Q&A
Concerns about ethical implications of vacation taken by Deputy Commissioner Hamilton
1:37:02
·
5 min
Council Member Restler raises ethical concerns about Deputy Commissioner Hamilton going on vacation with Diana Butros (Cushman & Wakefield account lead) and Ingrid Lewis-Martin (Chief Advisor to Mayor Adams) just before a major RFP release. Commissioner Molina defends Hamilton's actions.
- Restler questions the appropriateness of the vacation given the pending RFP worth tens of millions of dollars
- Molina initially declines to comment on personal vacations and relationships outside of work
- Restler presses the issue, focusing on the ethics of the situation and potential conflicts of interest
- Molina states that to his knowledge, Hamilton has not violated any DCAS or NYC Conflicts of Interest Board policies
- Restler expresses disappointment in Molina's response and calls for a comprehensive review of all of Hamilton's real estate transactions
Louis Molina
1:37:02
Well, I'm not here to comment on the personal vacations and personal relations that people have outside of work.
Lincoln Restler
1:37:08
I'm not asking you too.
1:37:09
I am asking you to con to comment on the ethics of your agency and making sure that our taxpayer dollars are being properly spent.
1:37:17
Are you concerned?
1:37:18
Do you think it's appropriate for deputy Mister Hamilton to be going on a vacation to Japan with the lead representative on a multi a contract that's worth tens of 1,000,000 of dollars, and the RFP is being released weeks after their return.
Louis Molina
1:37:31
Will I expect that any staff member IDCast comport themselves within a legal way?
1:37:37
And from what I know today, deputy commissioner Hamilton has not violated any DCast policy or Hoip policy that I'm aware of to date by his personal activities that are done in his own time.
1:37:51
This was not a city business trip.
Lincoln Restler
1:37:54
For me, it's it's highly unseemly.
1:37:57
It's unethical.
1:37:58
It's it's really concerning.
1:38:00
And I'm disappointed we don't have the opportunity to ask these questions of deputy commissioner Hamilton today, and I really think it underscores what customer member powers and others have have requested from you that you and deputy mayor Torres Springer conduct an immediate review of every single transaction that he's been responsible for during his time as deputy commissioner for real estate.
1:38:17
I am very in trouble.
Louis Molina
1:38:18
Of of all of the divisions within Decast to find opportunities where we can improve transparency and enhance efficiency.
Lincoln Restler
1:38:27
I appreciate that commissioner Melina, but you said very clearly you reviewed the 14 wall and that was deal and that was it.
1:38:32
You said you were done a comprehensive review of the agency.
1:38:35
I'd appreciate that.
1:38:35
You've got a big job decusses a hard agency to run wildly disparate functions, important responsibilities.
1:38:41
But we're concerned specifically today about the alleged corruption by deputy commissioner Hamilton and in his division, and we'd like to see a comprehensive review take place of every real estate transaction that he's been responsible for because the things that we're asking about today leave more questions than answers, and that's my concern.
1:38:58
Okay.
1:38:58
I'd like to shift gears to the Bronx Logistics Center, one of Mister Hamilton's top priorities.
1:39:05
Erica, do we have the video?
1:39:07
Are we able to I don't know where she is?
1:39:09
Is she here?
1:39:10
Okay.
1:39:10
It's coming up now.
1:39:11
We're gonna just show a a quick video for for you that that I found confusing.
1:39:19
This is Erica Screen, and here's the video.
1:39:22
Apologize for the quality.
1:39:26
We got volume.
1:39:33
Bye bye.
Lynn Schulman
1:39:52
I don't know.
1:39:53
I
Shameka Overton
1:39:58
don't know how to get the medicine.
Lincoln Restler
1:40:03
Okay.
1:40:03
We'll just go ahead.
1:40:06
We'll just go ahead.
1:40:06
If we have an opportunity, we'll ask about it later.
1:40:08
So this is a video that deputy commissioner Hamilton had created to promote the Bronx Logistics Center a privately owned site.
Louis Molina
1:40:17
Are you
Lincoln Restler
1:40:17
have you seen this video before?
Louis Molina
1:40:19
I I
Lincoln Restler
1:40:19
have not.
1:40:20
You've never seen this video?
Louis Molina
1:40:21
I've never seen that video.
1:40:22
No.
1:40:22
I mean, I have not seen the the few clips that were presented on the screen, and I'm not aware of any video that DC Hamilton created.
Lincoln Restler
1:40:31
You're not aware of this the existence of this video.
Louis Molina
1:40:34
I'm not aware of it.
1:40:35
I've never seen it till it was just Okay.
1:40:36
We were we were totally posted.
Lincoln Restler
1:40:40
Can you explain to me Why would the deputy commissioner for real estate and his team create a promotional video of a privately owned site to encourage city agencies to be enticed to lease space there?
Louis Molina
1:40:57
Well, being that I have not seen the video, it's hard for me to con comment on the context of why the video was made.
Gale A. Brewer
1:41:07
Okay.
Lincoln Restler
1:41:13
Okay.
1:41:14
Don't you think?
1:41:15
Just help me here.
1:41:17
We'll do this hypothetically.
1:41:19
For a video that is being created by Decast of a privately owned site for a building that we'd either be purchasing or leasing, When promoting it, putting that out on YouTube, trying to encourage, wouldn't that inflate the price?
1:41:36
Like, I don't really understand the negotiating strategy.
1:41:39
If the building owner knows that Jesse, the deputy commissioner Hamilton, is promoting a site for purchase and encouraging city agencies to consider it, wouldn't that make the wouldn't that increase the sale price from the owners or the lease price.
Louis Molina
1:41:54
Having having not seen the video, I will reserve my comments.
1:42:00
I've I've had time to review the video.
Lincoln Restler
1:42:01
Alright.
1:42:02
We'll try to get it on for you.
1:42:03
You're welcome.
1:42:04
Has Dicus ever made it promotional video to your knowledge, to promote the purchaser, renting up, leasing of a space?
Louis Molina
1:42:11
To my knowledge, to date, I have not, in my 90 days there, I have thought about creating a video to share with perspective agencies that may be able to utilize the space.
Lincoln Restler
1:42:23
Okay.
1:42:24
And do you think it's appropriate for Decast to create a promotional video for a privately owned space?
Louis Molina
1:42:32
Well, I'm not against the use of videos.
1:42:34
I think that if we had a space, then one option to provide agency workers that may be teleworking to kind of view the space.
1:42:44
It's possible that one can consider sending a video But I have not seen the video.
Lincoln Restler
1:42:49
I mean,
Louis Molina
1:42:50
you tried to show, so I don't have comment on that specifically.
