POLS’ HOT AIR
MAYOR DE BLASIO blasted Gov. Cuomo on Wednesday for “hypocrisy” for using decrepit NYCHA buildings for a “photo op” without handing over cash to fix the problems.
Cuomo, seizing on the crisis that has gripped the city's public housing system, last week visited a bug-infested, crumbling apartment at the Jackson Houses in the Bronx and pronounced himself horrified at the conditions. Over the weekend, he scoped out housing woes at the Taft Houses in East Harlem before announcing the state would kick in $250 million more for the New York City Housing Authority.
But de Blasio charges Cuomo is holding up $250 million of the $300 million the state had previously promised for NYCHA.
“The hypocrisy is the governor is getting his photo op, but not handing over the money. I say put your money where your mouth is. Give us the money you already owe us,” de Blasio said in a radio interview on the SiriusXM show “Sway in the Morning.”
Hizzoner also accused Cuomo of developing a sudden interest in NYCHA once it became politically convenient.
“I’ve spent a whole lot of time in public housing buildings throughout my entire life in public service. I go to buildings all the time to talk to residents. I’ve walked the hallways, I’ve been up and down the stairways,” de Blasio said, adding that it’s been a “long, long time since the governor showed up in a public housing building, which strikes me as a rather political, opportunistic act.”
The mayor cracked that he had even toned down his remarks for the radio audience.
“I thought that was very polite,” he said. “I cleaned it up for your show.”
Cuomo’s team says he showed up at NYCHA buildings at the invitation of tenants desperate for help — and it blames the city for the holdup in funds, saying the Housing Authority failed for seven months to submit a plan to spend the money, and still won’t commit to get it spent within a year or take responsibility for cost overruns.
“The tenants of NYCHA have implored the governor to intervene due to the fact that they are living in uninhabitable conditions, their children are being made ill, and the mayor is nonresponsive,” said Cuomo press secretary Dani Lever.
“The mayor is in 100% control of NYCHA and has not acted. The mayor’s chronic problem is he thinks giving more funding to an incompetent management system will make a difference,” she said.
“It won’t — the problem is the incompetent management, which failed to make repairs and for years has failed to even spend the money it has. Why does the mayor refuse to listen to the tenants of NYCHA who are crying out for management reforms? The governor visited the people of NYCHA because they asked, and because he is on their side.”
But de Blasio said that when it comes to NYCHA, he regards Cuomo not much differently than he does President Trump. The Housing Authority has a whopping $20 billion in maintenance needs, attributed mostly to decades of federal cuts.
“I’d say the same thing about Donald Trump as I’d say about Andrew Cuomo. If you want to help, it’s really easy — pick up the phone and say, ‘How can I help?’ ” de Blasio said. “Come help us. Don’t criticize, don’t undercut, don’t act like it happened because of something recently. It didn’t. It’s been going on for decades. Try and help.”
Also Wednesday, five NYCHA developments were experiencing heat and hot water outages during the winter storm. As of late morning, some 4,000 residents living in 1,910 apartments had no heat or hot water.
“We do have repair crews at all five locations and we fully expect to have the services restored by the end of the day,” said agency general manager Vito Mustaciuolo. Shortly after he spoke, a NYCHA spokeswoman said one development had services restored.