The Press has Not Followed Up on Peters' Claim That He Was Intimidated Pressured by de Blasio Not Released His DOI Report on NYCHA Lead Paint Cover-Up Why?
Mayor Accused of Trying to Intimidate Investigations Commissioner ... (WSJ)
NYC health commissioner stepping down to join Harvard (NYP)
The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, is leaving for a job at Harvard at the end of the month.The bailout comes as the Department of Investigation is looking into why Bassett’s agency failed to send reports to the New York City Housing Authority about kids with elevated lead levels in their blood.
But a scathing Manhattan US Attorney’s office complaint against NYCHA over it woeful response to lead paint hazards in apartments with young children also ensnared the Health Department.
The complaint noted that between 2010 and 2015, health officials found 202 children living in NYCHA with blood lead levels of 10 micrograms per deciliter or higher — the threshold at which the health agency is supposed to inspect the apartments.
But 81 of the apartments were not visited, the complaint said.
The Health Department and City Hall have refused to answer questions from The Post about that inspection lapse for nearly 3 weeks.
The federal complaint also said health officials issued false statements just weeks after top public housing and City Hall officials learned that NYCHA hadn’t been conducting required annual inspections of apartments for lead paint hazards between August 2012 and April 2016.
In a June 12, 2016 joint fact sheet about lead inspections at NYCHA, health officials claimed that “prevention and abatement efforts at NYCHA properties are an unqualified success.”
The federal complaint noted that at the time, “NYCHA officials knew that NYCHA had failed to conduct mandatory visual assessments under federal and local law.”
It added that “senior NYCHA officials knew that NYCHA’s prevention efforts were far from ‘success[ful].’”
NYC's top watchdog Mark Peters fires back at Mayor de Blasio over ... (Daily News)
Ousted Department Of Investigation Commissioner Responds To ... (CBS)
NYC DOI Mark Peters Letter 11 19 2018 - DocumentCloud
City Council needs to investigate Mark Peters’ shocking claims (NYP)
Ousted city Investigations Commissioner Mark Peters has delivered his formal response to being fired, and it’s a bombshell: Peters charges Mayor Bill de Blasio repeatedly pressured him to quash reports exposing his administration’s failures.
But what — if anything — will the City Council do about it?
The point, he argues, was not just to silence him but also to “cause any successor to think twice before conducting” future investigations of City Hall’s misdeeds.
The mayor’s office denies it all. But Peters’ explosive litany of allegations, dating back nearly two years, has a strong ring of truth.
Peters writes of “a late night screaming call from the Mayor” and “a pattern of intimidation” each time DOI was about to issue one of its scathing reports — as it did on the City Housing Authority, the Administration for Children’s Services, the NYPD and other city agencies.
On top of de Blasio’s personal interventions, Peters says he faced repeated pressure to hold back from First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris. “Taken as a whole,” he writes, “these incidents demonstrate a pattern in which the Mayor and his senior staff believe that I owe a duty of loyalty to the Mayor rather than to the City.”
Peters’ firing also comes right after he notified the council that DOI has investigations underway in which the mayor and senior aides could be implicated.
All that said, Peters’ letter leaves another nagging question: If this unacceptable behavior has been going on since early 2017, why is he first revealing it now — and only after getting fired?
All this should be fully aired at a City Council hearing. Peters has volunteered to testify, behind closed doors if necessary. Yet the council doesn’t seem interested — not even Peters’ longtime defender, Investigations Committee Chairman Ritchie Torres.
This reeks. At the very least, the City Council needs to resolve these claims before OK’ing de Blasio’s choice of a successor, Margaret Garnett. Peters’ allegations are far too serious to leave up in the air.
NYC's top watchdog describes a vindictive unhinged
NYC's top watchdog fires back at Mayor de Blasio over his firing
DOI
Commissioner Mark Peters filed a letter to the City Council firing back
at de Blasio and his stated reason for terminating Peters, which the
mayor attributed to a report that found Peters had exceeded his
authority in trying to fold an independent schools investigator into
DOI.
