About a dozen City Council members met in Albany Tuesday with Gov. Andrew Cuomo about the crisis in public housing — with Mayor Bill de Blasio nowhere to be seen.
“The City Council wants to work with the legislature and the governor t♔o achieve results,” said Council Speaker Corey Johnson.
Neither Cuomo nor de Blasio would immediate🍌ly comment on whether the mayor was invited to the meeting, which covered housing and other key New York City issues, like the MTA and education funding.
Johnson emerged as a possible go-between while Cuomo and de Blasio argue over who’s to blame for a repair crisis at the New York City Housing Authority.
“For me, it’s not about a political squabble,” Johnson said. “It’s not about taking sides. It’s about getting results on behalf of the tenants who live in these b𒀰uildings. The next step is we are going to go back and forth on some language, on all these issues, the MTA, NYCHA, school funding and then figure out a ൲path forward in a way that’s going to make sense for city residents.”
When asked where the mayor was, Johnson assured reporters that he had been on the phone with Hizzoner during his visit and would uℱpdate him on discussions🌃.
Johnson said that he and other Council members seemed to reach a consensus with the governor on some key points, but he stopped short of supporting an independent state monitor for NYCHA or getting rid of NYCHA’s top management.
“I don’t know why the state would wan🉐t that headache,” he sওaid.
“The mayor gets to appoint the board of NYCHA. We’ve seen a turnover of high-level staff on NYCHA. I don’t think getting rid of the chair fixes the problem. I think we need to hold NYCHA accountable and get results.”
The hour-and-a-𝔍half meeting in Cuomo’s office came after the governor visited a Bronx housing project Monday and called it “disgusting.”
Johnson said he was optimistic he could wrangle at least $600 million from the city and state for NYCHA, but pointed out that the overall repair bill is estimated at $20 🧔billion.
“Six hundred millio🍌n doesn’t fix NYCHA, but hopefully it takes care of some of the most endemic bad problems that exist, like heat and hot water, like lead paint, like mold, like vermin,” he said.
City Hall spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie said “it’s customary” for the Council to lobby Albany without the mayor.
She said he wasn’t invited and has never joined Council members before for such meetings.