John Liu
City Comptroller John Liu called yesterday for the city to move forward with school construction projects and other capital projects that have already been approved, and capitalize on low interest rates, Crain’s reported. Liu said that his $2 million borrowing plan to speed up the projects could create 15,000 jobs over the next two years. [more]
Comptroller John Liu
An audit on the city’s property assessments found more than 10 percent of Queens co-ops were overvalued by as much as 25 percent, according to the New York Post. Comptroller John Liu said the sudden spike was do to an unpublicized shift to a flawed new computer system that improperly compared properties. For example, in one case a co-op in the East Village was examined against a property in Washington Heights, according to the Wall Street Journal, and in another a parking garage was contrasted with a residential building, the Times said. [more]
A settlement has been reached with a contractor who were accused of bilking workers out of pay for work at numerous construction projects in the city, according to a statement from the Office of the Comptroller of the City of New York today.
The firm, Mascon Restoration, will shell out $1.2 million and will be barred from bidding on or receiving any public works contracts for five years, according to Comptroller John Liu’s office. Minus a $107,120 penalty, the balance of the $1.2 million will go to the employees. [more]
John Liu, New York City comptroller
An audit released today of the New York City Housing Authority’s infrastructure improvement program, called Construction Management/Build, indicates that senior NYCHA officials are not able to respond quickly enough to change orders at construction projects.
The report, released today, also shows other systemic deficiencies at the city agency, mostly due to the electronic tracking system the city uses. [more]
From left: Comptroller John Liu and McSam Hotel Group CEO Sam ChangJust as investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s office have been probing campaign contributions to Comptroller John Liu, the New York Post has found connections between at least $29,600 worth of donations and boutique hotelier Sam Chang.
Liu’s campaign has been under investigation, and fund-raiser Xing Wu Pan was arrested for allegedly using straw donors to hide contributions that exceeded the $4,950 limit mandated by city laws.
Records show Chang donated $800 July 1. One employee of the McSam Hotel Group donated $800 in June and six more employees of the McSam Hotel Group each donated $800 July 9. [more]
City Comptroller John Liu found the city paid $11.8 million in rent subsidies to deceased New Yorkers in recent years, the New York Daily News reported. Liu turned the audit over to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. to determine whether crimes were behind the wasted expenditures.
Much of the problem comes from the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption Program, which subsidizes landlords to ensure they don’t increase rent on tenants aged 62 and older making less than $29,000 per year. [more]
Ordinary victims of the mortgage crisis say that the big banks which
received large financial bailouts under the Bush and Obama
administrations are not doing enough to help them, even as the companies are recording
significant profits, the New York Times reported, with government
officials divided on taking a harder line. Mimi Pierre Johnson, a
real estate agent, and her husband, a construction worker, had bought a
four-bedroom home in Elmont, on Long Island, for $413,000 in 2005. But
when the recession took hold, her husband lost his construction job,
her real estate business dropped off and they began having trouble making their
mortgage payments. Her bank, JPMorgan Chase, gave her a temporary loan modification, but then canceled it. “I’m a
realtor; I know I’m doomed,” Johnson said. “But I want to say to
Chase, ‘Hello!? The government gave you a bailout to help people like
me.’” [more]
Comptroller John Liu and City Council members are looking into the
Department of Homeless Services’ dealings with developer Shimmie Horn
and his plans to convert several buildings in Brooklyn into homeless
shelters, the New York Post and the Brooklyn Eagle reported.
A previous Post investigation had found that Horn could earn millions
of dollars with such projects in East New York and Brownsville
One of the most controversial sites for these plans is at 400
McGuiness Boulevard in Greenpoint, where the community has been protesting
plans for a homeless shelter for the past year.
[more]
An audit by City Comptroller John Liu’s office has found deficiencies in the city’s window-guard enforcement program, which prevents children falling through open windows, in New York City public housing. Nearly half of the violations examined by the Department of Housing Preservation and Developement in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 were closed despite the department’s failure to verify with tenants that guards had been installed. Some violations were also improperly closed due to data-entry errors.
By law, landlords of buildings with three or more apartments must install window-guards in units housing children younger than 11. Complaints are received and investigated by the Department of Health and violations and forwarded to HPD. [more]
The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the semi-public development organization formed by the Bloomberg administration in 2006, is coming under fire from City Comptroller John Liu just in time to potentially derail its bid to take over the Metro Tech Business Improvement District. According to the Post, Liu’s office released an audit of the Partnership yesterday detailing its failure to keep accurate payroll and donation records and to abide by competitive bidding laws. Meanwhile, it is nonetheless seeking an already controversial $216,000-a-year contract to run the $2.6 million budget of the Metro Tech BID. The developer-friendly group that supports the takeover, which includes backers of both Forest City Ratner and Mayor Bloomberg, have scheduled an emergency meeting for today to try to get the plan approved. [more]
