Carl Greene and his scholarship fund: Pay to play?

COULD contractors working with the Philadelphia Housing Authority make problems go away by donating to Executive Director Carl R. Greene's scholarship fund?

According to a letter provided to the Daily News, one contractor wrote to PHA officials in January that Greene had advised the firm to donate to his scholarship fund to satisfy minority-participation guidelines on a project.

PHA spokeswoman Nichole Tillman said that contractors may choose to contribute to the fund if they have difficulty meeting minority-contracting standards. She did not immediately answer questions about how much they were asked to kick in.

Meanwhile, yesterday the five commissioners on the PHA board were preparing for an executive session tomorrow, when "decisive action" may be taken on Greene's future at the agency, according to City Controller Alan Butkovitz.

Butkovitz, who appointed two of the board members, said he expected the board to thoroughly review the accusations against Greene and take aggressive action.

"I'm hoping that there would be a suspension at this point," Butkovitz said. "A lot of the stuff you've reported is really very grave. I don't think the board should just leave things as they are."

The scholarship fund that the contractor was advised to pay into - the Carl R. Greene Achievement Scholarship Program - was set up by Tenant Support Services Inc., a nonprofit agency under contract with PHA to provide tenant services.

Managed by the Philadelphia Foundation, the scholarship fund has $15,000, according to foundation spokeswoman Betsy Anderson.

TSSI has come under fire for soliciting donations to Greene's 10-year PHA anniversary party in 2008. The requested contributions from vendors, ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, went to the scholarship fund, according to PHA officials.

TSSI has not responded to requests for information on how it spends its money. PHA yesterday did not answer questions about how many students have received scholarships.

Zack Stalberg, president of the watchdog group Committee of Seventy, questioned the fund yesterday.

"Based on what we already know, the fund is tied a little bit too closely to the day-to-day operations of the housing authority," Stalberg said.

PHA also is being audited by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of the Inspector General, which is looking at PHA's use of stimulus funding to improve the city's scattered-site housing.

"Based on the results of the survey, we will determine if further audit work is needed," wrote John Buck, HUD's regional inspector general for audit, in an April letter to Greene.

Auditors in April asked PHA for a host of information, including names, salaries, fringe benefits and the first five digits of social-security numbers for all PHA employees who have worked there since April 1, 2008.

They asked for board-approved minutes from the meetings of the board of commissioners from July to September 2008 and July 2009 to March 2010. They also requested access to the PHA computer system, bank statements, canceled checks, bank reconciliations and tenant files.

Michael Zerega, HUD spokesman, said HUD conducts audits periodically. He couldn't say what, if anything, triggered this audit, but he said the city has the "largest number of scattered sites in the country." Zerega said he didn't know when the audit would be complete. He would not confirm or deny that HUD is conducting any type of separate investigation into PHA.

PHA is managing more than $280 million in development projects, ranging from small fence installation to major construction, according to a PHA report.

Another federal audit of PHA completed last month concluded that some of PHA's Section 8 housing doesn't meet required HUD quality standards. Of 67 sampled units, 62 failed HUD standards, according to the report.

PHA is the largest landlord in the state, housing more than 70,000 people and employing nearly 3,000 workers. The authority has an annual budget of $350 million, the bulk of which comes from HUD.