Brooklyn Councilmember Cornegy steps into NYCHA fray
Projects' heat and hot water problems tangled up in politics
Councilmember Robert Cornegy on Wednesday requested that Gov. Andrew Cuomo declare a state of emergency so that urgently needed repairs to heat and hot water can be rushed at New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings.
By doing so, Cornegy (D- Bedford Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights) stepped into the middle of yet another political tug of war between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the governor, while igniting a split between his City Council colleagues.
In his reply to Cornegy’s request, Alphonso David, counsel to the governor, said the state “does have the power to declare an emergency.” A Declaration of Emergency can take various forms, from expediting contracting mechanisms to intervening with actual task completion, David said, adding, “That is the discussion we must now have.”