Speaker Corey Johnson, Finance Committee Chair Daniel Dromm, Capital Budget Subcommittee Chair Vanessa Gibson and Mayor Bill de Blasio Announce Agreement on FY 2019 Budget

The budget agreement strengthens the City’s social safety net for the poorest New Yorkers and helps seniors, homeowners and young people while remaining fiscally prudent

  Speaker Corey Johnson, Finance Committee Chair Daniel Dromm, Capital Budget Subcommittee Chair Vanessa Gibson and Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday announced an agreement on the Fiscal Year 2019 budget. The Fiscal Year 2019 budget includes many of the priorities the Council pushed for to improve the lives of all New Yorkers, including the Fair Fares discount MetroCards program, increased budget reserves, and prioritizing permanent housing in response to the city’s affordability crisis.

Those priorities – as well as increased resources for libraries, after school programs, trash pick-up, and summer youth employment – are the result of the Council fighting for creative solutions to protect the City’s most vulnerable and the Council’s commitment to provide much-needed resources to as many New Yorkers as possible. The Council is mindful that although this budget is being adopted in a time of prosperity, the City’s finances could change. Therefore, the Council pushed for and succeeded in attaining fiscally prudent budgeting practices to protect the City’s future.

This year with the formation of the new Capital Budget subcommittee, the Council scored significant wins in the city’s Capital Budget. That includes $150 million to make schools handicap accessible, $60 million for libraries capital funding, and $5.8 billion in excess appropriation rescinded.

“This is my first budget as Speaker, and I am very proud of what it says about this Council’s priorities. We are creating a new approach to fighting poverty with our Fair Fares program, which could save $700 a year for eligible New Yorkers in desperate need of a break. Now that New York City has joined the Fair Fares movement, it is my hope that its success here leads other cities across the country to follow suit. To battle the city’s affordability crisis, we have prioritized permanent housing in a plan that will bring 2,000 units of supportive housing over the next 11 years, and an extra $150 million in Capital funds will go towards making schools handicapped accessible. This budget is the result of the Council working together and prioritizing big ticket items that we know will help New Yorkers in all five boroughs,” said Speaker Corey Johnson.

“New Yorkers spoke, and we listened. Working closely together, the Council and the administration have devised a progressive budget that truly delivers for our city. There is much to celebrate in this budget.  Among the many major wins are $106 million for Fair Fares that will provide those living at or below the federal poverty line with half-priced MetroCards; $150 million to make New York City public schools more accessible to people living with disabilities; and $125 million in Fair Student Funding which will allow principals to determine what area in their school needs additional support.  The Council and the Administration have also succeeded in bolstering NYC’s reserves by $225 million.  This strengthens the City’s ability to weather any downturn that may arise in the future without having to make painful cuts or increase taxes.  I want to take this opportunity to thank Mayor de Blasio, Speaker Johnson, Capital Subcommittee Chair Vanessa Gibson, Finance Division Director Latonia McKinney and the other dedicated members of the Finance division for their efforts.  Together we have produced a budget that will move our city forward, and for that I am grateful,” said Committee on Finance Chair Daniel Dromm.

“I’m incredibly proud of this budget and the strong spirit of collaboration of the Council that enabled us to protect, create, and even enhance a number of programs that will benefit the people to New York in the coming year. It has been an honor to chair the City Council’s first ever Subcommittee on Capital Budget and I am proud that New York is leading the way in oversight of municipal spending on capital projects.  New York’s FY19 budget has greater capital transparency than ever before, and I thank our partners in the Mayor’s Office and the Office of Budget and Management for working with me to reduce excess appropriations and allocate tax payer dollars for capital projects in a more efficient manner. In addition to our capital budget victories, I am truly overjoyed that, under the strong leadership of Speaker Corey Johnson, the FY19 budget will finally include the much needed fair fares program, which reduces the cost of transit for very low income New Yorkers and alleviates the burden of transit costs for those working to achieve economic stability. As this year’s budget process draws to a close, I remain thankful for the leadership and partnership of our Speaker Corey Johnson, Finance Chair Danny Dromm, City Council Finance Director Latonia McKinney, and the entire City Council Finance Team. Together, we have made incredible progress to invest in resources and programs that serve to enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers,” said Subcommittee on Capital Budget Chair Vanessa Gibson. 

