It should be expected that Rudolph Giuliani’s tenure as New York City mayor (1994-2001) will be examined with greater scrutiny as he develops his expected run for president.
The following quote surfaced recently when a Newsday reporter was scrolling through the NYC Department of Buildings web site for information about a building struck by an airplane with Yankees pitcher Corey Lidle aboard.
The quote was delivered by Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster at a City Council hearing on March 8, 2006. The second paragraph of her testimony reads, in its entirety:
“When I was appointed Commissioner in 2002 (the year after Giuliani left office) I found a neglected agency that was in complete and total disarray. One third of the staff positions were vacant. Computers crashed daily. It took so long to get an appointment with a Plan Examiner that people were scalping appointments on the streets. The perception of corruption was pervasive. Documents and files were unaccounted for and morale was at an all-time low.”
Bill Murphy
A postscript, perhaps a prequel: Newsday reported on July 16, 1997 - midway through Giuliani’s eight years as mayor - that Queens Building Commissioner Roland Durant told a meeting of borough officials that department records were often taken out of files and lost, stolen or never returned.
Buildings Department spokesman Ted Birkhahn said at the time that Durant was wrong and that the number of missing files was “minuscule.”
Durant was transferred to the department’s Bronx office two months later.
Comments (1)
thats because he was having sex with cristine in bsmt of gracie mansion. as wife and kids slept in floor above. gouliani is a disgrace and skeletons are all waitng for him.