The New York Note - April 2018

Mayor de Blasio Appoints Laura Negrón As Chief Privacy Officer

On Tuesday, Mayor de Blasio appointed Laura Negron as the city’s Chief Privacy Officer. This newly created position will work across city agencies and offices to implement citywide protocols on collection, disclosure and retention of individually identifiable information, provide guidance to agencies and streamline new policies and procedures. Negron previously served as General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer for the Mayor’s Office of Operations. To read more about this new position and Laura Negron, click here.

Cuomo vs. De Blasio on NYCHA

This week, Mayor de Blasio announced the completion of 65 roof replacements at NYCHA facilities. This follows months of news on the poor living conditions in NYCHA facilities, many of which experienced heat outages this winter. The Mayor assured the over 400,000 New Yorkers living in NYCHA housing that he is committed public housing. Without mentioning Governor Cuomo by name, Mayor de Blasio noted “I am not running for re-election. I’m in my last term. I’ll keep coming to NYCHA, not because it’s a politically convenient moment, because it’s my job to support NYCHA.” Governor Cuomo, facing primary opponent Cynthia Nixon, has visited several NYCHA facilities recently. Mayor de Blasio went on to note the city’s fiscal commitment to NYCHA, citing $2.1 billion in capital funding in the past four years. Meanwhile, Governor Cuomo has committed $550 million to NYCHA and his administration will temporarily withhold $250 million in funding until they are satisfied with the city’s plan for NYCHA. However, the governor did allocate $200 million in the recently passed state budget for the public housing authority, and issued an executive order to replace NYCHA’s administrator of capital projects with an independent monitor. To read more, click here.

Stringer Audit Reveals Unsafe Playgrounds at NYCHA Developments

An audit report released by Comptroller Stringer’s office on Wednesday deemed 70% of playgrounds at NYCHA facilities hazardous. The Comptroller’s report revealed that supervising housing groundskeepers (SHGs) did not report hazardous conditions in NYCHA’s electronic system for managing maintenance repairs and physical assets. Over 238 NYCHA playground facilities have broken equipment, sharp edges, deteriorated safety surfacing, debris and erosion. To address this issue, the Comptroller’s report suggests that SHGs conduct monthly playground inspections and document their findings using NYCHA’s asset management software.

New Schools Chancellor’s First Day

Richard Carranza started his tenure as New York City’s schools chancellor On Monday. Mayor De Blasio commented that he and Carranza will work closely to promote the Mayor’s Equity and Excellence vision for the city’s public schools. Announced in 2015, the Mayor’s Equity and Excellence program aims to provide resources to students and schools in underrepresented neighborhoods. On Wednesday, De Blasio described the new schools chancellor as “the embodiment of this concept”. To read more, click here.

City Council Hearings: Week of 4/9/18

Next Week’s Preliminary Budget Hearings: *subject to change