Gov. Cuomo signs executive order calling for monitor of NYCHA funds
NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) signed an executive order Monday creating a new independent monitor to oversee $250 million in the state budget for needed NYCHA repairs.
When added to the money for NYCHA in the pipeline from last year, it brings the total to $550 million.
Governor Cuomo has ripped NYCHA, a city agency, for dragging its feet on repairs and lead inspections.
"Get something done! You know people are living in terrible conditions. Get it done. No excuse," he said Monday
Earlier this year NYCHA said it would take three or four years to fix old boilers and get heat to tenants who've suffered for months.
Governor Cuomo says the budget increase and the executive order will fast-track repairs, getting them done within the next 12 months.
City Hall responded with Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen issuing a letter urging the governor to release the money as soon as possible.
In her letter she wrote, "The clock on actual design work can only begin once the State has released funding. It has been 357 days since the State allocated $200 million. Not a dollar of that funding has ever been delivered."
Monday Gov. Cuomo shot back that the money is coming, not to NYCHA, but to his newly-appointed monitor. "Anybody who says I should have given money to NYCHA doesn't know what they are talking about because that is the problem," said the governor.
The mayor, city council and NYCHA tenant association will choose a monitor within 60 days and then a contractor within 30 days to get repairs done quickly at NYCHA.
"NYCHA said we're going to do it in three years, that is too little and that is too late," said Cuomo.
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