“On
several occasions the Mayor and his most senior staff have expressed
visible anger at me over certain DOI investigations,” he wrote. “They
have requested that I not issue certain reports and when I declined to
do so they took actions to demonstrate their anger in ways that were
clearly designed to be intimidating.”
Peters
described “a late night screaming phone call from the mayor” and
revealed that the mayor’s office had tried to get him to kill a November
2017 report that revealed how then-NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye had
falsely claimed the authority was performing required lead paint
inspections when she knew they were not.
Peters described several investigations he says de Blasio and his top staff tried to censor:
*He
described a phone call by an enraged de Blasio on the eve of DOI’s
release of a report highly critical of the city’s child welfare agency’s
bungling of several child fatalities. During the Jan. 8, 2017, call he
says de Blasio asked him to kill the report.
“When
I informed the mayor that DOI was obligated to make its findings public
he yelled at me, accused me of trying to bring his administration
‘down,’ and then informed he was ‘going to hang up now before I say
something I shouldn’t.’ Peters says de Blasio then hung up on him.
*Then-First
Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris asked Peters not to release the November
2017 report on NYCHA’s lead paint cover-ups, and when Peters refused to
back down, Shorris “became annoyed and informed me that in his view, as a
City Commissioner, I had an obligation to comply with his request to
protect the interests of the agency in question,” Peters alleges.
*In
April 2017 Peters says he got a call from First Deputy Mayor Shorris
asking him to kill a report on the city jail commissioner’s misuse of a
city vehicle “because it would be embarrassing to the DOC commissioner.”
After DOI released the report, Peters was told that the mayor and his
top staff “were ‘really angry,’ felt I should be more ‘loyal’ and now
wondered if I was ‘still a friend’.”
Peters
submitted the letter to Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Oversight and
Investigations Committee Chairman Ritchie Torres. He noted that the
council could hold a hearing on his firing if they chose.
Mayor de Blasio put his campaign treasurer in charge of dept of investigations expecting to control him. He didn’t want someone who would be independent. That’s why he was fired after issuing reports exposing NYCHA, Corrections, Children Services. SHAME
Mayor de Blasio put his campaign treasurer in charge of dept of investigations expecting to control him. He didn’t want someone who would be independent. That’s why he was fired after issuing reports exposing NYCHA, Corrections, Children Services. SHAME
De Blasio makes the Gambino’s look like Altar Boys.
Justice Department, Do your Job!!!
I was fired for exposing corruption at City Hall (NYP)
Ricardo Morales
A former top city official sued Mayor Bill de Blasio for $5 million-plus on Wednesday over claims he was illegally fired for blowing the whistle on alleged City Hall corruption — and refusing to help out a Queens restaurant owner who’s admitted bribing the mayor.
His Manhattan federal court suit — which also targets the city and DCAS Commissioner Lisette Camilo — alleges “wrongful conduct” by the defendants that “includes interceding on behalf of politically connected donors in order to aid their attempts to gain favorable terms in dealings with the City; attempting to arrange for City officials to give knowingly false testimony under oath before the N.Y.C. City Council; and harassing and retaliating against Morales for cooperating with investigations into the wrongdoing.”
Court papers accuse de Blasio of committing a “gross breach” of conflict-of-interest rules when he called then-DCAS Commissioner Stacey Cumberbatch in 2014 and asked her to meet with mayoral supporter Harendra Singh, who at the time owed the city millions of dollars tied to his since-shuttered Water’s Edge restaurant in Long Island City.Court papers say Morales then began a series of sit-downs with Singh, culminating in a July 15, 2015 meeting at which Singh and Neal Kwatra — a lobbyist and political consultant with ties to the mayor — exploded in rage and stormed out when Morales refused to give Singh “special treatment.”
“Kwatra scolded Morales, declaring that he obviously had not gotten the memo from City Hall,” the suit says.
Morales also claims top de Blasio aides tried to cover up the scandal involving Rivington House — a nursing home on the Lower East Side that was sold for conversion to luxury condos — by “attempting to arrange for City officials to give knowingly false testimony” to the City Council.
