City Comptroller John Liu and Sandy Damage

Victims of Hurricane Sandy are about to see relief from an unexpected source: the city’s four largest pension funds. City Comptroller John Liu announced this week that the funds have voted to invest some $500 million into areas ravaged by the storm through newly formed partnerships with the Related Companies and Hudson Cos., GlobeSt. reported. [more]

John Liu and the Marriott Marquis

Updated, 4:45 p.m., Feb. 12: City Comptroller John Liu is claiming that a 1998 lease agreement between the city and the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square was a terrible move that could cost taxpayers $344 million, in a recently released audit of the deal, the New York Daily News reported. And he is calling on the Mayor’s Office to take a second look at it. [more]

From left: Comptroller John Liu and NYCHA board member Margarita Lopez

While each week seems to bring new reports of unsafe or unhealthy conditions in public housing projects, the New York City Housing Authority is sitting on $955 million in unspent funds since 2009. And according to the New York Daily News, it’s now seeking to borrow another $500 million.

The agency has been awarded more than $1.2 billion since 2009 to help maintain living conditions for the 400,000 residents living in its 178,000 apartments across 334 developments. The funds are also meant to help subsidize the city’s 232,000 Section 8 renters. But the agency has spent less than $250 million of the money over the period. [more]

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]