I think it is very important that we spotlight the instinctive double-think attitude of our politicians.
The Federal government has indicted the management of the New York City Housing Authority for its sophisticated practice of concealing gross neglect in the apartments of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers from the eyes of federal inspectors.
Those who speak for NYCHA admitted to the fraud and agreed to a $1 billion settlement rather than a months-long trial during which the sordid details of the story would be paraded. But here is how de Blasio turned it around and presented the settlement as yet another effort to “help” the NYCHA tenants: “The settlement we reached with the U.S. Attorney will add an additional $1 billion in capital over the next four years and shows very clearly that the City of New York is going to do everything in our power to help fix the challenges at NYCHA, to help provide for the 400,000 people who live in NYCHA. We want their lives to be safe and healthy.”
Those in NYCHA management who hid the gross neglect from the eyes of federal inspectors should be put on trial and this paper is formally asking for that to happen.
—George Capsis
