WORLD WORLDWIDE USA New York NY New York City NYC the city THE CITY News Journal Update - $708 for a NYCHA lightbulb, Flaco autopsy, the Village Voice

 

Dear New Yorkers,

How much does it cost NYCHA to change a lightbulb?

In one case, more than $708 per bulb.

That’s the rate the housing authority paid one vendor, who submitted a total bill of $4,250 to replace six LED bulbs and covers at Throggs Neck Houses in The Bronx, according to records reviewed by THE CITY.

Another vendor billed NYCHA $4,985 to replace one door. Yet another charged $4,875 to put in slip resistant rubber treads on a stairway with 15 steps — a cost of $325 per step.

When law enforcement officials arrested 70 current and former NYCHA workers on bribery charges earlier this month, they identified the source of corruption as small no-bid contracts for apartment repairs, which were awarded to select vendors in exchange for cash to superintendents.

All of these bills had one thing in common, a review of contract data by THE CITY found: The vendors sought compensation close to the maximum allowed on each contract, regardless of the work performed.

Often the invoices contradicted themselves, with contractors demanding the same amount for different levels of the same work, THE CITY found.

In one instance, a vendor charged $4,950 to replace 48 LED bulbs and light covers in the Robinson Houses in East Harlem — then charged nearly the same amount to replace just 12 LED bulbs and covers at the Throggs Neck Houses.

The bills submitted raise serious questions about whether NYCHA wound up paying hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of taxpayer dollars in inflated costs over the years.

Read more about the contracts at the center of the federal prosecution of NYCHA superintendents on bribery charges here.

THE CITY Mourns Fazil Khan Fazil Khan, a data journalist who covered inequality for The Hechinger Report and a contributor to THE CITY’s Missing Them project, died on Friday as a result of the building fire at 2 St. Nicholas Place in Manhattan. FDNY officials report the blaze was caused by an e-bike battery. Fazil was just 27 and had graduated in 2021 from the data journalism program at Columbia University. He was a friend to many of THE CITY’s reporters, editors and interns — past and present. Fazil was scheduled to present at an Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in two weeks alongside a CITY reporter. For THE CITY, while Fazil was a post-graduate fellow at Columbia, he broke the news that 1 in 200 NYC children had lost a parent or caregiver due to COVID, almost double the nationwide rate. Black, Hispanic and Asian children in New York were roughly 3 times more likely than their white counterparts to experience this loss, he reported.  Fazil’s journalism wasn’t just about the numbers. He reported with a kind heart and a sharp ear on New York families like the Fletchers and the Noboas, whose kids had all lost caregivers, capturing their stories with great empathy. And he spoke with health and education experts to shed light on deficiencies in NYC’s school resources. You can read Fazil’s final story for us here, which was co-published with Type Investigations, Columbia Journalism Investigations and City Limits. Fazil’s work, which he did alongside colleagues Liz Donovan and Anjali Tsui, was directly credited by advocates last year when state legislators introduced a bill creating “baby bonds” to help support these children. “It was absolutely something that has led to the momentum,” one told THE CITY. Fazil’s friends have set up a memorial page and are raising funds for the funeral costs and to help get him home to his family in India. They will also be using the contributions in Fazil’s name to support causes he cared about.

Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Monday’s Weather Rating: 5/10. A few morning showers will clear out by afternoon and high temperatures will warm up into the lower 50s. It’ll feel like spring out there at times, especially with a warmer southwesterly wind. The vibes are all right.

Our Other Top Stories

The last several years brought immense changes to the five boroughs — and as NYC emerged from the pandemic, THE CITY embarked on a new multimedia project to document those changes in various neighborhoods. Recently, we spent 12 hours in Concourse and Highbridge in The Bronx, where new affordable housing developments are designed to keep rents affordable for the area’s large population of service workers. In a pre-internet world, the Village Voice was a newspaper like no other: a haven for writers about avant-garde arts, Black politics, queer identity and a million things more — and that’s after the pages devoted to exposing the seamy side of New York City politics. In the latest episode of FAQ NYC, guest host and executive editor of THE CITY Alyssa Katz, who worked at the Voice early in her career, interviews Tricia Romano, author of the new book “The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of The Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture.”

Things To Do

Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.

Wednesday, Feb. 28: A screening of “Things Fall Apart,” a rarely seen and recently recovered feature film made in Nigeria and based on two of Chinua Achebe’s novels, followed by a discussion. Free from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. Wednesday, Feb. 28: The Power of Native Plants, an online webinar about the importance of native plants on local ecosystems and getting inspiration from local gardens. Free from 6 to 7:30 p.m., registration required. Friday, March 1: First Friday, an evening of salsa dancing, music and a curator-led exhibition tour of Bronx Calling: The Sixth AIM Biennial (Part One). Free from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Bronx Museum.

THE KICKER: Flaco, the owl who captured New Yorkers’ hearts for more than a year after escaping from his enclosure in the Central Park Zoo, died on Friday after colliding with a building on West 89th Street in Manhattan. Following an autopsy over the weekend, officials said the cause of death was “acute traumatic injury.”

Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Monday.

Love,

THE CITY

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