Apr 27, 2020
Fox News – Mayor de Blasio isn’t letting the controversy surrounding his wife’s embattled billion-dollar mental-health initiative stop him from appointing her to head a new coronavirus recovery task force.
Citing her work with the ThriveNYC initiative, de Blasio revealed on Sunday that First Lady Chirlane McCray, a rumored contender for Brooklyn borough president, would co-chair a Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity as the city plans its eventual reopening.
“The economic and racial disparities that have been made so clear by this crisis, we knew about them before,” said de Blasio, who was elected six years ago on a pledge to make the city more equitable and eliminate its “tale of two cities.” “A powerful, painful exclamation point has been put on them by this crisis.”
New York’s poorest ZIP codes have been hardest hit by the pandemic, city data show, and minorities — many among the city’s essential workers — have died at disproportionately high rates.
De Blasio said he formed the task force to ensure New York’s underdogs aren’t left behind in the recovery.
But city lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were scratching their heads over the appointment of McCray in light of her signature Thrive program, criticized as a billion-dollar money pit with a dubious record of results.
“Chirlane doesn’t have an impressive track record running task forces or agencies,” said Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island), who has jousted with City Hall over Thrive’s alleged lack of help for the NYPD amid a spate of suicides by cops.
“This is too serious an issue to use it as profile raiser,” he added, referring to her potential political aspirations. Read more.
