NYCHA Throws $325K Rally for Employees While Building Repairs Get Pushed Back

Despite a three-year backlog of resident complaints, the New York City Housing Authority spent $325,000 on the rally for employees at Javits Center in March, as well as $100,000 on a web site upgrade last year, says the New York Daily News.

The rally took place March 13 and 14, and all of NYCHA’s 12,000 workers were required to attend, “to feel our collective power,” NYCHA Chairman John Rhea said.

Employees were asked to rate their satisfaction with the agency, and according to one employee source, 69 percent answered that they were “concerned about NYCHA’s future,” while 44 percent said that NYCHA was worse off than it was a year ago.

“They gave us clickers and asked how do you feel about certain things,” an employee source told the Daily News. “And everything came up horrendous. From the employees’ perception, there’s no trust.”

The mayor’s office defended the rally as necessary for improving the agency.

“NYCHA did exactly what it is supposed to do: convened meetings to communicate with its 12,000 employees about its new plan to use smart innovations to recover from the challenges presented by devastating budget cuts and aging infrastructure,” said Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bloomberg, last week.

Additionally, the paper learned that the NYCHA spent $100,000 last year on a consultant to upgrade its web presence.

The NYCHA has a backlog of 10,000 apartments in need of repairs that are not scheduled until 2014, says the paper.

Last week, it was discovered that the , from accounts that haven’t been touched since 2009. City Comptroller John Liu then blasted the agency for asking to borrow an additional $500 million.