Mayor de Blasio’s newly named czar to oversee the reconstruction of homes decimated by Hurricane Sandy blamed the Bloomberg administration Monday for the crawling pace of repairs.
“While some of the delays were the result of complex federal requirements, some were also self-inflicted,” Amy Peterson told a City Council oversight hearing.
“Missteps were made,” she said.
A year and a half after Sandy, the city-run program that was supposed to rebuild wrecked homes has only begun construction on three houses.
And officials say they will need another $1 billion from the federal government — on top of the $1.45 billion already allocated — to help every homeowner in need.
Peterson said the rebuilding program under Mayor Michael Bloomberg opened without a customer-service team in place, failed to communicate with homeowners and operated with a “revolving door of specialists.”
So far, the city has mailed only three checks totaling $100,000 to reimburse the repair bills of three stricken families.
About 22,000 people have applied for relief funds.
“We have been frustrated and heartbroken at every step of this process,” testified Joseph Palmer Doyle of the Rockaways. “We are financially ruined.”
An additional $800,000 is about to be mailed out to homeowners, and about 70 people are negotiating with contractors to have their construction work mapped out, Peterson said.