Stu Bykofsky: Pondering Greene, and how he got in the red
WHEN PHILADELPHIA Housing Authority Executive Director Carl R. Greene returned from his mysterious weeklong peregrination, he emerged - brimming with contrition and remorse - from his burrow like Punxsutawney Phil, into the maw of waiting journalists.
WHEN PHILADELPHIA Housing Authority Executive Director Carl R. Greene returned from his mysterious weeklong peregrination, he emerged - brimming with contrition and remorse - from his burrow like Punxsutawney Phil, into the maw of waiting journalists.
In several interviews, he addressed the huge question about how a man making $306,370 a year (plus bonuses and perks) fell so far behind in his mortgage payments that his luxury condo - where he hid out during his hiatus - went into foreclosure. He hadn't been evicted. That would have been an amazing scene - Sheriff John Green evicting PHA head Carl Greene.
In 2007, Greene bought the $615,000 townhouse in the Naval Square gated community with a $400,000 mortgage. When mortgage payments stopped, Wells Fargo Bank foreclosed. Greene owes the bank $386,685.
Why did he stop paying the mortgage? Greene said the IRS lien disrupted his financial arrangements.
The IRS lien? Where did that come from?
The feds placed a $52,480 lien on his home in December for unpaid taxes on "small business/self employed" income. (That was settled in March.)
The 53-year-old Greene told the Inquirer's Jennifer Lin he had no outside income. Either the IRS made a major mistake or Greene has Charlie Rangel-type memory problems when it comes to money.
PHA Board Chairman John Street said the unmarried Greene is known for being on the job 24/7. If so, how could he find time to run an outside business?
We know he had trouble staying on top of his bills.
He told the Daily News' Catherine Lucey that "a lot of things came in and stacked up" and told KYW NewsRadio's Mike Dunn that he let "the mail pile up."
The mail would have contained default notices. Did Greene open his mail quarterly? Only on legal holidays?
Do we welcome this kind of inattentiveness in a man who controls a $347 million budget? If he screws up his own finances, can we trust him with ours?
That's for his bosses to decide, and some decisions may come at a Thursday board meeting, which Greene may or may not attend. A spokesman said Greene plans to go to a "resort" that helps people deal with stress.
Dizzyland?
In addition to his financial embarrassment, other issues came to light:
* Did he try to arm-twist money out of employees, vendors and law firms doing business with PHA?
That's improper.
* Did he sexually harass a half-dozen employees?
That's illegal.
Greene denies all charges. In fairness, informed observers say he's the best housing chief in decades, even if that just makes him the prettiest frog in the swamp. He's improved services to tenants, knocked down projects and replaced them with townhouses you'd want to live in. He has scrounged federal funds, resuscitated whole neighborhoods and made tenants responsible for the upkeep. These are all very good things.
That's why, to date, he retains Street's support.
But the financial and sexual charges are serious. Allegations of being too sexy for his shirt followed him here from his last job in Detroit.
Before hiring Greene, then-Mayor Ed Rendell sent a truth squad to the Motor City. They probably asked lawyerly questions and got acceptable answers. There was no smoking gun, and language was written into Greene's contract - uh-oh - that he was hired no matter the outcome of the sexual harassment charge against him. (It was settled out of court.)
With that in mind, Rendell should have looked Greene in the eye and said: "I understand. I really do. But when you come to work here, you've got to keep your little friend in your pants."
Maybe we're lucky to have gotten 12 years out of Greene before fresh charges emerged.
E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977. For recent columns: