Do feds really have the chops to reform PHA?

    So the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has dropped the hammer on the scandal-ridden Philadelphia Housing Authority.

    It has forced out the old appointed and apparently asleep-at-the-switch board. It has named Estelle Richman, a former city and state Cabinet member with a lot of local credibility, as a part-time monitor of the basket-case authority.

    About time, some are saying.  Enough stories about sexual harassment, soaring legal bills, and belly dancers at parties paid for with the public dime.

    But as Dave Davies points out in his Off Mic blog post today, we’ve sort of seen this movie before.  And the ending the last time HUD took over PHA, in the early ’90s, was not all that appealing.   Read Dave’s stroll down memory lane, and feel encouraged to use his blog to comment on your ideas for fixing one fouled-up authority.

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