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Bloomberg: CityTime Dough Just "Slipped Through Cracks"
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Dec 18, 2010
Modified Dec 18, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Dec 18, 2010
Modified Dec 18, 2010
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Would everybody just leave the government alone? Mayor Bloomberg sounded especially peeved at critics who maybe wanted to know how the city missed $80 million stolen in the elaborate CityTime scam. He said on his weekly radio show, "You can't look every place. I'm not trying to excuse it. It is something we certainly should focus on. On the other hand, if you want to know how big projects have big things that slip through the cracks, this is as good an example as you need." Must've been a mighty big crack.
Mayor "Deal With It" Bloomberg already suspended one CityTime big wig Joel Bondy, and four of the project's consultants (including Mark Mazer) and two of their relatives have been indicted on charges of defrauding the city. But outside of the fraud, the city has still spent $630 million on CityTime, a project that was supposed to cost one-tenth of that. Councilman Jumaane Williams said of Bloomberg, "We need you to do what you said you could do, which is manage finances."
Mazer's lawyer insisted his client made no payments to Bondy, and said, "Plainly stated, there was no corruption." But Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara alleges that Mazer signed off on fake timesheets to inflate their take. The Post has a detailed breakdown of how the scam worked. Critics also say that in light of the scam and the skyrocketed costs of CityTime, it's time to scrap the project. City Councilwoman Leticia James said, "The reality is is that we should look at all of these private consultant contracts in the city of New York. We should not privatize municipal work, particularly at these challenging times. We should better use municipal workers and employees and avert all of the layoffs."
Still, Bloomberg says the city will recover all the stolen money, and there is nothing to worry about. "Nothing goes without some problems, whether it's in your family, your company, your government, the world. On balance, New York City is—and I'll still stand by this in spite of this—relatively corruption- and crime-free." Yup, nothing to see here, folks.
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