“We started the fight for Fair Fares two years ago and today we can celebrate a significant victory. I am proud to stand by the Community Services Society and Riders Alliance as a longtime ally in celebrating this win for New Yorkers for whom the choice between a MTA fare and a necessity just got a little easier. I congratulate my colleagues in the Council who under the leadership of Speaker Corey Johnson never lost sight of the importance of making equity in public transportation a priority in this budget,” said Committee on Transportation Chair Ydanis Rodriguez.

The FY2019 budget will include:

COUNCIL PRIORITIES: 

• Fair Fares: One of the most significant achievements in this budget is the funding of Fair Fares. This program will make nearly 800,000 New Yorkers living at or below the federal poverty level eligible for half-price MetroCards, thereby saving them more than $700 per year in transportation costs. In addition, 12,000 veterans enrolled in New York City Colleges will also be eligible for the discount MetroCards. In this city, mobility is opportunity. The $106 million included for Fiscal 2019 and the commitment by the Administration to continue to fully fund the program in the out years will literally open turnstiles and doors to the neediest residents.

• Increased Reserves: The Adopted Budget will add $225 million to the City’s reserves. According to recent Finance Division analysis, there is a one-in-five chance that the current level of reserves is not enough to make it through the Financial Plan period without having to make budget cuts or raise taxes. This infusion will help the City avoid painful spending cuts or tax increases during downturns allowing New York City to instead draw on its fiscal cushions.

• A Road to Property Tax Reform: The Mayor and the Council jointly announced the creation of a Property Tax Reform Commission. To develop recommendations to reform New York City’s property tax system to make it simpler, clearer, and fairer, while ensuring that there is no reduction in revenue used to fund essential City services. The commission will solicit input from the public by holding at least ten public hearings. The last in-depth review of the system by a government-appointed commission was in 1993.

• Direct Education Dollars To Schools: The Mayor and Council have agreed to baseline $125 million for Fair Student Funding. This boosts core funding for schools across the city and puts spending authority for educational initiatives back in the schools where it belongs. 

• School Accessibility: No student should be prevented from attending their preferred school because they cannot get up the stairs and no parent should have to miss a school play or a parent-teacher conference because there is no access to the auditorium or the second floor. New York City is better than that, and that is why $150 million will be added to the Adopted Budget for capital projects to increase accessibility in the City’s school buildings.

 PLANTING SEEDS FOR TOMORROW BY HELPING OUR YOUTH:

• COMPASS: $14.2 Million to continue supporting elementary after school programs citywide.
• Summer SONYC: $15 Million to restore 22,800 summer programs for students grades 6-8 citywide.
• Summer Youth Employment Program: $10.3 Million to increase the number of available jobs to 75,000 as well as to raise the minimum wage for those in the program.
• Work, Learn, Grow Jobs Program: $19 Million restored in Fiscal Year 19 to provide in-school career readiness training and paid employment opportunities to teens and young adults.

 ESSENTIAL SERVICES FOR NEW YORKERS:

• Adult Literacy Program: $12 Million to fund Adult English literacy programs citywide.
• Maintain Services for Parks: $12.3 Million to increase the number of Park Maintenance Workers, extend the open period of City pools and beaches, finance tree stump removal.
• Funding for Libraries: $60 Million for new libraries in capital funds, and $16.7 million in expense funding.
• Picking Up More Trash: $3.5 for extra sanitation services.

 STRENGTHENING THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET: 

• NYCHA:  $40 Million for increased infrastructure funding.
• Supportive Housing: Increase the amount of supportive housing units created annually from 500 to 700.
• Runaway and Homeless Youth Shelters: $3 Million to create 60 new shelter beds for 21 to 24 years olds in need.
• Emergency Food Assistance Program: $8.7 Million to provide funding for soup kitchens and food pantries city wide.
• Senior Affordable Housing – $500 Million for senior affordable housing targeted at 4 Housing Preservation and Development sites and 2 NYCHA sites.

STATEMENT FROM BOROUGH PRESIDENT DIAZ RE: Federal Oversight Agreement for NYCHA

  “The city’s proposed agreement to a federal monitor of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is both good and bad. While the problems facing NYCHA certainly predate the current administration, they have played their role in this ongoing crisis in a variety of their own ways, such as by failing to provide proper lead inspections, mold abatement and heat to tenants, while lying about the state of the city’s public housing.

“The city’s agreement with the federal government outlines a web of deceptions and lies that the agency has engaged in as de facto official policy since 2010. While the Bloomberg administration started the problem, the de Blasio administration allowed it to grow and fester. The current administration bears great responsibility for the position we are in today: the most progressive city in the world has been forced to abdicate the management of its most vulnerable tenants to the Trump administration due to its own malfeasance. Anyone who knowingly and willingly broke the law—endangering the lives of NYCHA residents—must be held accountable.

“I certainly welcome an admission from the administration that it was not properly serving the more than 400,000 city residents who live in a NYCHA development, and I am glad to see a $2 billion commitment to revamping and repairing NYCHA developments, though that much needed funding will be provided under duress. Still, I remain concerned that a federal monitor lacks the credibility to deliver the change our public housing system needs to move forward, given who is currently in charge of the federal government and the long history of federal disinvestment from public housing.

“Do President Trump and Secretary Carson have the best interests of NYCHA and its tenants at heart? We are about to find out,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. did not come into office yesterday. He has been Bronx Borough President since 2009, and before that a member of the state assembly. The president in 2009 through December 2016 was a Democrat named Barack Obama. Where was BP Diaz when these problems were occurring back when he became the BP? Why did BP Diaz not speak up until a Republican was elected president?

Mayor Bill de Blasio has blamed both the federal government and the New York State for not doing their equal parts to improve NYCHA. Mayor de Blasio said he wanted 7.5 billion dollars from each the state and federal governments to bring NYCHA buildings up to par.

Why is Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. not lashing out at his Democratic counterparts in Albany? Yet BP Diaz will stand with Governor Cuomo, and not ask that the state put its fair share into NYCHA. Better yet why has BP Diaz not said to the Bronx Democratic County Leader Assemblyman Marcos Crespo "Where is the money for NYCHA?" 

Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club Endorses Cynthia Nixon for Governor

   Democratic candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon was endorsed this weekend by the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, citing their shared commitment to protecting and empowering the LGBTQ community and bringing a more progressive vision to New York. A core vision of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club is to support candidates who recognize the LGBTQ community’s basic rights and freedoms, and fight against those who undermine equality and protections. Cynthia has been a long-time LGBTQ activist and would be the first queer governor of New York.

“Cynthia Nixon is a fierce fighter with a history of activism important to working families, the unemployed, the poor and the disenfranchised,” said club president Allen Roskoff. “She has the energy, integrity, and vision that will lead our state. She will stand up to the policies of Donald Trump and the hate coming from Washington and implement common sense solutions to achieve racial equality, protect documented and undocumented immigrants, and improve New York’s education system. She will fight for economic justice and a woman’s right to abortion and she is a fierce fighter for the LGBTQ community. In short, Cynthia is the real deal and we look forward to having her as our first queer woman governor of New York.”

The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, named for the legendary gay rights pioneer Jim Owles, was formed in 2004 as a citywide political activist club with a mission to secure human rights, dignity, and freedom for all people. As a multi-issue, progressive Democratic club, the group also calls for an end to all wars, increased AIDS funding, universal health care, and continued protection and expansion of reproductive rights. They also demand economic justice and the abolition of the death penalty.

“The LGBTQ movement is at a critical moment in our history. We have accomplished so much progress, yet so many in our community still face attacks and barriers to full equality,” said Cynthia Nixon. “I am thrilled to have the support of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club and, as the first queer governor, look forward to working together to make New York the epicenter of LGBTQ equality and bring in a new era of better, bluer Democrats.

Cynthia has been a long-time LGBTQ activist in New York and across the country. In 2010, she helped found Fight Back New York, an effort to defeat New York State Senators who were opposed to same-sex marriage. The campaign ultimately raised $800,000 and helped elect three new Senators who voted to pass marriage equality.

Most recently, Newburgh Council Member Karen Mejía, Downtown Independent Democrats, 350 Action, author Bill McKibben, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee announced their endorsements of Cynthia's bid for governor. She’s also been backed by Our Revolution, Tenants PAC, the Staten Island Democratic Association (SIDA), Coalition for a District Alternative (CODA), Broadway Democrats, Village Independent Democrats, Three Parks Independent Democrats, Democracy for America, Daily Kos, New Kings Democrats (NKD), Council Member Carlos Menchaca, the Working Families Party, Make the Road Action, Citizen Action, and the New York Progressive Action Network.

Kicking off Pride by Celebrating SAGE’s 40 Fierce Years

40 Years of Fighting for LGBT Elders Since 1978, SAGE has worked tirelessly on behalf of LGBT older people and, with the start of Pride month, we are beginning our 40th anniversary celebration! What better way to celebrate 40 Fierce Years than with the launch of a new website, a commemorative anniversary edition of SAGEMatters magazine, a match campaign supported by the Edie Windsor Challenge Fund, and special events throughout the year? “As we commemorate SAGE’s 40 years, we celebrate our important wins—and keep our eye toward the future,” said SAGE CEO Michael Adams. “In the face of renewed ignorance, bigotry, and bankrupt leadership in Washington, D.C., we must continue our work with dogged determination until all LGBT elders are treated with dignity and respect.” Learn more about our 40th anniversary, and check out SAGE’s new website.

As part of our trailblazing work in 2017, we are proud to announce our “Welcome to Pride” initiative. Created by SAGE with the generous support of AARP, Welcome to Pride is a partnership among SAGE, Centerlink, Heritage of Pride, InterPride, and the Center for Black Equity – all aiming to make Pride celebrations places where everyone, including older members of our community, can celebrate and are welcome. Organizations that wish to publicly affirm their commitment to maintaining or increasing the age-friendliness of their events are encouraged to take our Age-Friendly Pride Pledge.

Taking a Stand Against Religious-Based Discrimination Last week’s Supreme Court ruling in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case reminds us how critical it is that SAGE continues its fight against continued attempts to create a religious license to discriminate. LGBT elders already face widespread discrimination in housing, services, and long-term care. Sanctioning religious-based discrimination when 85 percent of nonprofit continuing-care retirement communities are religiously affiliated would have a devastating impact on LGBT older people. That's why SAGE launched Care Can’t Wait — to enlist people and faith leaders to stand with LGBT elders whose care and livelihoods would be threatened by a license to discriminate. We’re building support to fight back, but we need your help. So far, nearly 20,000 people have signed our pledge to care for LGBT elders, and all LGBT people. If you haven’t yet, be sure to add your name and sign the pledge.

Honoring LGBT Leaders at the Pines On Saturday, June 2, members of the Fire Island Pines community gathered for the 26th Annual SAGE Pines Celebration. This year's honorees included Ariadne Villarreal, recipient of our Doris Taussig Award for Community Service, and Frank Liberto and Allan Baum, recipients of our SAGE Pines Leadership Award. See photos.

Mark Your Calendars!

SAGE & Friends Harlem Thursday, June 21, 2018 | Harlem, New York NYC Pride March Sunday, June 24, 2018 | The SAGE contingent will gather on 17th street between 7th and 8th avenues Hamptons Tea Dance Saturday, July 14, 2018 | Water Mill, NY See all SAGE events »

Governor Cuomo Says 'Enough is Enough'

  This morning on the steps of the Evander Childs Campus Governor Andrew Cuomo along with his Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Congressman Eliot Engel, O\Public Advocate Letitia James, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., State Senator Jamaal Bailey, Councilman Andy King, and students from the Evander Child Campus called for the 'Red Flag Bill' to be passed in Albany by the state legislators. 

  The Red Flag Bill would allow parents of mentally disturbed children who are legally in possession of a gun to call for a judge to have their child mentally evaluated so the gun(s) can be taken away from the child. The bill would also allow teachers, nurses, and other school staff to also call for a judge to have a child be evaluated in certain cases of violent behavior. 

  The governor repeated 'Enough is Enough' as the slogan to pass this bill to try to prevent shootings by students in schools and elsewhere. Several of the elected officials spoke similar to what the governor said 'Enough is Enough', when it comes to school violence.

 During the speeches there were comments such as the 5.5 percent unemployment the Bronx is now experiencing, down from a high of fourteen percent when Bronx BP Diaz took office. BP Diaz spoke of the money and development that has come into the Bronx since he came into office. There were swipes at the current president Donald Trump or 45 as he was referred to. 

  Governor Cuomo may have said it best when he said "Change happens when people demand change, then the politicians listen." photos are below.

Above - Governor Cuomo addresses the crowd of reporters gathered.

Below - Public Advocate James.

Above - Governor Cuomo answers a question from a reporter.

Below - Councilman Andy King departs from the bus that brought the governor and others to the announcement.

Cynthia Nixon Condemns JCOPE's Finding on Sam Hoyt

In Cuomo's Albany, there is a different set of rules for the Governor's friends than for the rest of New Yorkers

  Over the weekend, the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) found the Governor's top economic development appointee, Sam Hoyt, innocent of sexual harassment allegations against him. JCOPE is infamously weak. It was founded by the Governor and its members are appointed by him and other partisan legislators. Before Cuomo appointed him, Hoyt had been barred from interacting with the the state legislature's internship program because of inappropriate behavior. Once appointed, Hoyt was, unshockingly, accused of sexual harassment by a state employee. 

"JCOPE's decision is doubly devastating because it shows how little concern the Governor has for ethics violations and for victims of sexual harassment," said Cynthia for New York campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt. "The Governor appointed someone with a history of sexual misconduct to a senior position in his administration. When that person was accused of harassment again, he was sent to a board that is infamous for protecting Albany insiders rather than holding them accountable. As long as JCOPE is controlled by the Governor, it will have zero credibility to take on corruption or sexual harassment within his administration. Until we have a truly independent ethics body in Albany, there will be one set of rules for the Governor and his buddies, and a different set of rules and laws for everyone else."

The truly independent commission created by the Governor, the Moreland Commission, was dissolved by Cuomo when it began to investigate his office. Cynthia recently announced that she would reconvene the Moreland Commission on public corruption on day 1 as governor. With jury selection in the Buffalo Billion trial beginning this week, Cynthia's campaign released a new video to help bring New Yorkers up to date on Cuomo's extensive history of hypocrisy and corruption.

 

Full Transcript of Mayor de Blasio NYCHA Consent Agreement

  There are 400,000 people who live in public housing in this city. 400,000 good New Yorkers who every day work hard to make ends meet, 400,000 who are part of the backbone of this City. And I have been in public service for decades and I’ve spent a lot of time with the people who live in public housing, listening to their concerns and needs, working with them to try to improve their reality.

I want to honor those people today with the actions we are taking because we have to take new and bold actions to address the challenges at NYCHA and we do it for them because they deserve safe and livable homes and they have for decades. The problems we’ll talk about today have very long and deep origins but I want the entire discussion to focus on the people and what we have to do to make their lives better in the years ahead.

This is a pivotal moment for those 400,000 New Yorkers. This is a pivotal moment for the future of public housing in New York City. We have reached a settlement with United States Attorney and this settlement will help to improve the safety and the quality of life for those 400,000 New Yorkers who live in public housing. It was not the easiest action to take, it was certainly not the traditional action to take in government, we did something very different here, and I made this decision because I believed it was the right thing to do.

I’ll talk about what this entails in a moment, but I think it is important also to talk about how we got here. This story goes back decades, I would mark it back to the election of 1980, and since that time progressively every level of government has failed the people who live in public housing in this city, it’s failed men, it’s failed women, it’s failed children. The federal government disinvested progressively over years but the City and the State government often turned their backs on public housing as well.

That status quo was broken at the time I entered this office and in too many ways it’s still broken. Even though my colleagues and I here did not create it, it is our job to fix it. And I want to be very clear when I ran for this office, I did not run for this office to continue a broken status quo. It will be my sacred mission to fix the reality in public housing and set the stage additional improvements in the years after I have completed my term in office.

I want to say the outset that this will be a long and tough battle. The ideas in the consent decree are the right ones but they also indicate a huge challenge ahead. It will take many years to undo that which has been broken. I want to be honest with my 400,000 fellow New Yorkers, you will see changes each year, you will see improvements each year, but to address the totality of the problems recognizing the consent decree will take a long time and a huge amount of resources.

Problems that were created over the course of decades are not solved in mere months or even just a few years in the real world, our job is to fix them more and more each year, and as best we can, and as fast as we can. Now historically and legally NYCHA of course has been its own entity chartered by the federal government, the State government. The City of New York was not obligated to fund NYCHA in any particular manner.

When this administration took office we made a very different decision than that of many of our predecessors, we decided it was important to provide additional and new funding to NYCHA from the very beginning, and the first preliminary budget of 2014 we ended the payments that NYCHA had had to make for many years for reasons that I find inexplicable, payment for police service that no similar institution would have had to cover. That money was turned back to NYCHA so to start addressing the repair backlog. A number of other choices were made over the years, previous to anything you see in the news, today’s consent decree. Those investments added up to $3.7 billion in new funding for NYCHA that this administration is committed in the last four years, not because we were obligated to do it, but because it was the moral and right thing to do because people needed the help and deserved it. That’s why I see the consent decree as an appropriate next step in that progression.

Now I want to be clear, I want to be straightforward, we can’t hold ourselves blameless either. This administration also has made mistakes. There are too many times that things happen on our watch that we didn’t know about, but that is still our responsibility. Inspections, of course, that were supposed to been done in terms of lead paint halted before we got here but I wish to the depths of my soul we had learned that immediately and we would’ve acted on it the moment we found out. We did not achieve that mission, when we did find out, we acted decisively, but I don’t want to hold any element of government blameless.

This administration, previous city administrations, state governments, or federal government, I think the honest reality is that everyone has been a part of this, and everyone has to now be part of the solution. And we can spend a whole lot of time talking about what went wrong in the past, we can revisit the past, and that’s important to do, but more important is to fix what’s broken. People live in public housing need action and they need it as quickly as possible and that’s where our focus will be.

We are very clear-eyed about the scale of the problem and I don’t want anyone to think that because I understand this will take years and years that that is indication of any lack of urgency. We feel tremendous urgency to address these problems but I never want to in any way suggest to the people who live in NYCHA something that is not true and is not going to happen. I want them to know that the work will happen every day, improvement will be real and constant, but again it will take years. People deserve the truth, it will take years to fix these underlying problems.

That said, there are reasons for some optimism because some things are working better and it’s important to note that as well. Repair times have come down in NYCHA over the last few years because the investment was there and that has affected real people’s lives. Crime has come down at NYCHA and again, I said I spent years talking to and working with NYCHA residents, crime was often the number one concern. Thank God, between there good efforts, the efforts of NYCHA, and of course the efforts of the NYPD, there has been a steady reduction in crime at NYCHA and I want to emphasize the NYPD deserves tremendous praise, but NYCHA was a big part of that work as well.

Fixing the physical realities that so often made it harder to start crime, providing more lighting, getting scaffolding down, a number of things that really made a difference, and the people of NYCHA, the resident patrols and the leaders and the activists who did so much. And I want to thank the NYCHA residents who are here, some many of whom have been part of the solution, who fought for safer developments, that is a success story that can give us some real heart as we move forward on these other challenges.

NYCHA, the first day I took on this job, was near bankruptcy. The team at City Hall and the team at NYCHA turned that around, it is a financially solvent organization today that is the basis for all the other changes we need to make. These things happened, they signify the potential for real change in NYCHA, we’ve seen some change, a lot more has to come. Even in the area of lead where there have been so many mistakes, as of today every apartment that was mandated to inspected under Local Law 1 of this city, every apartment that was mandated for 2017 was inspected, remediation efforts have occurred in 90 percent of those apartments. I want to make very clear the remainder are in situations where residents have not granted access or it’s been for some reason or another difficult to schedule access. I want to be clear with everyone that any resident who has an apartment that requires remediation must give access to NYCHA for that work to be done, if they do not grant access we will use other means to gain access. I’m not going to have an apartment that has any lead present that is not remediated. We will use whatever means we need to address that situation.

Another very important development, and a very positive development, is the new leadership at NYCHA sitting beside me today. Stan Brezenoff has taken on the job as Chair, Stan has seen this city through some of its toughest times in the aftermath of the fiscal crisis, he is one of the people who helped lead New York City back, and as recently as last year, he helped to turn around a Health and Hospitals Corporation that was also teetering on bankruptcy and ensured the continuity of our public hospitals and clinics.

A herculean effort that has brought stability to Health + Hospitals – that turn around skill, that ability to make the tough choices, to right a complex organization is what Stan Brezenoff brings to the table and is proven over and over again. NYCHA is a city within a city, I want to emphasize this, 400,000 people. It is an extraordinary complex organization. The areas addressed in the consent decree are crucial but there are many, many other aspects of NYCHA, all of NYCHA must keep operating, it must keep improving. I mention public safety, the consent decree does not address public safety but every single day Stan and Vito and all of the people who work at NYCHA have to focus on public safety in addition to so many other areas who are depending on Stan’s leadership and it’s been proven time and time again.

Vito Mustaciuolo is a legend in city government for those who have seen his work up close, I’ve known him for a decade. He’s one of the most hands on managers I’ve ever met in all of my years in public service. He is legendary for challenging landlords all over New York City who are not providing their tenants with proper heat and hot water and repairs and making them fix those problems. He is strong and he is resolute and a man of extraordinary integrity. These leaders, I am convinced are the right people for this moment to take this situation and turn it around.

The consent decree gives us a mutual framework for action with the federal government. I’m sure there will be questions about why I decided to sign the city on to this. And again it was not the traditional act. But I felt that being in accord with the federal government was important, being on the same page – the City, NYCHA, HUD, U.S. Attorney, will a common vision of how we move forward was important to the future. We agreed to create a common game plan. We agreed to address serious issues that had to be addressed. We agreed for all that we had to do in the short term but we also agreed because it was the best path way to the future. The City commits $1 billion in capital funds over the next four years in addition to $200 million per year thereafter for as long as the consent decree continues. I think you all know by now there’s a five year minimum term to the consent decree.

Our hope of course is that given this extraordinary commitment by the City, that now the State of New York will come forward with the half billion dollars previously committed to NYCHA and provide that money so we can do additional good work to protect our residents. Also crucial is that the State authorize design-build authority for all the work at NYCHA to ensure that every effort undertaken whether it be on lead, or elevators, or heat, or any other matter be done as quickly as possible. I remind everyone that design-build in many cases, shaves a year off a major construction project. That should be made available for all NYCHA efforts. This agreement fosters a culture of compliance which clearly was not sufficient at NYCHA previously, formalizes a compliance office and a Chief Compliance Officer. This is about ensuring that everyone does their job and rooting out any misconduct which we will not tolerate. We know that there have been elements of the institutional culture at NYCHA that were simply broken. We have to systematically root them out.

Now I mentioned why it was important to come to a common understanding with the federal government. We believe that the City’s history with federal monitors had been a positives one. It’s important to say this. We have currently a federal monitor at the NYPD. The NYPD is acknowledged all over the country, all over the world as the greatest police organization there is and yet it has a federal monitor this very moment. That monitor has been a very constructive, positive force working with the NYPD. We have a federal monitor at the Department of Correction, also an example of a constructive, positive relationship that has yielded positive outcomes for all. I have seen with my own eyes that federal monitorships can work for everyone and we have faith that that will be the case here.

Crucial to the equation is the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. And important commitments are made in the consent decree. We can talk about some other things that aren’t in the consent decree but there are important commitments that are there. It’s clear in the consent decree that HUD will work with the City and NYCHA to review and expedite a number of waivers and elements of regulatory reform that could also help to speed up the work that NYCHA does to address underlying problems and support the residents. It’s clear in the consent decree that HUD will immediately lift any restrictions on funding to NYCHA so the flow on money can continue. It’s clear in the consent decree that HUD cannot reduce funding because of any new commitments made by the City. These are important steps. We want an atmosphere of collegiality with HUD and mutual purpose and I think this helps us to get there. I also think it paves the way for a future which I can begin to see the outlines of in which the federal government once again gets back to the important work of supporting affordable housing and public housing in this city and in this country. None of us can predict what’s going to happen in the upcoming election or the one after that but I do believe there are substantial signs of change coming. And I believe this consent decree creates a corporative environment that will help pave the way to that day when we look forward to receiving the kind of federal support we need to complete the missions outlined in the consent decree.

I want to be very clear that this process has been a really challenging one for everyone involved. We’ve had to review a lot of information that was downright painful. When I saw the federal complaint it made me angry as all hell to know that there were some people in NYCHA who withheld information, tried to deceive the federal government and NYCHA’s own leadership. It disgusted me. It’s unacceptable. We are going to review our leadership, Stan Brezenoff and Vito Mustaciuolo are going to review the complaint very carefully. I emphasize the complaint is a series of allegations and we will independently review them and if we find that any individuals who work for NYCHA did anything inappropriate there will be very serious consequences for them. They way forward involves recognizing the extent of the problems and being resolute in acting on them. In the end I believe this was the best way to achieve that goal. I believe in my heart this was the right thing to do and it sets us on a path forward for the 400,000 people who live in our public housing.

It’s very important to be able to say exactly what someone commits to you in life and our conversations with the U.S. Attorney there was a clear request and an unprecedented request – to provide funding for the long term, in two forms, one to continue our existing funding streams that we committed to before any discussion of the consent decree, we committed to in our own budget process. I believe that was the right thing to do for the people who live in public housing. When we took away that requirement for NYCHA to pay for police services, I never intended that to be temporary, I believe that needed to be a permanent change. We codified this in this legal agreement. That is binding on my successors and I think that is the right thing to do. I think it should be binding on my successors. We codify long term, additional capital spending commitments, also binding on whoever holds this seat after me and I think that is the right thing to do. I think there should have been binding commitments to the 400,000 people who live in NYCHA a long time ago. So I can certainly look all of them in the eye and say we have skin in the game, we’ve made our commitments, we are perfectly comfortable that they are legally binding because they deserve nothing less.