Allegations of extreme sexual misconduct have been brought against the staff of a public housing development in the Bronx.
Originally reported by the NY Daily News and confirmed by the New York Times, The New York City Housing Authority reassigned all 40 members of the Throggs Neck Houses, a public housing development in the Bronx, and even suspended two for hosting orgies on the job.
According to the New York Times, trouble had been brewing at the development for a long time. Trash pickup and maintenance had long since gone by the wayside, and the allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate work behavior were just the icing on the cake.
“We’ve had longstanding concerns about management and performance issues at Throggs Neck,” Ms. Levine said. “Those concerns, coupled with troubling allegations of misconduct, are why the staff was reassigned. We can’t comment further on an ongoing investigation,” NYCHA Spokeswoman Robin Levine told NYT.
According to one resident, besides neglecting their duties, the staff would openly talk about their sexual encounters with one another, on the clock, around the complex.
Other sources told NYCHA that supervisors and some of the caretakers held regular orgies inside a groundskeeper shop at the development, sometimes putting in for overtime while they spent hours drinking and engaging in sexual activity.
President of the resident association at Throggs Neck Monique Johnson said there were many staff members who had nothing to do with the lewd happenings and that there was a culture of fear and retaliation among the whole staff.
“There are a lot of staff members that had absolutely nothing to do with this, but because of the inappropriate behavior they have been uprooted and moved as well,” Ms. Johnson said.
Some are calling for the outright firing of the employees who were involved in the misconduct citing concerns that they will recreate their behavior patterns at other NYCHA properties when they are reassigned.
“The residents of Throggs Neck Houses have endured so much and I think enough is enough,” New York Senator Jeffrey Klein told NYT.
“It has to end.”
This is the latest in a long string of blows to the NYCHA. In June, NYCHA was accused of negligence, exposing children to lead poisoning and failing to provide safe, healthy living conditions for its residents. And in July, it was found that the NYCHA stock of public housing needs $31.8 billion in repairs that it only has $6.84 billion to put towards repairs.
NYCHA is in desperate need of help, and further news of negligence as gross as this is just further evidence of how broken the New York Housing Authority is.