Court papers say the mayor’s office wanted to pin the blame for the building’s sale on DCAS, but that Morales successfully objected to the plan during a May 11, 2016, meeting at which he repeatedly insisted “that the Mayor’s office narrative was not true.”
Following the meeting, the suit says, Morales cooperated with various federal, state and local investigations, giving “truthful testimony” about alleged wrongdoing by the mayor and other city officials.
Morales claims he was fired hours after de Blasio was interviewed by the feds on Feb. 24, 2017, “to send a severe message to all City servants about what would happen to them if they reported wrongdoing by the Mayor.”
The following month, then-acting Manhattan US Attorney Joon Kim declined to prosecute de Blasio for reaching out to various city agencies on behalf of political donors.
But Morales’ suit notes the January unsealing of Singh’s secret, 2016 guilty plea to bribing de Blasio with tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash in exchange for a lease renewal for Water’s Edge “on terms that were favorable to me.”
Singh’s admission was part of an agreement to cooperate in the federal prosecution of former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, who’s charged with accepting a variety of payoffs — including a $450,000, no-show job for his wife — in a bribery scheme with Singh, who also owned a string of eateries on Long Island.
Following the revelation of Singh’s guilty plea, Mangano tried to get the case against him tossed on grounds of selective prosecution.
But Long Island federal Judge Joan Azrack rejected that argument earlier this month, citing “critical differences” that include the fact that “the de Blasio case only involved campaign contributions and not personal gifts.”
De Blasio has vehemently denied Singh’s bribery claims, saying: “This guy, to save his own skin, struck a plea deal with the federal prosecutors … he agreed to certain charges for his own self-preservation.”
“When there’s been a full investigation and we’ve answered a thousand times, it’s time to stop talking about it,” he added during a Jan. 26 appearance on WNYC radio.
In response to Morales’ filing, City Hall spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said: “As we’ve said 5,000 times, the administration acted appropriately.”
Kwatra’s firm, Metropolitan Public Strategies, said “the memo from City Hall” referred to actual memos regarding repairs to a pier near Water’s Edge, and accused Morales of “trying to rewrite history and cover up his own incompetence so he can opportunistically cash in on a pay day at the taxpayers’ expense.”
The Crook At the Center of the Long Island Fed Investigation Also Gave to de Blasio
LI scandal figure was big de Blasio donor but facesouster from city property (Newsday) "De Blasio reps declined several times to answer questions about the mayor's relationship with the concessionaire"
City Council needs to investigate Mark Peters' shocking claims (nyp)
Ousted city Investigations Commissioner Mark Peters has delivered his formal response to being fired, and it’s a bombshell: Peters charges Mayor Bill de Blasio repeatedly pressured him to quash reports exposing his administration’s failures.But what — if anything — will the City Council do about it?
The point, he argues, was not just to silence him but also to “cause any successor to think twice before conducting” future investigations of City Hall’s misdeeds.
The mayor’s office denies it all. But Peters’ explosive litany of allegations, dating back nearly two years, has a strong ring of truth.
Peters writes of “a late night screaming call from the Mayor” and “a pattern of intimidation” each time DOI was about to issue one of its scathing reports — as it did on the City Housing Authority, the Administration for Children’s Services, the NYPD and other city agencies.
On top of de Blasio’s personal interventions, Peters says he faced repeated pressure to hold back from First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris. “Taken as a whole,” he writes, “these incidents demonstrate a pattern in which the Mayor and his senior staff believe that I owe a duty of loyalty to the Mayor rather than to the City.”
Peters’ firing also comes right after he notified the council that DOI has investigations underway in which the mayor and senior aides could be implicated.
All this should be fully aired at a City Council hearing. Peters has volunteered to testify, behind closed doors if necessary. Yet the council doesn’t seem interested — not even Peters’ longtime defender, Investigations Committee Chairman Ritchie Torres.
This reeks. At the very least, the City Council needs to resolve these claims before OK’ing de Blasio’s choice of a successor, Margaret Garnett. Peters’ allegations are far too serious to leave up in the air.
