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Four weeks into her tenure as head of Philadelphia's Commission on Human Relations, the elfin activist is swinging a heavy hammer in her mission to revitalize the beleaguered city agency, which investigates discrimination complaints.
Eight of nine appointed commissioners will be replaced this week by Landau's handpicked candidates, confirms Douglas Oliver, Mayor Nutter's chief spokesman. As per Nutter's mandate, the Rev. James S. Allen Sr. will remain chairman.
Even for a woman with self-described "brass ovaries," it's a gutsy move.
"I've been told I have a very loud bark for my small size," says Landau, 39, a cat owner. "My personality is larger than my outside container."
No container could contain her. A staff attorney in Community Legal Services' Housing Unit for 10 years, Landau juggled 70 cases at a time, fighting for low-income tenants facing eviction. She usually won.
"Rue is an amazing person. Her talents need to be shared with the city," says Nadia Hewka, 40, a CLS staff lawyer and friend. Landau's weakness, Hewka adds, is that she takes on too many projects. "She works too fast, and sometimes things fall through the cracks."
In a break in protocol, Landau last winter spent two days cleaning the cluttered apartment of a tenant with a hoarding problem because it had become a fire hazard. Why? "She was desperate. It seemed like a doable task."
Is cleaning the commission clutter a doable task?
Created in 1951 to mediate community disputes and enforce civil-rights laws, the agency has been on a downslide for years due to dramatic reductions in staff and budget, internal dissension, and weak leadership.
Morale is so low that 23-year commission spokesman Jack Fingerman describes the executive director's job as "trying to coach the Bad News Bears."
Landau has a $2.1 million budget and crew of 33, down from a high of 50-plus in 1988. Because there is no staff attorney, the city's overloaded law department must prosecute cases, resulting in long delays. Office computers are outdated. The photocopier and shredder can't be used at the same time.
"It's pretty frustrating," says Landau, a Temple Law School graduate, whose $93,000 salary is a 50 percent bump from her previous paycheck.
"Government bureaucracy is slow. It's inefficient. The law department is overwhelmed. There are a lot of things the agency can do that it's not doing now."
Naming new commissioners is a start. The current members "aren't active in the community and don't take the job seriously," Landau says. "My people will."
Allen, pastor of Vine Memorial Baptist Church in West Philadelphia and a 22-year commission appointee, acknowledges that the agency "has been through a fluctuating time. I'm certain there's room for improvement. I hope this is the beginning of that improvement."
Vice chairman Burt Siegel, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, labels the commission's performance as "a mixed bag. Attendance at [monthly] meetings has been sporadic, no question about that."
Siegel, appointed 16 years ago, isn't surprised at his departure. "We serve at the pleasure of the mayor," he says. "It probably makes a lot of sense to let people go rather than keeping them on forever."
Allen says he's "honored" by his retention. "It says something about how Mayor Nutter feels about me, I guess. Maybe I should work a little bit harder to justify that."
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