Street says he won’t leave PHA board

Philadelphia’s Housing Authority Board is meeting today.  The board is down one member and the rest have been asked to resign.

 “I have no plans to resign,” said board chairman and former mayor John Street.  Street says even if the entire board quit as requested by federal department of Housing and Urban Development, there could still be problems at the troubled housing agency.

“We are fiduciaries and we have a real responsibility here I haven’t even heard anybody begin to speculate on what would happen if we were to all of a sudden all resign,” said Street.

 Street calls it a political issue down in Washington revolving around the troubled past of PHA’s former executive director.

 “It’s a political problem that is in part caused by Carl Greene and the belly dancers and the Tumi bags and the Republicans are taking advantage of it and they are questioning HUD funding and the department is justifiably worried about it,” said Street.

 Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell resigned her spot on the board earlier this week.