Mayor Bill de Blasio told a trusted aide he had “a dangerous mission” before asking her to run the embattled New York City Housing Authority.
“He needed to do a little convincing, it was an ask. It was not an order. But, as you can imagine, NYCHA is a daunting place to take on,” Kathryn Garcia told reporters on Wednesday.
“It has a history that’s been pretty challenging. It’s not as if it was an anticipated request. It was an ask but I had to think about it.”
She will replace current interim NYCHA chairman Stanley Brezenoff, a City Hall veteran de Blasio called out of retirement last year to try to right the the scandal-tarred authority.
Garcia, who is taking a leave as the city’s sanitation commissioner, said she had no interest in the job full-time — and it’s unclear if de Blasio would even be able to offer it.
The deal he signed with federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the Department of Housing and Urban Development requires that the city negotiate a list of candidates for the post with the feds.
It also imposes strict deadlines on NYCHA to tackle its longstanding lead, mold, heating and vermin problems — and imposes a new federal watchdog.
Garcia told reporters she expects the posting to last for about three months as City Hall and federal officials haggle over her permanent replacement.