You know, Adam McFadden might’ve made a damn fine head of the Housing Authority. “Might’ve” because even if he manages to hold on to the job — HUD says he has to go — the GIANT STINK around his appointment taints everything going forward.
Some of this could’ve been avoided, if McFadden had only stepped down from City Council before accepting the interim job leading the authority. The conflict questions would’ve been gone. But you’d still have the questions about McFadden’s qualifications, connections, and the timing of his appointment. And you’d still have the outrage from the Hispanic community and others over the abrupt dismissal of Alex Castro.
But I’m looking at some of McFadden’s plans for the Housing Authority – shared at a recent meeting – and there are items that deserve discussion, at least: laws to prevent landlords from refusing Section 8 renters, for example, and a push for stricter financial controls. Nobody’s paying any attention to these initiatives, though, because they’re scraping off the shrapnel of the political stink bomb this whole thing has become.
And now because someone or multiple someones decided that we were going to make things as difficult as possible, we’ve got: an angry former RHA head who could very likely take legal action against RHA; an interim director with dubious credibility; millions of dollars in HUD funding to RHA in possible jeopardy; HUD seeking reimbursement for any HUD money the RHA used to pay McFadden thus far; damage to the reputation of a once-revered organization; another hit to Mayor Lovely Warren’s reputation – whether it’s deserved or not. And McFadden possibly without the RHA job or his Council seat a few months down the line.
Did I miss anything?
This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2014.
Sorry, I’m not buying this. A lot of us might have some good ideas about housing, that doesn’t make us qualified candidates to run a housing authority. And who says that we need an activist housing authority? Isn’t it the job of the housing advocates to lobby the authority for change? Adam’s confused about his role.
And this is more than “political stink”, it’s about good government. Firing someone without due process matters, not only the principle of it, but because RHA’s failing to play by the rules means taxpayers will pay dearly. I’m particularly troubled by how much Moses is spending to retroactively justify the firing, especially after HUD declined to investigate back in May. Three law firms and a forensic audit–those are big ticket items. The public should be very concerned at even the appearance of a government agency using its pocketbook to cover up its lack of due diligence and lies. Harris Beach should be ashamed of their lawyering here, which could be best summed up as the “petulant teenager legal strategy”. Should taxpayers really be expected to pay for these lousy decisions to defy HUD?
Sure, Warren has every right to stack the board the board with her people, but she still has to play by the rules. And she needs to be accountable for her bad decisions, like appointing Moses who has a long history of these kind of problems. (Remember the board fiasco at the Science Charter?) During the campaign, I really came to appreciate the urgency that she brought to the discussions of education, economic dev and public safety. But in office, she is showing herself to be impulsive and without integrity. It’s unfortunate that the Rochester press corps keeps giving her a free pass on her lies, little and big.
I thought the first item on Adam’s agenda was to provide transparency on the doings of the RHA. He seems to have lost sight of his agenda. Now it seems that he wants to challenge laws, mostly I presume for a legacy.
It seems people don’t know that the RHA is a private company. So, there might be a conflict of interest or at least I would think a $140,000/yr job would be considered a 24/7 priority. Let Adam McFadden quit city council when and if he’s offered the non-interim position. But, as Christine spells out, there are other problems. She accurately tells us the big picture.
there have been a number of ethical issues since Warren became mayor. Every time I see her on the news I can’t help but think of a teenage girl playing at government. She seems to be in way over her head. I wouldn’t be totally surprised if they get her on some kind of ethics charge at some point.