Image Credit: NYCHA.

DOI faulted the failure of NYCHA and the NYPD to enforce lease conditions against criminals and criminal activities at NYCHA projects. In 1996, the NYPD and New York City Housing Authority entered into a Memorandum of Understanding designed to prevent crime and create a safer environment for residents of NYCHA’s public housing developments. NYPD agreed to provide NYCHA with all arrest and complaint reports concerning serious criminal activity committed by NYCHA residents within NYCHA developments. In exchange for this information, NYCHA agreed to ensure that criminal offenders who posed a threat to safety would be removed from public housing. The agreement intended to monitor criminal activity to improve the safety and quality of life for NYCHA residents. (read more…)

Mark Peters, Commissioner of the Department of Investigation. Image credit: CityLand

The Department of Investigation threatened to initiate a lawsuit unless the Law Department opened access to previously withheld documents and computers. On July 26, 2016, the Department of Investigation issued a press release announcing the Law Department’s compliance in producing documents and computers relevant to DOI’s investigation into the sale of the Rivington House, a non-profit nursing home, to luxury condominium developers. The press release was issued less-than two weeks after DOI issued a report on how the City’s procedural failures in handling deed-modifications facilitated the sale of the Rivington House. For CityLand’s previous coverage on the DOI report, click here.

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The Rivington House. Image credit: Flickr/edenpictures

The Department of Investigation’s Report found that the City’s deed-modification procedure lacks safeguards required to ensure the removal of restrictions on formerly City-owned property is in the City’s best interest. On July 14, 2016, the Department of Investigation issued a Report finding that the actions and inactions of City officials, specifically within the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services (MOCS), the Law Department, and Mayor’s Office, facilitated the sale of the Rivington House, a non-profit nursing home located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, to private condominium developers. The Report was issued less than one week after Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed several reformations to procedures used in modifying deeds of formerly City-owned property. For CityLand’s previous coverage on the proposed reformations, click here.

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