Monitor deadline extended
The Manhattan U.S. attorney on Wednesday again extended the deadline for applicants seeking to become an independent court-appointed monitor overseeing the troubled city Housing Authority.
This is the second time U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman has moved the goalpost in the ongoing effort to bring in an outsider to make sure NYCHA follows all city, state and federal laws and regulations about safe and healthy living conditions for its 600,000 tenants.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for Berman declined to reveal how many applications the office had received before the extension was announced.
The announcement invited those who’ve already applied “to supplement the applications as appropriate,” an indication that the crop of applicants wasn’t up to par. The announcement urged all applicants to “submit applications as soon as possible.”
On June 11, Mayor de Blasio and NYCHA entered into a consent decree with Berman, agreeing to the appointment of a NYCHA monitor after prosecutors detailed years of coverups and lies aimed at hiding the authority’s failures to address a long lost of problems, from lead paint inspections to toxic mold.
Initially, the deadline for applications to be the monitor was set at July 11, but days before Berman moved it to Sept. 12. Hours before the deadline was set to pass, he extended it again.
Now the deadline is tied to the date the consent decree is approved by the judge in the case. Manhattan Federal Judge William Pauley has expressed reservations about the proposed agreement, and the city, NYCHA and prosecutors are scheduled to press their case during a Sept. 26 court hearing.