City Comptroller John C. Liu
stated the following today on Mayor Bloomberg’s climate-change plan:
“We applaud the Mayor for laying out this comprehensive report. Climate change poses serious risks to our City and, as
the report pointed out, to our old building stock.
“Our
proposed Green Apple Bonds are the perfect way to finance the $1.2
billion in old building stock resiliency upgrades
in the Mayor’s plan. Together, we can help finance the retrofitting of
old buildings to improve resiliency or reduce our carbon footprint and
save taxpayer money from reduced energy costs. We look forward to
working with the Mayor to raise the necessary funds
and to make sure that we use this opportunity to create more jobs for
New Yorkers, especially those who have been left behind.”
Background:
Support Growing for Green Apple Bonds, March. 19, 2013:
Green Apple Bonds Are Building Momentum, Dec. 12, 2012:
Comptroller Liu Proposes Innovative “Green Apple Bonds,” Nov. 30. 2012:
http://comptroller.nyc.gov/
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LIU ANNOUNCES AUDIT OF E911 SYSTEM
Vows to Get to Bottom of Crashes Afflicting Emergency Dispatch
City Comptroller John C. Liu today commenced an audit
in order to look into what may have caused the City’s Emergency
911 system to crash repeatedly in recent days. The audit follows two
years of the Comptroller’s close scrutiny of and repeated warnings about
problems with the project.
Comptroller
Liu drew a parallel between the City’s mismanaged implementation of the
E911 system and the implementation of the troubled CityTime
time-keeping system.
“The
E911 system’s problems comprise an even greater management debacle than
the scandal surrounding CityTime,” Comptroller Liu said. “Taxpayers
were for bilked for CityTime, but the $500 million was recouped
eventually. In the case of CityTime, system failure at worst meant
delayed paychecks. In this case, system failure would have far more
disastrous consequences. How can it be that $2 billion has
bought an E911 system that must resort to pen and paper? What happens
if an extended heat wave taxes the system?”
The
audit will examine whether the Mayor’s Office of Citywide Emergency
Communications is successfully monitoring the integration and
implementation
of the Computer Aided Dispatch System into the Emergency Communications
Transformation Program (ECTP).
Press
reports have detailed a series of chaotic events at E911 as computers
have failed in recent days, with personnel having to use “runners”
to relay paper messages to dispatchers. Some reports have raised
questions about whether computer problems contributed to the slow
dispatch of an ambulance after a 4-year-old girl was struck by a vehicle
in Manhattan on June 4. The girl died. Officials have
blamed the delay on “human error.”
Liu faulted Mayor Bloomberg for shrugging off the E911 crashes.
“The
Mayor’s response to the E911 problems, blaming the crashes on
unspecified computer bugs, is cavalier to the extreme,” Comptroller Liu
said. “Lives are at stake. New Yorkers need an E911 system that works,
and they need it now. My office will do its utmost to ensure that
happens.”
Background:
Audit letter to
Mayor’s Office of Citywide Emergency Communications:
Liu statement on E911 crash:
Audit: Mismanagement of 911 Upgrade Picked Taxpayers’ Pockets:
