While nonprofits wait to get paid, de Blasio made sure his lawyers did

My recent opinion piece highlighted the irony of nonprofits waiting so long or contract registration and payments while Mayor “jumped the queue” when his contract was taking too long. The dozens of comments since I’ve received reflect the profound disappointment that almost all nonprofits feel about the Mayor and the fear that many have about speaking openly about it. Here are some verbatim responses: “Although we all feel the same way, more people should be this courageous in speaking out on deBlasio’s incompetence and hypocrisy.” “This has been the story of my life for the last two years and the main reason I don’t want to run a nonprofit any longer.” “As “Liberal” as I am, I have no fondness for this mayor, who’s always seem to avoid any controversy (for himself) rather than deal with the issues upfront. The terrible functioning of his construction agency which cost us six years of delays and my cries of outrage (in writing) not only got no response, but were swept under the rug, which is more offensive than the incompetency of his agencies.” “We have been waiting nearly one year for our contract to be approved.  It is literally killing us.  Grrr.” “The managed care companies handling Medicaid for the State are absolutely abysmal as a payor. We’ve complained to OASAS with only limited success while having to manage our limited cash very closely. Terrible situation.” “Super super super important. We were able to secure a line of credit for $350,000. This money is acting as a bridge right now but the invoicing process is insanely complicated and delayed. It has been almost two years since we were awarded the contract….Still no money.”  “The city has always been a terrible payer. Long ago I represented the City pro bono on a contract. The DOE’s lawyers told me that they were unable to promise to pay bills within any specific amount of time!” I could add a dozen more in the same vein. . . but on a lighter note, check out HSC’s great new video on government contracting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gELZnORV4U Happy Holidays