Last fall the city Department of Investigation released a damning report declaring that then-Mayor Bill de Blasio needed to reimburse the taxpayers $320,000 for the cost of bringing his NYPD detail along during his quixotic and ultimately failed quest for the White House.
At the time, the mayor questioned DOI’s findings, claimed there were “inaccuracies” in the report, and insisted he was simply following the advice of the NYPD. He also maintained he had “never received any contradictory guidance” on the use of the detail.
But a day before he announced his bid for the White House, he did receive explicit advice from the Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) informing him in no uncertain terms that he must pay back the city for the use of the detail on the campaign trail.
The clarity of this instruction is revealed in a May 15, 2019 letter obtained by THE CITY via the Freedom of Information Law, signed by then-COIB Chairperson Richard Briffault to de Blasio’s City Hall counsel, Kapil Longani.
Briffault’s advice on how to avoid violating city conflict rules is unambiguous:
“The City may pay for only the salary and/or overtime of the NYPD personnel on such a campaign trip,” Briffault wrote. “All other costs associated with such personal campaign travel — including but not limited to airfare, rental cars, overnight accommodations, meals and other reasonable incidental expenses — must not be borne by the City. Rather these costs must be paid for or reimbursed by the Mayor’s campaign committee.”
In explaining his decision to de Blasio, Briffault noted federal campaign finance rules would require a federal candidate to repay a government for the use of governmental resources as part of a campaign. De Blasio is currently one of more than a dozen candidates running for Congress in the 10th Congressional District.
Three years after receiving COIB’s letter, the former mayor has yet to pay a dime.
De Blasio did not respond to a voice message left by THE CITY early Thursday asking about the straightforward declaration from COIB and his decision to disregard it. Neal Kwatra, a spokesperson for his congressional campaign, followed up later in an email to say he’d need more time to research the issue before answering.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature NYC Ferry took taxpayers for a pricey ride when city economic development officials underreported its costs by nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, City Comptroller Brad Lander said Wednesday.
Lander accused the city of “playing hide the ball” on ferry finances and criticized the economics and oversight of the watery transportation network, which launched under de Blasio in 2017 and promised heavily subsidized $2.75-per-ride trips from piers in all five boroughs.
The comptroller’s report says the Economic Development Corporation rang up $758 million in ferry-related costs from July 2015 through the end of last year — but only reported $534 million in expenses in its audited financial statements and other records.
“This is a very substantial financial underreporting and mismanagement,” Lander said while standing near Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan. “$250 million of underreporting raises a lot of questions and those questions should be asked.”
Auditors found that the city’s actual subsidy on each ferry trip rose to nearly double the $6.60-per-trip subsidy that the de Blasio administration originally projected. The city subsidy amounted to $12.88 for Fiscal Year 2021, according to the report, not the $8.59 that was originally reported.
“It is a premium service, like express buses and it is also a tourist commodity,” Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, told THE CITY. “We should be pricing the ferries accordingly and that should be able to reduce that subsidy.”
The comptroller’s report follows a series of stories in THE CITY about NYC Ferry, including one in January that revealed how de Blasio’s budget office supplied a $23.2 million infusion for the service before he left City Hall at the end of 2021 — after the service had previously been funded by the EDC.
“The ferry system was eating the EDC budget,” said Rein, whose nonprofit organization detailed in a 2019 report how subsidies for NYC Ferry are among the highest in the country for comparable ferry networks.
Lander’s report calls into question the purchase of new boats — something THE CITY flagged in April 2019 — as well as the $2.75 fare that de Blasio insisted on for the privately operated ferry trips. The price of an NYC Ferry trip is considerably lower than one on similar services in San Francisco and Boston.
On the San Francisco Bay Ferry, for example, fares are determined by three different zones, with the priciest zoned trip set at $11.25 for a paper ticket or $9.00 for rides paid for through mobile devices or the Clipper fare-payment system.
De Blasio, in a statement through a spokesperson for his campaign for Congress, said he could not comment on Lander’s report because he had yet to fully review it.
16 comments:
Twerking for Abortion said...
I can't understand the mentality of New Yorkers and the people who voted for DeBozio 2X.
It's Idiocracy level #10 cringe.
Is what happens when social media raises a generation of Sheeple ? The narcissism of these people are off the charts.
I never thought I'd see a day when politicians would be literally talking out their asses.
Duh Blasio's son Dante was a PAID policy analyst on his father's failed presidential run. This explains why the old man stayed in for so long. Got to travel around the country with his son on other people's dime and put a whole bunch of cash in his son's pocket.
The faux-elite, kleptocratic, autocratic, imperialist, totalitarian powers that be have no intention of dispensing law and order to the most flagrant abusers of power and privilege. Let the system collapse from its own crushing weight above, let the murder and mayhem reach their strenuously guarded inner circles of all corrupted power, but in the meantime, get out of this ravaged city of gangster politics forthwith. Until public corruption finally becomes a capital offense, the serial offenders will never be held accountable, because they have never lived by the rules——they have continually made their own——and YOU pay the price (again and STILL)!
If THAT isn't the definition of insanity——then I don't know what is.
I'd also like to know how much each car totalitarian is being subsidized by the NY taxpayer. Including the free car storage, road maintenance, traffic signals, bridges, pollution, and murdered pedestrians.
It never ends...
New Yorkers are Simps who vote Blue No Matter Who !
" PEACEFULLY AND PATRIOTICALLY MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD "
President Trump..
Do it again in November when it comes to the Midterm Elections..
Throw these Democrat Bums out of office along with Biden.
The Democrat New World Order is OUT OF ORDER.
My eyes see the Truth----My ears hear their Lies.
Stand up Sheeple...Vote the bums out this November.
Scum.
Politicians have created every problem we have, when you elect a fool, expect foolish results.
"I'd also like to know how much each car totalitarian is being subsidized by the NY taxpayer. Including the free car storage, road maintenance, traffic signals, bridges, pollution, and murdered pedestrians. "
Go take your TA commie pig ass and do some research freeloader.
You can do better on Lyft, Bloomberg and Pfizer money.
TA commie pig is spreading lies. Sad, very sad...
"murdered pedestrians"
By TA nutjob activists riding e-bikes.
@Duh Blasio's son Dante was a PAID policy analyst on his father's failed presidential run.
How about the $1 Billion the wife managed to disappear?
What democrats do best is to accuse republicans of what THEY'RE doing. Civility is gone. Let's not pretend we can bring it back. The crazies are in control, and sadly, it's just going to get a lot worse.
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