Man bites watchdog: Just because de Blasio could fire his investigations commissioner doesn't mean he should have
Mayor
de Blasio had his talking points in order when he moved to fire
Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters Friday. But he
lacked a convincing case for sacking the watchdog who — defying low
expectations primed by Peters' service as de Blasio's campaign treasurer
— proved his mettle with sweeping probes into systemic government
failures.
Indeed,
Peters' zeal to tackle city agencies' troubles ended up his undoing,
after he botched an attempt to bring the Special Commissioner for
Investigation for city schools under DOI's authority, contradicting a
longstanding mayoral order.
An
independent probe determined that he retaliated against two who
resisted, and misrepresented matters to the City Council. The findings
were damning enough that de Blasio relied on them to justify firing
Peters.
That's
funny; way back in April, long before the report in question, de Blasio
drafted an order to ax Peters. If the independent probe was the
catalyst, what explains that dry run?
The
fact is Peters, who has an unbecoming ego and an arrogant streak,
erred. He was wrong on the law. He apologized. He earned a rebuke — not
termination; not even the tough independent review called for such a
consequence.
All
slunk off, spared the shame of a pink slip. Figures that de Blasio made
a singular exception for the only city official who dared expose
wrongdoing by the mayor and his minions.
Contrast
de Blasio's unceremonious firing of Peters with the mayor's treatment
of other commissioners when they revealed themselves to be actually
incompetent.
Correction
boss Joe Ponte spent weeks up in Maine, courtesy of his city-issued
vehicle, even while his department allowed contraband to flood into
jails. De Blasio stood by him for months.
The
mayor backed up NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye and Administration for
Children's Services Commissioner Gladys Carrion after Peters exposed
huge foul-ups by both.
Ex-investigations chief questions transfer of NYPD boss(NYP)
Peters was canned as commissioner of the Department of Investigation by de Blasio Friday, a day after the NYPD ousted Deputy Chief Michael Osgood from his post atop the Special Victims Division.
Osgood’s removal came eight months after a DOI report revealed that the unit was understaffed and that investigators were improperly trained to handle its flood of sex-crimes cases.
The findings were based, in part, on information from Osgood.
In a letter sent to the City Council Monday, Peters questioned the timing of his and Osgood’s ousters.
“I note that on the same day the mayor fired me, the NYPD removed the head of its Special Victims Division (SVD) who had provided DOI with much evidence for its report on SVD,” Peters wrote in a footnote tacked onto Page 8 of his letter.
“DOI’s report found no fault with the head of SVD. This removal can only add to the chilling affect on future investigations.”
De Blasio slapped down Peters’ insinuation on Monday.
“That’s false. Sorry, he has delusions of grandeur thinking everything revolves around him,” the mayor said at a press conference.
The DOI report, published in March, found that SVD didn’t prioritize certain instances of sexual assault and rape and that investigators were overloaded with casework.
Osgood, who had run the unit since 2011, was interviewed as part of the agency’s probe and passed the buck to his bosses.
In a 2014 internal memo, he said he was told by a higher-up “that we did not have to investigate every misdemeanor case,” and added, “This was an unacceptable proposition for sex-crime complaints and one in which the undersigned ignored.”
A police source previously told The Post that Osgood had been a “dead man walking” since the scathing report came out.
He was reassigned as executive officer of Patrol Borough Staten Island and replaced by Deputy Chief Judith Harrison, a 21-year NYPD veteran.
al shouldn't let de Blasio get away with axing Mark Peters(NYP)
Public Advocate Tish James got it right, tweeting: “Today’s firing of Department of Investigation’s (DOI) Commissioner Mark Peters is reminiscent of Trump-like behavior.”
City Hall “announced” the firing by merely sending out notice of the mayor’s chosen replacement — on Friday afternoon, with the city still recovering from Thursday’s storm.
The mayor’s official pretext is that Peters had behaved “in a manner indicating a lack of concern for following the law” by improperly trying to replace the special schools investigator and supposedly lying to a de Blasio aide.
The real issue is surely that he’d done his job too well — better than the mayor expected when he installed his former campaign treasurer at the Investigations Department.
