Pandemic-related budget cuts for basic city services like trash pickup in New York City are taking a toll on residents.
One resident who doesn’t seem to be affected by the budget cuts is none other than Comrade de Blasio’s wife, the first lady of NYC, Chirlane McCray.
According to Fox News – In spite of “necessary” budget cuts, Chirlane McCray, Mayor Bill Blasio’s wife is still enjoying her 14-member staff — including a $70,000 videographer who captured her baking cookies during the pandemic.
Some of the Chirlane McCray staffers, who cost city taxpayers nearly $2 million a year combined, work for the first lady’s $1.25 billion mental health initiative ThriveNYC, which has come under fire for its lack of metrics.
“Whatever happened to the money from ThriveNYC?” asked City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Queens).
“How much taxpayer money will the mayor’s wife pilfer before leaving office? How can she sleep at night hiring these hacks knowing so many other city workers are facing layoffs this fall? This is a disgrace!” Ulrich fumed.
McCray has a core team of eight staffers, according to a recent list provided to The Post following a Freedom of Information Law request filed in October 2019. This is despite the city facing layoffs of 22,000 municipal workers over the coronavirus-induced budget crisis.
There’s a $117,000-a-year speechwriter, even though McCray held that same position under former Mayor David Dinkins, and a $150,000-a-year senior adviser who was recruited in April after de Blasio announced a hiring freeze to help close a $7 billion deficit caused by the coronavirus.
But she has at least six other city employees deputized to her office from other public agencies, as was first reported by The City. That makes a robust roster of 14 staffers– double the amount she had in 2018.
Bill De Blasio and his lovely wife Chirlane are two of the first people screaming for “justice” in New York City. Unfortunately, when it comes to the mayor and his privileged wife, Chirlane, “justice” isn’t always applied equally.
