Opinion

De Blasio’s latest spectacular failure

Add one more overblown, expensive failure to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s list: the $1.35 billion New York Works program.

It started over two years ago, with his lofty promise to tackle income inequality by creating 100,000 jobs in 10 years that would pay $50,000 or more.

“We have to drive up incomes,” de Blasio said in a State of the City Address. “That means actually helping people to get the kind of jobs that allow you to afford to live in New York City — good-paying jobs.”

He put the city Economic Development Corp. in charge of delivering. Two years on, EDC chief James Patchett told the City Council this week, the program has spent $300 million to create . . . 3,000 jobs.

That comes out to $100K per job, and a rate that would deliver roughly just 15 percent of the promised 100,000 jobs by 2027.





Yes, Patchett claimed 16,000 more are in the pipeline but also said it’s “impractical for the city to track specific jobs created” and couldn’t say how many jobs have gone to low-income workers, as was the point.

This debacle follows the cancellation of the $773 million Renewal Schools program, as well as news that the $850 million ThriveNYC mental health initiative can’t quite explain what it’s achieved.

Even de Blasio’s fellow progressives are furious. As Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) noted: “Renewal Schools is failing to renew. ThriveNYC is failing to thrive, and New York Works is failing to work.”

Call it The de Blasio Way.





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