The Street administration has proposed floating $250 million in bonds to eliminate this blight.
But the Street administration has been racked by a series of scandals and federal investigations, and it was not clear whether some or all of those inquiries were somehow related to the bugs found at City Hall.
Despite Washington's new role at Citigroup, and public anger over big paydays on Wall Street, administration officials have little power to prevent the company and others in the industry from raising salaries for rank-and-file employees.
The Street administration targeted some of the city's worst neighborhoods for revitalization and made considerable progress.
The Street administration was plagued with scandal, with administration people being accused of awarding contracts based on campaign donations for Street's 2003 reelection campaign.
But Mr. Street's administration has been haunted in recent months by corruption investigations.
In response to questions about the policy, first reported Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal, administration and military officials acknowledged that the new strategy was so deliberately ambiguous that it was not clear how much deterrent effect it might have.
Having the confidence of the markets is important, but the danger is that in seeking to please the clubby world of Wall Street, the administration may be sacrificing reformist zeal.
PAGE A12 New York AS FORTUNES TURN, CITY ALTERS Outlook on Wall Street Bloomberg administration officials were once optimistic about the outlook for the city's financial services sector.
Before he exits the White House next month, President Clinton might shower pardons on a host of people, including several Whitewater figures and, most notably, Michael R. Milken, the convicted former Wall Street financier, administration officials and others involved in the effort said today.
