Nolan Hicks
There’s “no evidence” that First Lady Chirlane McCray’s mental- health initiative — which has burned through $565 million in taxpayers’ money so far — has achieved any measurable results, a lawmaker said Wednesday.
City Councilman Ritchie Torres said he’s not ready to scrap the entire ThriveNYC initiative, but wants each of its 41 programs studied with an eye toward dropping those that miss their targets.
“There’s no evidence it’s working,” Torres (D-Bronx) said of the overall initiative, which was launched in November 2015 and now has a budget of $250 million a year.
“We have to evaluate the effectiveness of each program. It should be done on a case-by-case basis.
“If there’s a program that’s been found to be ineffective, we should pull the plug. If there’s a program that’s been found to be effective, we should continue it.”
Torres’ comments came a day after McCray ducked questions during a two-hour City Council hearing about Thrive’s spending and results.
“We know as little about the program after the hearing as we knew before the hearing,” Torres noted.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said he’s all for more mental-health services — but wants to know where the money’s going.
“We have yet to get a good analysis of where the money was spent and whether we should be adjusting as we move forward,” he said.
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