class citizens.”
De Blasio, who has defended Olatoye against her critics, tried to spin her tenure as a success.
“The Housing Authority that the chair inherited four years ago faced bankruptcy, an inability to make basic repairs and an alarming surge in violence. She was a change agent from Day One,” he said in statement.
“Crime is down. Repairs are faster. Finances are stabilized. And NYCHA is putting record investment from the City to work making life better for the 400,000 New Yorkers that call NYCHA home. We’re grateful for her service.”
Torres couldn’t fathom how City Hall could try to make make Olatoye’s troubled tenure sound so good.
“What planet are these people living on?” he said. “It seems the administration would rather quarantine itself from reality than acknowledge its failures and learn from them,”
Public Advocate Letitia James played it down the middle — thanking Olatoye for her work, but agreeing she had to go.
“Chair Olatoye has shown a strong commitment to public service and we thank her for serving our city,” according to a statement by James, which added, “While her intentions were never in question, we are long overdue for a fresh start at NYCHA. It is time to move forward and open a new chapter at NYCHA, one that continuously puts the needs of tenants first.”
Former Port Authority Executive Director Stan Brezenoff, a veteran of several city and state agencies, will be named interim NYCHA chief, officials said.
NYCHA’s struggles have drawn the attention of Gov. Cuomo.
The state sent investigators into 225 public-housing apartments in March and found that 212 — more than 80 percent — had “at least one severe condition” that “could pose a health hazard” to those living there, according to its findings.