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Queensbridge residents vent at town hall
Housing offi cial says feds ‘going to destroy’ anything blocking reform, repairs at NYCHA
BY MARK HALLUM
Federal housing official
Lynne Patton told Queensbridge
Houses residents at a Long
Island City town hall meeting
last week that conditions at the
public housing complex and
other NYCHA facilities would
improve significantly — and
that no one will be allowed to
stand in the way of progress.
Patton, an appointee
of President Trump,
acknowledged at the March 7
meeting that the president’s
politics likely clash with most
residents of the Queensbridge
Houses, the nation’s largest
public housing development.
Nonetheless, she stressed
that the federal Department
of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) and a
federal monitor appointed to
oversee NYCHA are committed
to bringing about substantial
improvements to the city’s
public housing over the next
eight months.
Queensbridge Houses
residents took the opportunity to
vent over experiences of drinking
water that making their family
sick, inveterate plumbing issues,
heating issues as well as walls
and window frames rotting
away, Patton said the federal
monitor, the appointment of a
new NYCHA chair and a fresh
approach to maintenance will
lift them from the “squalor” in
which they currently live.
“I could go on and on, but I
want you to know that change
is coming. I would not be here
and I would not put myself in
a position to tease you guys if I
didn’t fully believe that we are on
the precipice of actually turning
NYCHA around,” Patton said.
“Never in the history of NYCHA
has there been a federal monitor
Queensbridge Tenants Association President April Simpson (l.) and HUD regional administrator Lynne
Patton led a town hall at the Jacob Riis Settlement. Photo by Mark Hallum
with this level of authority …
Anything that stands in our
way of turning NYCHA around,
we’re going to destroy.”
As monitor, former assistant
U.S. Attorney Bart Schwartz will
have the power to remove and
reassign NYCHA employees;
restructure the leadership and
reporting line; as well as “wipe
clean” or renegotiate union
contracts, Patton said.
She claimed the way NYCHA
manages labor needs a new
approach since it had spent
over $341 million on overtime
between 2014 and 2016, but Patton
did not have anything negative
to say about the employees at the
housing complex itself.
“Even the hardest working
people can’t keep up with the
demands of this place if you’re
short staffed,” Patton said of her
day with the NYCHA employees.
“A lot of the people who work at
NYCHA live in NYCHA, they
want to serve you.”
One resident said with the
plumbing having been installed
in 1930, leaks are causing
the walls in her bathroom to
crumble and the pipes in her
unit were recently replaced.
An infrastructure change from
the ground up is necessary,
according to multiple speakers.
Maintenance workers told
Patton some of the pipes are
so old, they break apart in
their hands.
Another life-long resident has
not had hot water since January
and multiple work orders have
been closed out before the
problem was addressed.
“I come home from work,
all I want to do is take nice hot
shower, unwind and relax, but
I can’t because I don’t have hot
water,” she said.
One woman’s ceiling fell in
her bathroom and maintenance
did not arrive to address the
situation until 2 a.m.; she said
she felt intimidated by the late
night visit.
“Why would you want to
let someone in at two in the
morning?” she said.
Another woman said the
water coming out of her faucet is
the color of rust and has not only
made her family sick, but is now
undergoing medical testing.
“Tomorrow, I have to go to
my doctor and get blood work,
because I don’t feel right at all,”
the woman said.
Patton backed up this claim,
saying water tank inspections
revealed dead birds and other
filth. NYCHA will begin
flushing the pipes periodically
under the monitor.
“One thing I want to make
clear is society’s stereotype
of people who live in public
housing,” Queensbridge
Tenants Association President
April Simpson said. “The
majority of the people who live
in public housing are either
retired or current city workers
… We pay taxes and not just on
cigarettes and liquor… We pay
our rent. That’s one thing that
NYCHA will do if you do not pay
you rent, they will put you out.”
Patton said the Schwartz
will ensure the maintenance
office will stay open from
6 a.m. to 7 p.m., instead
operating under the current
inconsistent hours and
sometimes closing at 1 p.m.
The office may start having
weekend hours as well.
Within the next few weeks,
Patton added, a new NYCHA
chair will finally be appointed
to replace Shola Olatoye,
who resigned in April 2018
amid controversy over living
conditions across the entire
NYCHA system.
Over the next 45 days,
the monitor will create a
department to oversee that lead,
mold and Legionnaire’s disease
compliances are met. Whether
or not work orders are actually
completed before they are closed
out will also be under scrutiny.
“As much as this isn’t about
politics,” Patton said. “Whether
you voted for this man who sits
in the White House or when was
the last time – ask yourself –
that a sitting president asked for
a conference call on NYCHA.
He asked for one last week and
I told him the problems that are
happening here.”
Patton, who is living at
Queensbridge during her stay
in the city, said the monitor
would be appointed by May.
Vol. 7 No. 11 56 total pages
/QNS.COM