Peters exposed rampant mismanagement and systemic dishonesty at the Housing Authority, uncovered significant scandals at the Administration for Children’s Services and blew the whistle on how top mayoral aides lifted deed restrictions so that a Lower East Side nursing home could be sold to a real-estate developer for luxury condo.
And the firing comes as DOI has been investigating political interference in the Department of Education’s “probe” of Jewish religious schools that don’t teach their students non-religious subjects.
In that and other “matters now being pursued by DOI,” Peters told City Hall last month, “the mayor himself and/or his staff, are potentially a subject of investigation.”
Talk about fishy timing.
Yes, Peters overstepped on the schools-investigator case. But other commissioners and top mayoral aides have kept their jobs after far worse offenses.
Sadly, de Blasio has City Council Speaker Corey Johnson going along: CoJo says there’s no need for a hearing and vows to move ahead on confirming his replacement, Deputy Attorney General Margaret Garnett.
As highly regarded as Garnett may be, that’s not good enough: This is a blatant assault on DOI’s independence. The council should demand serious proof of major wrongdoing, presented in an open hearing where Peters can contest the charges.
Mark Peters has set too high a bar for City Hall watchdogs to be pushed out in some backroom deal.
Man bites watchdog: Just because de Blasio could fire his investigations commissioner doesn't mean he should have
de Blasio had his talking points in order when he moved to fire Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters Friday. But he lacked a convincing case for sacking the watchdog who — defying low expectations primed by Peters' service as de Blasio's campaign treasurer — proved his mettle with sweeping probes into systemic government failures.
Indeed,
Peters' zeal to tackle city agencies' troubles ended up his undoing,
after he botched an attempt to bring the Special Commissioner for
Investigation for city schools under DOI's authority, contradicting a
longstanding mayoral order.
An
independent probe determined that he retaliated against two who
resisted, and misrepresented matters to the City Council. The findings
were damning enough that de Blasio relied on them to justify firing
Peters.
That's
funny; way back in April, long before the report in question, de Blasio
drafted an order to ax Peters. If the independent probe was the
catalyst, what explains that dry run?
The
fact is Peters, who has an unbecoming ego and an arrogant streak,
erred. He was wrong on the law. He apologized. He earned a rebuke — not
termination; not even the tough independent review called for such a
consequence.
Contrast
de Blasio's unceremonious firing of Peters with the mayor's treatment
of other commissioners when they revealed themselves to be actually
incompetent.
Correction
boss Joe Ponte spent weeks up in Maine, courtesy of his city-issued
vehicle, even while his department allowed contraband to flood into
jails. De Blasio stood by him for months.
The
mayor backed up NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye and Administration for
Children's Services Commissioner Gladys Carrion after Peters exposed
huge foul-ups by both.
De Blasio admin put together dossier on official who exposed lead paint scandal
Document outlines incidents where commissioner threatened city employees
de Blasio’s administration put together a file of allegations against
Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters that would have
justified removing him from his position.
The document, which the office of Corporation Counsel Zachary Carter compiled, outlines three incidents where Peters threatened to arrest city employees if they did not follow his orders or used abusive language, according to the New York Daily News. The behavior is centered on Peters’ interactions with different city agencies over the DOI’s plans to move to new offices.
GRUDGE MATCH:
"Enraged by the actions of the city's chief watchdog, Mayor de
Blasio built a confidential file of allegations against him stretching
back two years to justify formally removing him from his post, the Daily
News has learned. The seven-page dossier obtained by The News targets
Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters, whose
investigators have repeatedly uncovered evidence of corruption and
cover-ups within the mayor's administration. The carefully-worded
missive — unprecedented in the 145-year history of DOI — outlines three
incidents in which Peters allegedly used abusive language or threatened
to arrest city employees if they didn't do what he wanted. "
Daily News's Greg Smith
De Blasio longs to fire his ‘man with immense personal integrity’
Nearly a year ago, The Post reported that the mayor was itching to get rid of Peters after the DOI exposed significant scandals at the Housing Authority, Administration for Children’s Services and the Mayor’s Office for Contract Services, among others.In April, we wrote that de Blasio had ordered his staff to review ways to finally send Peters packing. Now Post sources confirm that Corporation Counsel Zachary Carter did his best by preparing a dossier listing three incidents of supposed “abusive behavior” by Peters.
