At the start of the year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo suddenly began highlighting conditions in public housing, making multiple trips to New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments throughout the five boroughs.
After much wrangling, the governor was able to convince state lawmakers that they should approve an additional $250 million in funding for NYCHA repairs, and attach it to a newly-appointed state monitor who would determine how that money would be spent.
But after the consent decree on Monday, Cuomo quietly withdrew.
"If the federal government is going to appoint a monitor, there is no reason for the state to also appoint a monitor, because I'm trying to facilitate the management," Cuomo said. "Having two monitors wouldn't help."
The governor was doing a school bus tour to promote new gun control legislation. We spoke with him aboard the bus, where he reiterated his criticism of Mayor Bill de Blasio for what the governor called de Blasio's mismanagement of NYCHA.
"I have long said that the problem is mismanagement and it's not about how much money you spend if you have bad management," Cuomo said. "NYCHA literally couldn't spend the money they were receiving."
"That is almost a neo-conservative argument. It really is," de Blasio said at a press conference, responding to the governor's comments. "I'm stunned to hear any Democrat say that decades of disinvestment by the federal government and the state government is not part of the problem. Could we be honest here, please?"
What's particularly noteworthy about Cuomo's willingness to drop his push for a state monitor was just how contentious this particular issue was during budget negotiations as the city tried to prevent the state from intervening.
Ultimately, Cuomo prevailed, but his desire to get the state involved in the management of the system never actually got off the ground. Moreover, everyone knew a federal intervention was likely, even in March when the state budget was being negotiated.