More numbers

The city is asking for a total of $103,517 back from 19 contractors it says cannot justify the amounts paid to them by NOAH. As we said last week, if these figures reflect the largest amount of money lost through the NOAH, then the Mayor and the city have a legitimate argument that they are being unfairly persecuted for political reasons.

Of course, the real serious discrepancy that isn't given much attention here is this. This remediation program was originally conceived as a $15 million program to help poor and elderly homeowners recover their property. As we all know by now, the majority of that budget did not actualize as properties were left untouched or improperly demolished or just not even considered for the program. The fact that only about $2 million was actually spent reflects the real failure of NOAH. Be it the result of incompetence, indifference or thievery (and very petty theivery at that if the city's numbers are correct) the failure to follow through on a service like this represents an enormous breach of faith.