Consisting mostly of alleged over-the-top threats made in wrangling over office space, they don’t add up to much, which may be why the mayor so far has held back.
Plus, pulling the trigger would touch off a messy and embarrassing public airing.
By law, de Blasio can only fire a DOI commissioner for cause, and must give his reasons in writing. The commissioner can respond at a hearing, and the City Council ultimately has final approval.
And Torres just showed why the council wouldn’t OK it: Exposing this administration’s systemic mismanagement is not grounds for removal.
Despite a few missteps, Peters has done his job credibly and honestly — more so than we and others initially expected, since he’d served as treasurer for de Blasio’s 2013 campaign.
When he first appointed Peters, the mayor hailed him as “a man with immense personal integrity” who would protect the rights of all New Yorkers.
Now he wants to get rid of one of the few commissioners who’s performed exactly as advertised. Typical Bill de Blasio.
DOI: Cover Up
Cy Vance got donation from de Blasio lawyer’s firm months before meeting about mayor investigation
By the time Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. met with the
lawyer representing Mayor de Blasio in his year-old campaign finance
probe of Hizzoner, the attorney's firm and its partners had donated
$70,000 to the top prosecutor.
De Blasio dodges federal charges in campaign fundraising probe
The mayor and his aides dodged federal and state charges stemming from their campaign fundraising practices — even though they violated the “intent and spirit” of election law, authorities announced Thursday.
Putting an end to separate, yearlong probes, Acting US Attorney Joon Kim — who took the reins last week when Preet Bharara was fired by President Trump — and Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr. released coordinated statements saying they were dropping cases against de Blasio and his aides
But even as he announced the end of the criminal probe, Vance offered a harsh rebuke to de Blasio’s fundraising efforts during the 2014 state Senate races, when he skirted around caps on donations to individual candidates by funneling money through Democratic counties.
But because they relied on advice from their election-law attorney, prosecutors couldn’t determine that they “willfully” broke the law.
While the state investigation focused on upstate fundraising, Bharara’s office had been probing whether de Blasio and his aides had been part of pay-to-play schemes, doling out favors in exchange for donations to his 2013 campaign or his now-shuttered non-profit the Campaign for One New York.
That wide-ranging inquiry also delved into the lifting of a city deed restriction on Rivington House, which allowed for the long-protected nursing home to be converted into luxury condos. De Blasio’s dealings with donors who wanted to ban horse carriages were also being probed.
Kim’s statement pointed out that there were “several circumstances” in which de Blasio “made or directed inquiries to relevant City agencies on behalf of” donors seeking official favors from the city.
Regarding his decision not to prosecute, he said it’s difficult to prove “criminal intent in corruption schemes where there is no evidence of personal profit.”
The prosecutors’ decision also clears de Blasio aides Emma Wolfe, the mayor’s director of intergovernmental affairs, and Ross Offinger, the former head of CONY.
They were subpoenaed by the DA’s office and Southern District last year.
ACS accused of ignoring safety concerns of foster kids
The city’s child-welfare agency ignored evidence that foster-care contractors weren’t safeguarding kids — despite more than 1,000 cases of neglect and abuse over the past two years, according to a report released on Friday.
The Department of Investigation said the Administration for Children’s Services left kids in the hands of private contractors with a history of poor ratings and didn’t follow its own scoring system to hold them accountable.
“ACS is responsible for the safety of nearly 8,500 New York City children in foster care — it has to get this process right,” said DOI Commissioner Mark Peters.
Investigators identified 479 cases of maltreatment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, and 599 the following year.
Big Bill's big coverup on Rivington nursing home sale - NY Daily News
A
stunning first in the annals of City Hall: Mayor de Blasio sanctioned
stonewalling a Department of Investigation probe into maneuverings that
enabled a real estate developer to make a nearly $100 million killing on
land formerly owned by the city.
