Mayor de Blasio won’t blame NYCHA boss Shola Olatoye for the agency’s numerous outrageous lapses, so it’s no surprise she won’t blame herself either.
Instead, during Tuesday’s City Council hearing on NYCHA, Olatoye actually pointed fingers at . . . City Hall: “We did put out a call [to the mayor’s office] for additional resources for our heating” — but got no help.
She also cited a lack of resources and aging infrastructure at NYCHA buildings.
Now, given Team de Blasio’s oversight of other agencies and its handling of assorted city problems, its incompetence with NYCHA is entirely believable. But Olatoye let on to her own mismanagement as well.
She admitted, for example, that NYCHA’s databases fail to show the true extent of heating and hot-water problems, which affected a stunning 80 percent of the agency’s residents this winter alone. Average heat outages lasted two full days — and a shocking 52 hours for hot-water outages.
She also acknowledged that, prior to the recent heating emergencies, she lost a third of NYCHA’s heating workers to promotions — a seemingly predictable progression she failed to plan for.
And while most of the hearing focused on NYCHA’s heating woes, Olatoye had falsely told the feds that some 55,000 units had been inspected for lead, yet Olatoye wouldn’t say how the aide who advised her to do that was disciplined.
Meanwhile, some NYCHA residents continue to freeze — and who knows how many apartments still pose lead-poisoning risks to kids?
Despite all this, de Blasio has dug in his heels and refused to fire Olatoye. Again, we don’t doubt that City Hall shares some of the blame for the horror show at NYCHA. But its biggest mistake is not holding its boss to account.