Just two years after then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled an Orwellian COVID-19 passport app — the “Excelsior Pass” — as a way to gain entry to indoor activities such as eating or working out, the barely-used, often glitchy NYS Wallet App is being shut down.
“Because demand for instant access to vaccine records has subsided, the NYS Wallet App will be discontinued on July 28, 2023,” read the push notification that went out to 11.5 million New Yorkers, according to the New York Post.
Calling it “a relic of New York’s covid police state,” Post columnist Rikki Schlott writes of the announcement, “It could have been a cause for celebration for liberty-loving New Yorkers, had we not spent an eye-watering $64 million on the app.”
“Instead,” she continues, “the grotesque government spending should make the blood of every taxpayer boil.”
Back in May 2021, when Cuomo touted the app’s convenience, the cost was estimated at just $2.5 million.
(Video: YouTube)
The state quickly began playing with the idea of expanding the application’s potential to replace driver’s licenses, proof of age, and a host of medical records, driving the cost to a reported $17 million within just a couple of months.
“How did New York end up forking over $64 million for an ill-conceived app?” Schlott asks in the op-ed. “The answer is simple: taxpayers with no meaningful recourse were the ones footing the bill.”
Even as vax mandates have largely slipped into America’s rearview mirror and “virtually nobody” was using the app, New York taxpayers have been shelling out a staggering $200,000 each month “just to maintain the database of vaccine records,” according to Schlott, who notes that the “budget explosion represents an amazing 25-fold increase from the original plan.”
Much of that money, she reveals, went to “consulting.”
The state signed a three-year contract with IBM to roll out the digital passport, and “Boston Consulting Group and Deloitte reportedly also got in on the action.”
“How exactly these mega-corporations managed to hoover up so much taxpayer money is now the subject of an investigation by the state Office of the Inspector General,” Schlott reports.
“It’s a tale as old as time here in New York. In fact, earlier this year it was revealed that the city spent twice as much on consultants working on a Second Avenue subway tunnel than they did actually digging the tunnel itself,” she writes. “But it’s also an issue in liberal cities across the country.”
On the nation’s other coast, Los Angeles announced it would be building apartments for the city’s homeless to the tune of $350,00 per unit. That price tag soon swelled to “$837,000 a pop — far outstripping the average home value in the United States — thanks, in large part, to consulting bills,” according to Schlott.
The “unusually high” consultant fees were discovered in an audit that showed less than half of the staggering budget went to the actual cost of construction.
“As a result of spending gone awry, LA’s plan to tackle homelessness has been considerably slowed, and many who were promised housing are still waiting,” Schlott states.
“Consultants’ parasitic grip on government spending can have disastrous consequences,” the journalist writes. “A covid app and a subway tunnel are one thing. A roof over one’s head is entirely another.”
“If New York wants to stop hemorrhaging residents in droves,” suggests Schlott, “it better demonstrate a greater deal of respect for the hard-earned tax dollars it extracts from its citizens.”
Meanwhile, online, many are praising the app’s demise.
“Today, NY shut down its useless, discriminatory covid app ‘Excelsior Pass’. It was used to exclude citizens from libraries, restaurants & public spaces,” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at the Stanford School of Medicine, tweeted.
Today, NY shut down its useless, discriminatory covid app “Excelsior Pass”. It was used to exclude citizens from libraries, restaurants & public spaces. It cost taxpayers $250 million — the state IG is investigating. @JordanSchachtel has the details.https://t.co/akcBrWLXwc
— Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) July 1, 2023
“Bhattacharya, an epidemiologist, was one of the key figures behind the Great Barrington Declaration, which was one of the first public declarations challenging pandemic lockdown policies as damaging to physical and mental health,” the Epoch Times reports.
“The end result of New York’s Excelsior Vaxport app was the same as all these other mandates – A few made a whole [lot] of cash at the expense of mostly the poor and middle class,” tweeted another user. “Always Follow the money. A story as old as time.”
The end result of New York’s Excelsior Vaxport app was the same as all these other mandates – A few made a whole of cash at the expense of mostly the poor and middle class.
Always Follow the money. A story as old as time. #Ukraine #Covid #ClimateCrisis #Grifter https://t.co/79ZJc9fEFo
— therealarod1984 (@therealarod1984) June 30, 2023
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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