NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — After missing two federally mandated deadlines for selecting a new chairman for the city’s Public Housing Authority, Mayor Bill de Blasio has made his pick, but many lawmakers say the choice is going to cause headaches in the future.
Gregory Russ – the head of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority – was named by de Blasio Tuesday night to fix NYCHA’s multi-billion-dollar problems.
He will be tasked with overseeing all NYCHA improvements, including removing all lead paint from apartments, replacing failing boilers, ridding buildings of rats and so much more.
However, Russ doesn’t seem to be fully committed to the task as he already plans to commute between New York City and Minneapolis every weekend, according to WCBS 880’s Rich Lamb.
Almost immediately, the plan drew criticism from local lawmakers, including Bronx Councilman Ritchie Torres, who noted: “A half-hearted long-distance chairmanship strikes me as a formula for failure.”
“I’m struggling to figure out the logic of the de Blasio administration. It seems to me that their logic is that if it's okay for the mayor to commute between New York and Iowa, then it must be okay for the new NYCHA chair to commute between New York and Minneapolis,” Torres said. “So, a city in crisis has both a part-time mayor and a part-time NYCHA chair.”
Torres, who grew up in the Throggs Neck Houses says there are some individual NYCHA developments are larger than all the all the public housing in Minneapolis.
Reports say Russ is also requesting nearly $400,000 in salary to cover housing and travel costs. If approved, the figure would make him the highest paid public official in New York State.
“If Russ intends to commute, it's a raw deal for NYCHA residents and tax payers as well,” Torres added.