The Wall Street Journal – February 26, 2015
by Mara Gay
New York City council members sharply criticized Wednesday the remaking of the city’s 911 system, a $2 billion-plus, more-than-decade-long project that remains incomplete. A report by the city’s Department of Investigation this month outlined what it called “persistent mismanagement” of the 911 system overhaul under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, which it said led to delays and added hundreds of millions to its cost.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he plans to increase oversight and finish the overhaul. But at a City Council hearing on the report Wednesday, some lawmakers said they had concerns about the project under Mr. de Blasio.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, chairwoman of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services, said the decision to combine fire and police dispatchers into one central command didn’t make sense.
“I am seriously concerned that this administration, much like the last, is failing to recognize the inherently flawed premise of a unified call taking process and is still moving forward with components of this overhaul that undermine public safety,” said Ms. Crowley, a Queens Democrat.
In response, Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters, who was appointed by Mr. de Blasio and confirmed by the City Council last year, said his agency doesn’t set policy.
“I’m not aware of an expert anywhere who suggests that a unified system isn’t a good thing,” Mr. Peters told lawmakers, “but having said that, that’s not what I do.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. de Blasio didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The overhaul was launched in 2004 after the city’s 911 system faltered during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the 2003 blackout. But Mr. Peters, echoing criticisms in his agency’s report, said the system “is not working the way it should,” and was plagued by a long list of management failures that included improper oversight over contractors and a lack of planning from senior Bloomberg administration officials.
“They didn’t know what they were doing and weren’t properly supervised by City Hall,” Mr. Peters said.
Former Bloomberg administration officials have said the accusations in the Department of Investigation report are false and that the overhaul was largely a success. They have also said the report was politicized. A spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg declined to comment on the City Council hearing.
Anne Roest, commissioner of the city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, which is managing the project under Mr. de Blasio, said she had made reforms, such as creating a steering committee that includes senior de Blasio administration officials and officials from the Fire Department of New York and the New York Police Department that meets weekly to monitor the overhaul’s progress.
Ms. Roest also said her agency has reduced the project’s reliance on outside contractors.
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