New York mayoral front-runner Bill de Blasio ripped the “fundamental problem of management” at New York City Housing Authority on Wednesday and vowed to clean house if he’s elected.
In a sitdown with the Daily News Editorial Board, de Blasio blasted Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who he said has ignored scandalous conditions NYCHA’s 600,000 tenants have endured for most of the mayor’s 12 years in office.
“At minimum, as a way forward, there should be a mayoral-control mindset vis-a-vis public housing,” he said. “We’re going to have to rework the operational approach at NYCHA.”
First on his list is getting rid of NYCHA Chairman John Rhea, the former Lehman Brothers investment banker who had no public sector experience before Bloomberg appointed him in 2009.
“John Rhea was not the right person. He did not have background in running an agency like that,” de Blasio said. He promised to replace Rhea with “someone who has been deeply involved in housing issues in the public sector.”
De Blasio, who is public advocate and was formerly a top official at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has repeatedly criticized NYCHA’s mismanagement.
De Blasio repeated his opposition to NYCHA’s plan to lease public land at eight Manhattan projects for private apartment buildings that would rent mostly at market rates.
Tenants at seven of the eight developments have rejected the plan, which Rhea claims would raise $50 million a year to fund building repairs.
Still, the mayoral hopeful gave an inch, conceding that “there may well be a development plan that is believable and acceptable, but it has to be carefully constructed. So I certainly don’t rule it out.”
“But,” he quickly added, “not the way it was done by Bloomberg.”
