'Enough Is Enough:' Cuomo-De Blasio Feud Over Public Housing Fix Escalates
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – There's a new escalation in the ongoing feud between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio over the need to fix public housing.
The governor toured another dilapidated New York City Housing Authority apartment Thursday to stick it to the mayor, CBS2's Political Reporter Marcia Kramer reports.
"I would like to say, 'it's my pleasure to be here today,' but it's not. The conditions we saw, once again, are just disgusting," Cuomo said at the Forest Houses in the Bronx, not 24 hours after de Blasio scoffed at his NYCHA visit, calling it "a political opportunistic act."
"The hypocrisy is, the governor is getting his photo op but not handing over the money," de Blasio said Wednesday. "I say, put your money where the mouth is."
But with these two, for every punch, there's a counter punch, Kramer reported.
"Do you think for one minute if the tenants of NYCHA were powerful and wealthy, the city would be saying it's going to take us four years to change a boiler?" Cuomo said.
The governor said he wouldn't sign the state budget unless it has more money for NYCHA repairs and a requirement that an outside contractor do them. He blamed "politicians" for the chaos, forgetting, perhaps, that he is a politician, too.
"Tell the politicians, enough is enough," he said.
Cuomo was joined by his cornerman City Councilman Ritchie Torres, who also lit into the mayor.
"The residents of public housing have often gotten a raw deal from the mayor. They have gotten progressive lip service without progressive living conditions," he said.
Kramer: "Governor, Mayor de Blasio said that you should stop with the photo ops and give him the money. What do you say to that?"
Cuomo: "Marcia, listen to what the tenants have said… It is the incompetence of NYCHA. And until you fix that, you accomplish nothing."
Kramer: "The mayor appoints the president of NYCHA, the mayor appoints the board. You're saying NYCHA can't spend the money. What do you want him to do?"
Cuomo: "We're past that. The mayor did what he did or didn't do what he didn't do."
Kramer tried getting de Blasio's response after a press conference.
Afterwards, a spokesperson for the mayor claimed the governor's "obsession" with the mayor has prevented him from learning how NYCHA funding works.