Releasing
a report on the affair (damning especially for First Deputy Mayor Tony
Shorris), DOI revealed that city lawyers refused to turn over a
substantial number of documents in City Hall files and denied access to
City Hall computers.
De
Blasio top attorney Zachary Carter shut down the information flow
despite a City Charter provision authorizing the DOI commissioner to
conduct "any study or investigation which in his opinion may be in the
best interests of the city."
Carter's
order also ran counter to a mayoral executive order, endorsed by de
Blasio, stating that the city investigation commissioner "shall have
authority to examine, copy or remove any document prepared, maintained
or held by any agency," except specifically barred by law.
Carter
said DOI — led after a fashion by Commissioner Mark Peters — could not
be allowed to rummage indiscriminately in City Hall files and computers.
Carter also said City Hall provided DOI with all relevant documents.
Early
in 2014, the operator sought to transfer the land because demand for
its services had fallen. That required lifting the deed restriction, at
least in part.
The mayor must uphold his own executive order. Until he does, the public can reasonably conclude he's covering up.
Apparently
backed by the mayor, Carter's stance has ended DOI's unfettered access
to City Hall records. Peters should resign in principled protest, having
already stepped aside from probes into de Blasio fundraising because he
had served as the mayor's campaign treasurer.
Based on favoritism and misfeasance, Shorris should be next out the door.
The
property at issue had long been the site of a not-for-profit,
AIDS-related nursing facility under a deed that limited the land to such
a use.
Into
City Hall walked lobbyist James Capalino, an early Shorris mentor who
had contributed thousands to the mayor's Campaign for One New York.
With
the involvement of other top officials, City Hall explored using the
building for housing — until health care workers' union Local 1199, de
Blasio's most generous backer, protested a loss of jobs.
At
that, Shorris told DOI that he had ordered staff to maintain the
property as a nursing home, but staff told DOI that Shorris never issued
such an order.
Still
worse, with Capalino out of the picture, Shorris abandoned interest,
claiming he never even read memos from Department of Citywide
Administrative Services Commissioner Stacey Cumberbatch updating him on
the process of the lifting of the deed restrictions he had initiated.
With
no further serious consideration, the bureaucracy lifted those for $16
million. A nursing home operator then sold the property to an upscale
housing developer for $116 million.
DOI's
based its findings on interviews and records obtained from city
agencies, where it has the technological ability to delve into computer
files. But de Blasio's lawyers shut down City Hall.
True News (The Bund): Timeline On the Village Nursing Home ...
NYCHA falsely claimed it did lead paint inspections at thousands of city apartments
The
city Housing Authority falsely claimed for years that it inspected
thousands of apartments with potential lead paint hazards, according to a
scathing new report.
The Department of Investigation charged on Tuesday that senior NYCHA executives — including Chairwoman Shola Olatoye — knew
the lead paint certifications were not accurate by 2016. But NYCHA
continued to claim that the required inspections had taken place, the
DOI report claims.
In
response, NYCHA spokeswoman Jean Weinberg said last year the authority
began reforming its lead paint inspections after federal prosecutors
inquired about whether the authority was misrepresenting its assurances
that its housing is properly maintained.
"Since
the Housing Authority learned it wasn't in full compliance with
lead-based paint regulations and reporting, it has taken steps to
address the underlying issues," Weinberg said. "We owe our residents
better, and we'll take today's recommendations into careful
consideration."
DOI discovered that from 2012 through 2014, NYCHA stopped doing all annual inspections — and continued to fail to do the required annual lead-paint inspections of the 55,000 apartments into 2016.
Nevertheless,
NYCHA submitted documents year after year in its "annual plan,"
asserting that the authority had completed all required lead paint
inspections.
Olatoye
told DOI she was unaware the authority was not in compliance until the
spring of 2016, but DOI found that months earlier, in October 2015,
"certain senior NYCHA officials…did know that NYCHA was out of
compliance."
— but he was never asked," the report states.
"In fact, one operations executive told DOI that if asked, he would
have answered that NYCHA was not in compliance with applicable lead
laws
Olatoye told DOI that she felt her informing HUD of the issue during the D.C. meeting was adequate.
