NYC housing big Jasmine Blake named new lead czar
A top city housing official has been appointed the Big Apple’s new czar in charge of getting lead out of homes, the Adams administration said Tuesday.
Jasmine Blake’s position is similar to the one once held by former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia — now a top aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul — that was created by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio as the Housing Authority was consumed by lead scandals and resulting federal probes.
Blake will juggle her new duties while also continuing to serve in her current role as the chief of staff to Mayor Eric Adams’ housing chief, Jessica Katz.
“New York City has always been at the forefront of fighting childhood lead exposure, and this latest report demonstrates our commitment to furthering this work,” Blake said in the statement.
She first joined city government in April 2017 when she was hired as a press officer at NYCHA — just months before probers from the city Department of Investigation revealed the agency housing began lying in 2013 about lead checks in its 180,000 apartments.
Blake, a junior staffer at the time, was never accused of wrongdoing.
