
City Hall protests (too much!) on The Post’s debit-cards-for-migrants analysis
NY Post
Wow, did Nicole Gelinas’ blockbuster analysis of the city’s debit-card-for-migrants “pilot project” (“House of cards,” Feb. 20) upset City Hall; hear the screams as a sign we’re doing our jobs.
William Fowler’s letter today repeatedly alleging “inaccuracies” is just part of the complaints; someone also got The New York Times to run a report falsely claiming Gelinas got some facts wrong.
Let’s be clear here: All she did was read the actual contract for the program, plus pay attention to what Mayor Eric Adams and others were saying about it publicly, and explain the potential implications.
She also reached out to City Hall and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the agency mysteriously put in charge of the program even though it has zero experience with any relevant work, with questions — which didn’t get answered.
After the column ran, the Adams team went big with “answers” that amounted time after time to “that’s not what we intend to do” — which is utterly irrelevant to what the contract allows for and/or specifies.
E.g., Fowler whines, “Gelinas also claims the city will give migrants up to $10,000 each with no ID check, no restrictions and no fraud control.”