First Lady Chirlane McCray seemingly got blindsided on live TV Wednesday while promoting a plan to honor five women with new statues in each borough, when the hosts of “Good Day New York” flipped the script and began grilling her about her costly mental-health initiative.
Mayor de Blasio’s wife was caught off-guard as Fox 5’s Rosanna Scotto suddenly shifted the subject by noting recent reports about the four-year, $1 billion budget for her “ThriveNYC” program.
“We are still seeing a lot of homeless on the street. And apparently not a lot of bookkeeping from your office,” Scotto said.
“Well, that’s not true. That is absolutely not true. We have so many measures in place. And, um, you know, so many things,” McCray stammered.
Co-host Lori Stokes then demanded to know what’s been accomplished by “ThriveNYC” — which is set to receive $250 million a year going forward — and whether all the taxpayer cash “has actually been well spent.”
McCray quickly turned defensive, saying, “Well, first of all, we haven’t spent $850 million. We’ve only spent, by the end of June, we’ll have spent $560 million.”
When Scotto responded, “That’s still a lot of bucks,” McCray insisted that “those bucks have been well spent. And we have, again, many measures in place.”
But instead of elaborating or providing proof, McCray pivoted and argued that “the kinds of things that people are looking for, we’re not going to see for many years, because that’s just not the way it works.”
The only “ThriveNYC” initiative she mentioned was its “helpline” — 1-888-NYC-WELL — that people can call “if they’re feeling anxiety, or depressed, or they’re worried about a loved one whose behavior has changed.”
McCray also wrongly claimed that “our budget director is testifying today to bring some clarity to the numbers” — even though that appearance before the City Council’s Finance Committee isn’t not scheduled until March 26.
During a later appearance at the Brooklyn Museum, McCray appeared to have brushed up on her facts, quickly rattling off a list of statistics that included 500,000 calls to the helpline since 2016, 80,000 women screened for post-partum depression and 100,000 crime victims referred for counseling and other services.