NYCHA SCANDAL EXPLODES
Stringer probes lead outrage
City Comptroller Scott Stringer has vowed an investigation no ft he Mayor’s Office e over the burgeoning NYC HA lead-paint scandal following the revelation that as many as 820 kids have been poisoned.
“That they ha ave continued to put children in jeopardy is an outrage,” he said.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer vowed to get to the bottom of the widening lead-paint scandal at the New York City Housing Authority Sunday following the de Blasio administration’s stunning admission that as many as 820 kids were poisoned between 2012 and 2016.
In addition to NYCHA, Stringer said he would investigate the Mayor’s Office and the city Departments of Health and of Housing Preservation and Development.
“That they have continued to put children in jeopardy is an outrage,” he said.
“We must stop these agencies from making one mistake after another.”
Stringer blasted City Hall for revealing the extent of the lead-exposure problem only after months of controversy and a $1 billion settlement with the feds over the dangerous and decrepit living conditions at NYCHA homes.
“Our role is to look at the agency protocols: what they knew, what were the procedures, what’s the connection between the agencies, why are they operating in silos and who doesn’t want this information to come out?” he said.
Mayor de Blasio was rebuked over the scandal by other top city officials.
Council Speaker Corey Johnson — who joined Hizzoner on Sunday in announcing a new inspection policy for homes with kids who test positive for lead — faulted the mayor for not acting sooner.
Johnson (D-Manhattan) said he was blindsided by the administration’s revelation that it had adopted stricter standards for measuring lead exposure in children living in NYCHA homes in January.
“I don’t know why they withheld that information,” Johnson said. “I’m outraged and saddened at this whole situation.”
Public Advocate Letitia James renewed her call for free, independent lead testing of NYCHA kids and decried the revelation of the poisonings as “disgraceful and inexcusable.”
“Allowing this health crisis to be swept under the rug for years is a crime that needs to be investigated to the fullest extent. The families of @NYCHA deserve answers, and they deserve justice,” she tweeted.
Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx), who grew up in public housing, accused de Blasio of perpetrating a massive cover-up.
“His administration has systematically misled the public about the full extent of lead poisoning and lead exposure in public housing,” Torres said.
Brooklyn activist Tony Herbert called on feds to prosecute de Blasio, former NYCHA Chair Shola Olatoye and other housing officials over the false certifications made to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development regarding lead-paint safety in NYCHA units.
In a consent decree last month, NYCHA admitted making “untrue representations” about its compliance with federal regulations between 2010 and 2016.
The city is currently battling a federal class-action suit over lead-poisoned NYCHA residents, and legal experts said the admission regarding the extent of the problem would prove costly to taxpayers.
Lawyer Robert Vilensky, who isn’t involved in that case, cited a $57 million verdict handed down by a Bronx jury in January.
“Multiply that by the number of kids and you do the math,” he said.
Another lead expert, lawyer Reuven Frankel, noted that any child with lead poisoning needs lifetime medical monitoring that costs about $5,000 a year.
“A 2-year-old child for the rest of their life, times 820 children, is a lot of money,” he said.
Under the plan announced Sunday by de Blasio and Johnson, the Health Department will test the homes of all kids under age 18 whose blood tests positive for at least 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter, down from the city’s prior threshold of 10 micrograms.
City Hall said it started doing so in January for kids under age 6 in public housing and would expand the program by the year’s end.
In a statement, de Blasio — who is leaving Monday for a weeklong vacation in Vermont and Canada — tried to spin his way out of the latest NYCHA debacle.
“Lead poisoning is down almost 90 percent since 2005. But that’s not good enough . . . It’s our job to always push the envelope when it comes to our kids’ health,” he said.
A City Hall rep attacked Stringer’s planned probe.
“The comptroller seems to be reacting to a tabloid headline instead of concrete public health evidence,” the spokeswoman said.
That they have continued to put children in jeopardy is an outrage. — City Comptroller Scott Stringer, promising an investigation into Mayor de Blasio’s office and NYCHA