DOI
disagreed, stating, "At most these were private briefings for senior
HUD officials. The forms, by contrast, are certifications to the overall
agency that are publicly available including to NYCHA tenants and other
interested parties."
DOI
Commissioner Mark Peters pointed out that this is the fourth time since
2015 that DOI has found NYCHA failing to monitor safety in its 178,000
apartments. Prior reports revealed NYCHA had failed to properly test
smoke detectors, inspect elevators and exclude tenants convicted of
violent criminal acts.
"This
is the fourth time we've done an investigation and found systemic
problems," Peters said. "It's not just that they didn't do the
inspections. It's not that they falsely certified that they did. It's
that they simply have not bothered to put in place systems that give
them full knowledge of what's going on."
True News (The Bund): Breaking Fed Investigation NYCHA and ...
Chief Watchdog Misused Power and Punished Whistle-Blowers, Inquiry Finds
An independent inquiry concluded that New York City’s investigation commissioner, Mark Peters, wrongly seized an agency that polices school misconduct.
Schools investigations chief abruptly leaves job (NYP)
Jaclyn Vargo, the director of the Department of Education’s investigative arm, has abruptly left the job after four years, officials told The Post.Vargo led a unit that probes educators who commit corporal punishment against students and other employee wrongdoing. Vargo, who made $131,000 last fiscal year, did not show up on Wednesday.
“This came out of left field. She’s gone,” a co-worker said, adding that colleagues were not given an explanation.
Some underlings believe Vargo was “fired” or “terminated,” but DOE officials said she simply quit and insisted she was not forced to leave as the result of any alleged failure or wrongdoing.
Her departure comes two weeks after OSI took over bus-driver misconduct investigations, which formerly were conducted by the Office of Pupil Transportation.
She also leaves after a tug of war over control of the Special Commissioner of Investigation, another city agency that investigates misconduct in city schools.
De Blasio Keeps His Distance From DOI Dossier Report - NY1.com
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City’s Department of Correction
watchdog was relieved of his investigative duties on Monday after he was
accused of directing surveillance of telephone calls by informants
about the city’s troubled Rikers Island jail complex.
Correction staff improperly listened in on calls between confidential Rikers informants and inspectors from the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI), Mark Peters, the DOI’s commissioner, said on Monday.
The DOI is essentially the city’s inspector general, with independent oversight over city agencies including the Department of Correction.
Correction staff improperly listened in on calls between confidential Rikers informants and inspectors from the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI), Mark Peters, the DOI’s commissioner, said on Monday.
The DOI is essentially the city’s inspector general, with independent oversight over city agencies including the Department of Correction.
NEW
YORK (Reuters) - New York City’s Department of Correction watchdog was
relieved of his investigative duties on Monday after he was accused of
directing surveillance of telephone calls by informants about the city’s
troubled Rikers Island jail complex.
Correction staff improperly listened in on calls between confidential Rikers informants and inspectors from the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI), Mark Peters, the DOI’s commissioner, said on Monday.
Correction staff improperly listened in on calls between confidential Rikers informants and inspectors from the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI), Mark Peters, the DOI’s commissioner, said on Monday.
City’s Top Watchdog Warns: I Have de Blasio in My Sights (NYT)
De Blasio admits he knew NYCHA falsified lead paint reports - NY1.com
Nov 21, 2017 - Mayor de Blasio admitted Monday to having regrets about how he handled NYCHA ... inspect public housing apartments for lead paint, but Mayor de Blasio has known ... As for talk that de Blasio wants to fire Mark Peters — the Department of ... Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
10 Areas Where DOI Can Investigate the BOE
De Blasio allies blast mayor over plot to fire city’s top watchdog
HumanscaleNYC @TribecaTrust 10 minutes ago
So the Mayor just raised my property taxes (really) so I can pay his Kramer Levin legal fees for screwing the city over with his idiotic housing policy and pay-to-play games? See: Mayor OK’s Contract to Pay Fees Tied to Probes - WSJ
