Photo Courtesy of the Borough President’s Office
The borough president’s Post-Sandy Task Force met last week at Borough Hall.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Borough President Melinda Katz recently indicated that the Post-Superstorm Sandy Task Force would continue to press the City’s Build it Back program to complete its work as quickly as possible.
Organized by Katz and composed of representatives from BIB and other City agencies, along with construction contractors, elected officials, and community and civic leaders, the Task Force, which met at Borough Hall last week, has been facilitating multi-agency coordination on post-Sandy rebuilding and resiliency efforts in an effort to speed up the process.
Build it Back has garnered plenty of negative ink in recent weeks. In September, a Wall Street Journal report indicated that the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations initiative is wildly over budget, with New Yorkers set to foot part of the ballooning bill.
According to the Journal, “significant cost overruns in Build it Back appear to be leaving city taxpayers on the hook for some of the storm-protection initiatives. The program is about $500 million over budget.”
And two weeks ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio informed residents that the administration will not be able to wrap up the beleaguered program by the end of this year, a deadline set by Hizzoner in October 2015.
“Last year, we had hoped to complete all single‐family Build it Back homes by the end of 2016. We will fall short of that goal, for which my team and I take personal responsibility,” de Blasio wrote in a BIB Progress Update.
