If You Hate This Newsletter, Blame My Ghost Co-Author
The mystery of “Don’t Let It Happen,” but first: the consequences of a city agency pausing a program that helps first-time homeowners buy a place to live. #68
Right before New Years we received a tip into THE CITY newsroom from a woman named Clare who had participated in the Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development’s HomeFirst program, which connects New Yorkers to counselors, support, and a grant of up to $100,000 towards a down payment on a home.
I thought at first it might be a budget thing, but learned it has to do with HPD looking for new non-profits that administer the grants — grants that have gone to 200 households over the last two years and thousands more since HomeFirst launched in 2002.
So now Clare and others are left with a contract, and money in escrow, but uncertainty over when they can get the grant. HPD said the program will resume in the spring, but was this possibility not imagined? Mayor Adams prioritized home ownership in his housing blueprint last year, saying he wanted to double the size of the program. Not quite.
You can read the full story here.
✏ Other interesting stories ✏
🚊 Three train derailments in 22 days, but transit chief says everything is safe [THE CITY]
🏨Many psych beds are back a year after the governor’s promise [THE CITY]
🍜H-Mart is opening its largest food court [EATER]
🎲Casino updates from Manhattan [THE CITY + THE CITY]
🎧LISTEN🎧
My friend and former colleague Jimmy Vielkind is launching a podcast ahead of the 2024 presidential! Listen to the trailer HERE.
Let’s talk about “Don’t Let It Happen,” the book Eric Adams wrote with an unnamed co-author, who actually turned out to be a ghostwriter, and who then without the mayor’s permission self-published this book under his name apparently unbeknownst to the mayor — even though the book’s existence has been mentioned in a 2021 profile and a 2022 profile and as recently as last week.
At least that’s what Mayor Adams and his team would like us all to believe. To be honest, the whole thing is so weird I don’t know what is true.
Last week, Byline published this article about the book, which is a guide for parents and caretakers on how to steer your kids away from drugs, gangs, guns, sexual assault, and other issues. Byline took a humorous take on it, but shared one scary anecdote. In Chapter 8, titled “Guns,” Adams says as a child a friend brought a gun to school and, certain it was fake, he fired it towards a group of friends.
As soon as I read the article I purchased the book on Amazon, thinking only of reading it with my colleagues. It arrived Saturday, and I brought the book to work on Monday but didn’t think about it again until Jake Offenhartz from the AP asked the mayor about it during his press briefing.
As Jake asked, the mayor seemed confused. To save us all the trouble, I’ll just share the whole transcript (you can see where I interject.)
The mayor was now saying the book shouldn’t have been published, but it was, and being sold, and it had been mentioned now for years. Did he really not know it was available?
Jeff Coltin from Politico offered to grab the book from my bag, I told Jake to stall, and once the briefing was over I sprinted out of the Blue Room, yelling Jeff’s name. We exchanged the book and showed the mayor, who is now working with the publisher (well, it was a self-publishing house) to get it removed from the virtual bookshelves.
The book is of course a silly little thing when New York City is a big city with big city problems, especially for the mayor. At the end of the day, it’s mostly just bizarre. But it matters in the larger context of being able to trust what the mayor says and does.
As the mayor often reminds us: he keeps things interesting!
thanks for reading!