GOP mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa says he would shutter and probe the finances of ThriveNYC, First Lady Chirlane McCray’s long troubled mental health initiative, if elected.
“As mayor I would launch a full scale investigation through the Department of Investigation and hopefully that would lead to an indictment of Chirlane and the Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has been the Medici on this — with our money,” Sliwa told The Post. “There is no record of people who have benefited from this outrageously expensive program.”
Since its inception in 2015, the ThriveNYC mental-health initiative has been beset by scandal and opaque finances. The city injected $1 billion in taxpayer money into the program, with few tangible results.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer previously said he was including Thrive on a “watch list” of city agencies with suspicious finances. Other progressives like Rep. Ritchie Torres have blasted the program as well. “There is no evidence it’s working,” he said in March 2019 while still a city councilman.
Critics like Sliwa say the city’s mental health crisis has only gotten worse and he would take action on Thrive on “Day 1” in Gracie Mansion.
“Look at all the emotionally disturbed persons living in the streets, subways and parks who are a danger to themselves and everyone else,” he said, adding that he personally did more for the mentally ill in his role as boss of the Guardian Angels.
“I am with the meeting with the disturbed in the streets and subways every day and it is a sin what we have done not responding to their needs,” he said.