Twist in NYCHA big’s gig
DeB ignored old woe
The former general manager of the New York City Housing Authority who got a plum job with a city-affiliated organization in March was awarded that parachute landing courtesy of City Hall, The Post has learned.
Former GM Michael Kelly, who was responsible for day-today operations at the housing agency at a time when it falsely claimed to be doing annual inspections of apartments for lead paint, was named chief operating officer at the Brooklyn Navy Yard within a month of his resignation.
Officials at City Hall were the ones who orchestrated the shift, according to a source familiar with the deal.
“Rewarding an official who egregiously mismanaged NYCHA for three years is a true show of contempt for accountability,” said Ritchie Torres, chair of the City Council’s Committee on Oversight and Investigation.
“Far from being part of the solution, the de Blasio administration is part of the problem.”
Kelly has maintained he wasn’t aware of the lapse in inspections — which started before his arrival at NYCHA — and City Hall officials insisted at the time of his resignation that he wasn’t forced out.
Approached after a groundbreaking at the Navy Yard Wednesday, Kelly declined to comment.
He said he had “plenty of thoughts” on this week’s devastating 80-page federal complaint that documented systemic deception to hide conditions at NYCHA but said he didn’t “feel comfortable commenting.”
“I have new bosses now, and I just have to be respectful to their process and communications,” he said.
Approached after the same event, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen said nothing when asked about the federal complaint.
Asked for comment, City Hall spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie said, “The mayor has demanded accountability, and he’s getting it.”
She added that “the media’s desire for public executions won’t distract us from instituting real, speedy reform that will improve the lives of NYCHA tenants.”
The mayor has routinely helped out top appointees land new positions after they falter, including former homeless-services chief Gilbert Taylor and former general-services chief Stacey Cumberbatch.
In 2016, the mayor appointed Taylor a Family Court judge and transferred Cumberbatch to the public-hospitals system at the same salary.