In an attempt to make up for the loss of nursing home beds at Rivington House, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday announced plans to build an affordable senior housing and health care facility in a city-owned building under the Manhattan Bridge.
First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris dropped the news while testifying before the City Council during an oversight hearing on the administration's controversial decision to lift two deed restrictions on Rivington House nursing home for HIV/AIDS patients — a decision that allowed the home to be hawked to a luxury condo developer for $72 million. The mayor's office later made a formal announcement of the plan.
But though Shorris claimed the new facility — a building operated by the Department of Environmental Protection at 30 Pike St. — will replace the "bulk of what was lost in Rivington House," the mayor's office has only said the home will provide housing for more than 100 seniors, while Rivington held 219 beds.\
From the Observer:
It was a fitting ending for a City Council hearing that was, at its heart, about failures to communicate: another miscommunication.
After two-and-a-half hours of questioning Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris about the city’s decision to lift a deed restriction on Rivington House, which paved the way for the AIDS hospice to be sold for profit to luxury condo developers, his testimony ended with the City Council accusing the mayor’s office of misleading them about Shorris’ schedule.
“The administration misled the Council and the Speakers Office into believing that First Deputy Mayor Shorris’ availability for the hearing this morning would be limited because of events related to the U.S Conference of Mayors in Oklahoma City. This turned out to be false,” Eric Koch, a spokesman for Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “At a hearing which focused on government honesty and transparency this is particularly shocking and unacceptable.”
The miscommunication today played out in “real-time,” as City Councilman Ben Kallos, the chairman of the committee on governmental operations put it, when, during the hearing, he asked Shorris why he had to leave—”for the record.”
“I have appointments scheduled,” Shorris responded.
9 comments:
Bend over and brace yourselves.
You will be reamed by the crooked city council.
That is one thing we can all predict with accuracy.
The next excuse for bailing a hearing this soulless lowlife better have is being detained by the feds in cuffs with his blazer over his head or being shot by catapult.
The former is looking more inevitable.
This is the guy they have to interrogate to bring down this corrupt administration and the plundering of properties desperately needed for low income apartments and hospitals.
Post haste Preet!
RIP Arnold Palmer.
Sure, hide the homeless in untrendy middle class and perpetually underfunded and poor parts of Queens, and hide the elderly and infirm under a bridge (what, panoramic views can only be accessed by the uber wealthy). These city planning officials are fucking soulless hideous ghouls and ogres.
The City Council is a depraved, criminal enterprise that even surpasses the corruption, graft and endless greed of organized crime family rings worldwide, all of which could never attempt to rival, much less surpass themselves.
And, when a city government continues to OPENLY PRACTICE official misconduct like this which DEVALUES all honesty itself, then its residents are at the mercy of government tyranny and anarchy, which incidentially is the reason for why New York City is now a lawless battlefield in the streets that reinforces vigilantism, violence and its OWN anarchy that exists daily (and below the arrogant power grab above it), that continues to flagrantly abuse ALL public trust, ethics, integrity, accountability and transparency to the point where full blown anarchy now prevails!
And, if this depraved, heartless and intensely incompetent mayor doesn't care about the totally preventable deaths of children (with his lethally dysfunctional Child Protective Services Agency), then what chance does anyone else have for protection by this public fool, much less any pretense of leadership that leads by example?
It's like the mayor isn't even trying to hide his corruption anymore.
Anonymous said: "The City Council is a depraved, criminal enterprise that even surpasses the corruption, graft and endless greed of organized crime family rings worldwide, all of which could never attempt to rival, much less surpass themselves.
And, when a city government continues to OPENLY PRACTICE official misconduct like this which DEVALUES all honesty itself, then its residents are at the mercy of government tyranny and anarchy....."
To paraphrase, this is known as TRICKLE DOWN POLITICS.
If the President's office and our former Secretary of State can get away with it, why not our upper echelon Democratic party elite in New York City?
LOL!
I t bought that every council hearing is a "shit show".
Their regular sessions usually are a snooze.
People got paid off as in bribed. These things don't just happen. These multi million dollar giveaways don't just happen. The right people in gov't are talked to and are paid off. Then they order underlings to do or not do X, Y and Z.
as if any member of the council should question how anyone spends their time.
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