Public Housing Spotlight
on NYCHA

Issue 18
Published on March 26, 1999

(Click Here for NYCHA "preliminary" Audit
by NYC Comptroller Alan Hevesi)

(Click Here for Directory of Issues)

on a NYCHA investigation
ordered by the Governor?

NYCHA is being "looked into" by the NY AG's office, we're told. The Attorney General, Mr. Elliot Spitzer, has assigned this task to his Office of Intergovernmental Relations. We wish them luck. We have contacted them and promised to help them in any way they wish.

We would now call their attention to the Inside City Hall column in the January 30, 1999 NY Post. There you'll find a statement that should lend credibility to Spotty's charges regarding the Housing Authority:

"On Wednesday, Crain's Insider quoted ‘people close to Gov. Pataki' as saying that unless Giuliani becomes more cooperative, the State will next announce an investigation of the Housing Authority to go along with the probe of the school system."

If the Governor feels that NYCHA is corrupt enough that he can use it as a threat against the Mayor, why is nobody else investigating the Authority?

And now that we have Pataki admitting that the Authority has things to hide, how can he sit back and do nothing???

The US Attorney General's Office receives the Public Housing Spotlight. So do HUD's IG and three local District Attorneys. Yet the closest we've come to a real investigation is a letter stating that the NY Attorney General is "looking into" our charges.

Will the NY AG be the only
honest investigative agency left?

Termination Unit)

Since our stories on the ignored Termination Folders, the "Thin Man" team from 250 Broadway, Mr. Nicholas Schiavone and Ms. Nora Reissig-Lazzaro (Nick and Nora) have been very busy. JoAnna Aniello's new forms are coming back from the double-worked field staff, and processing them has caused a backlog of newer termination folders that arrive on a daily basis. So, instead of 1,330 old folders laying next to the copying machine, there is now a daily backlog of 300 new folders. (It may be hard to believe but, in our Housing Authority this is considered REAL PROGRESS.)

One of the IG/DOI people/plumbers has been spotted visiting Nora recently. Ralph Iannuzzi was behind closed doors with the infamous Ms. Reissig-Lazzaro. Our guess is that they're trying to plug a leak!

Lost & Found

Remember our missing person's alert?Well, Ms. Castenada is alive and well. She's still collecting that Authority paycheck while working on political items for Deputy Mayor Ninfa Segarra, but she made her old staff aware of her (vocal) health since our last issue.

Boy, was Sylvie pissed!

Seems that Ninfa was furious that we had mentioned the new TV in Sylvie's office. (Gee, and we thought we were being kind by not mentioning the new couch that Sylvia had purchased for the office. As Sylvia had recently had the couch moved out of the office, we figured we would not mention it at all.)

So Sylvia called her office, screaming that the TV had to be moved immediately. She directed that it be placed in Mr. June's office, in order that he'd look bad. (Nice people, ain't they?) But, surprise! Sylvia couldn't find anybody willing to risk their neck for an absent boss.

Recently, Mr. Denman has been sneaking furnishings out of Sylvie's old place, piece by piece.Next, Sylvia must have heard that we had tracked her car to it's illegal parking spot at Meltzer Towers. By the time we arrived with a camera, we were told that she had moved it.

Kern's Pop Quiz!

We're still smiling at the last report we received on our first DUMB boss, Mr. Kern. We're reminded of the old saw about "He who doth protest too much!"
Mr. Kern reacted to his winning of the DUMB title by telling all who would listen that he paid no mind to the Public Housing Spotlight. One of his underlings told us that he was stating that so often they thought about chipping in for a coffee mug with "There is no Spotlight!" printed on it.

Then, we're told, just when the staff starts to believe that Kern might finally be getting over our little rag, he goes and proves that we are all he can think about.He makes another of his dumb pop quizzes, and this time our Spotlight is the main subject!Nice going Gregory. With a few more mentions by you the Spotlight just might catch on.

But don't knock the Mayor again. We heard he wasn't going to name a new Chair until you apologize.

Manage This!

The Brooklyn Management Department held an "emergency meeting" on February 23. Donald Matthews, the Director, ordered all his Administrators to attend. It seems that Gloria Finkelman had publicly yelled, cursed and humiliated an administrator named Develle Cave. When Develle threatened to report the incident to the Office of Equal Opportunity, Mr. Matthews knew that he had to do something to try and stop OEO from getting involved.

For you see, Ms. Finkelman didn't just have a momentary lapse of professionalism that could possibly be excused as an aberration. No, Ms. Finkelman has a well deserved reputation for being a tyrant. One Administrator at the meeting was heard to complain that "Gloria hates black women", and warned Mr. Matthews that if he couldn't stop "this tyrant" he might lose his staff. And that Administrator wasn't a lonely voice in the wilderness. At least 4 Administrators took a chance at that meeting and spoke out about Ms. Finkelman's displays of temper.

Upcoming Issue

Within 1-2 weeks we will have a long, Internet-Only Issue of the Public Housing Spotlight posted on our web page. We believe that it will be, by far, the most important Issue we have done.In it, we will be charging both the New York City Housing Authority and the NYC Department of Investigation with a wide ranging cover up of organized corruption within the Authority. Names will be named, including the IG personnel who played very important parts in the story.On the day it is ready, we will get the word out via the Housing Authority grapevine. After allowing 24 hours for most of our web connected readers to view, save and/or print out the issue, we will put out a single page faxed Spotlight officially announcing the Web based issue.

Computer Theft?

Four (4) brand new computers, still in the box, were stolen from the 12th Floor Conference Room, where they were being stored! Great Security???!

Help Wanted!

Spotty would appreciate any information on the Design Dept.'s Director David "Deutsch" Birney and Mr. Alain "Cleaver" Japhet.

© 1999 Public Housing Spotlight and John Ballinger. All rights reserved.

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Links to all Issues are at page bottom

Contact Jack Ballinger at nychaspotlight@netscape.net
for a Real Audio sound clip containing a
conversation wherein DOI Investigator
John Kilpatrick discusses how he learned
that 2 NYCHA execs attended
a Mafia connected contractor's funeral .

Contact Jack Ballinger at nychaspotlight@netscape.net
for a Real Audio sound clip containing
the (3 Meg) confession of Tony DiAlto.
Tony was a member of a group of
corrupt Contract Inspectors working at NYCHA.
Neither Tony nor the person he confessed to
sharing his bribes with (Richard Penesi)
were ever charged, let alone prosecuted, by DOI.

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visit the Tenant Net Home Page |

And for a great source of New York City news and
policy information, visit our friends at the Gotham Gazette

Public Housing Spotlight on NYCHA

on a NYCHA investigation ordered by the Governor?

© 1999 Public Housing Spotlight and John Ballinger. All rights reserved.

Links to all Issues are at page bottom

Public Housing Spotlight

Directory page with Issue overviews. | Current Issue of the Public Housing Spotlight | Special NYCHA Corruption Issue | ATIS (Timekeeping System) Issue | Spotty's Home |

Public Housing Spotlight
on NYCHA

on a NYCHA investigation
ordered by the Governor?

Public Housing
Spotlight

Directory page with Issue overviews. |
Current Issue of the Public Housing Spotlight |
Special NYCHA Corruption Issue |
ATIS (Timekeeping System) Issue |
Spotty's Home |