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Dear New Yorkers,

Karen Ford, the inaugural head of a new mayoral office created in 2022 to work with nonprofit organizations providing city services, left quietly in December after a year on the job, THE CITY has learned.

It’s not clear why she left her role. She could not be reached for comment.

Ford was tasked with leading an office that worked as a liaison between the many nonprofits that are contracted out by the city to run everything from homeless shelters to legal assistance. One of her main directives was to make it easier for groups to get paid for their work.

Nonprofit leaders who spoke with THE CITY said they were never told that Ford left her role, and that the departure came at a time when her help would have been more important than ever. That’s because, in recent months, some of them have not been able to process invoices through a new online system, leaving them unable to collect millions of dollars due them. One nonprofit official told THE CITY they are owed more than $8 million in backlogged bills submitted before the system migration and have since been unable to bill for approximately $18 million.

Read more about nonprofit groups’ billing crisis here.

Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Wednesday's Weather Rating: 2/10. The most Wednesday weather to exist, if that makes sense. Cloudy, dreary and rainy. Warm, with highs near 60 but unsettled and breezy throughout the day. A strong cold front moves in late tonight. The vibes are really not great out there.

Our Other Top Stories

The New York City Housing Authority will seek restitution from contractors who have overcharged NYCHA for goods and services under no-bid contracts at the heart of an ongoing corruption investigation, the authority’s top official said Tuesday. The announcement came a day after an investigation by THE CITY raised questions about the loss of taxpayer money to inflated bills, and follows the Feb. 6 arrest of 70 current and former Housing Authority bureaucrats charged with pocketing bribes related to the no-bid contracts. The owner of a Queens furniture store said he let dozens of West African migrants live there after they’d been ejected from city shelters, rather than let them sleep on the streets. At first, as he told THE CITY in an interview on Tuesday, “it was only for the two of them. But what happened is, at the end, everyone needed help.” By the time FDNY marshals responded to a complaint about e-bikes at the store late Monday night, they found dozens of men sleeping on bunk beds in the basement and on the ground floor.  After a deadly fire in Chinatown last summer caused by e-bike batteries, officials stood outside the Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side to announce $25 million in federal funds to build e-bike charging stations at dozens of NYCHA developments. But eight months later, not a dime has been spent, and there’s no sign that a single charging station will see the light of day at any NYCHA development anytime soon. Our story about the Harlem fire that killed journalist Fazil Khan and injured 22 others last week has been updated with new information. Just hours after the deadly fire, city housing inspectors discovered a non-functioning self-closing door to the roof that may have caused a chimney effect that spread thick smoke through the building; the Department of Housing Preservation and Development has issued a citation.

Reporter’s Notebook

New Districts All Over Again

Albany Democrats have once again redrawn the state’s boundaries for U.S. House seats. Sound familiar? Yes, we’ve been here before and, yes, we’re doing it all over again because of a state Court of Appeals ruling in December, which ordered the state to redraw the lines.

This time, the map drawn by the Democrat-controlled state legislature doesn’t stray that far from the one made by the state’s redistricting commission — even though Dems had just voted to reject the commission’s proposal. Politico detailed the five most important changes, including cutting Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s territory in the north Bronx and making Rep. Tom Suozzi’s district in Long Island more solidly blue.

Redistricting experts said the new map is “a model of neutrality,” fair and a “mild/moderate gerrymander,” reported The New York Times — far from the aggressive reshaping that would have given Democrats a sharper edge. But even so, producing any new map risks further court challenges, too.

State lawmakers are set to vote on the new proposal this week. In the meantime, the petitioning season for candidates to get their names on the primary ballot — in not-yet-official districts — has already begun. Stay tuned.

(And if you want to see the proposed map boundaries up close, we recommend CUNY’s excellent Redistricting and You mapping project.)

— Rachel Holliday Smith

Things To Do

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

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.  Saturday, March 2: Lower East Side Street Tree Care, an event hosted by NYC Parks that teaches volunteers how to care for local trees. Free from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Sara D. Roosevelt Park in Manhattan. Sunday, March 3: Winter Wildlife Hike: Marine Ecology, a walk to learn about seals, birds and other wildlife that visit NYC shores in the winter. Free from 1 to 2 p.m. at Coney Island Beach & Boardwalk in Brooklyn.

THE KICKER: State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal announced that a piece of legislation formerly called the Bird Safe Buildings Act — which is still many steps away from becoming a law — will be renamed the FLACO (Feathered Lives Also Count) Act in honor of the city’s beloved late owl.

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

Love,

THE CITY

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