Despite spending almost $111 million, city agencies under federal and state oversight have failed to resolve a host of problems that landed them under the scrutiny of court-appointed monitors and special masters, The Post reports.
These court-imposed schemes have cost New Yorkers a small fortune. The city and courts need to find a way to end them (and fix what’s broken).
The Post reviewed 11 ongoing cases, from the deplorable conditions in public housing and Rikers Island jails to alleged racist hiring practices at the NYPD, FDNY and Department of Education. Most had little to show for the years involved and public money expended.
After 40 years under a special monitor, horrific conditions persist at city jails. So the longest-running monitor, the Office of Compliance Consultants, has accomplished nothing meaningful since 1982.
Another monitor, over the Administration for Children’s Services, has had no better luck: ACS has made big improvements from time to time, but also slid backward — despite regular criticism from actual elected officials including the public advocate and city and state comptrollers.
Whatever the monitors do, the only thing that truly seems to matter is cashing their paychecks. They don’t fix anything — they’re a substitute for a genuine solution.
Mayor Adams needs to direct the city’s lawyers to petition the various courts to start winding down these fruitless follies. Take the fight to the US Supreme Court if needed: It can and should reject the whole legal philosophy that underlies these decrees.
The NYPD-FDNY-DOE hiring cases are a good place to start: Those agencies have clearly achieved the goals of fair hiring and promotion practices. The police and fire departments, in particular, are as racially and ethnically diverse as the city they serve, and headed by women to boot.
And don’t stop with the monitors: Other consent decrees, like the Callahan deal that created the “right to shelter,” should go, too. It’s spawned a multibillion industry with no end to homelessness in sight.
If the mayor’s serious about stopping abuse of the taxpayers, he needs to declare war on these absurdities that pretend the way to fix anything is to throw lawyers at it.