City moves closer to local control of PHA

THE CITY is inching closer to regaining control of the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

Mayor Nutter on Thursday submitted a list of nine nominees to City Council for the PHA board of commissioners.

The U.S. Housing and Urban Development pushed out the members of the former board and took over in March 2011 after former Executive Director Carl Greene was fired following sexual-harassment allegations.

Nutter began pushing to reclaim local control of PHA and in July the state Legislature approved a bill that allows the mayor to select a nine-member board with Council approval.

In the past, two commissioners were appointed by the mayor, another two by the city controller and a fifth by the commissioners. The new board will likely be approved by Dec. 13.

The nominees are: Joan Markman, city chief integrity officer; Lynette Brown-Sow, vice president of marketing and communications for Community College of Philadelphia; Nelson Diaz, a former city solicitor, Common Pleas judge and general counsel for HUD; Kenneth Murphy, partner at the law firm Drinker Biddle; Herbert Wetzel, former RDA executive director who serves as Council's housing expert; Rev. