Putting NYCHA’s house in order

To the editor:

Did you hear about the New York City Housing Authority missing out on a potential $3 million dollar emergency safety and security grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development? Housing Authority bumbling bureaucrats failed to submit a complete grant application missing the minimum requirements. 

This comes almost two years after a previous municipal scandal. The same Housing Authority was sitting on $1 billion in current unspent federal aid. You have to follow up and ask how NYC has managed the $20 billion plus post 9/11 aid from 2002 to today as well as the billions of other dollars from Washington every year. Ditto for the billions in Sandy relief and recovery assistance available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal agencies over the past two years.

The same also applies to billions in yearly state assistance from Albany, along with billions in locally generated tax revenues. Does NYC submit grant applications on time? Are current federal and state funded programs being completed on time and within budget? What is the justification for carrying over unspent funds year after year? Is there waste, fraud or abuse? Are all change orders for construction projects fair, reasonable and documented.

Have city Comptroller Scott Stringer and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli conducted audits of each respective municipal agency to see if the city is doing a good job managing current federal and state aid programs? What oversight has City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Public Advocate Letitia James, Finance Council Chairperson Julissa Ferreras, the Office of Management and Budget and the Independent Budget Office provided? Have any of them conducted any audits to see how NYC is managing current state and federal aid programs?

It is difficult to convince Washington for more money when the nation had a budget deficit of $483 billion in federal fiscal year 2014 accompanied by long term debt now exceeding $17 trillion. Ditto for Albany with a long term debt approaching $70 billion.

Perhaps NYC needs to put its own fiscal house in order before asking both Albany and Washington for more assistance.

LARRY PENNER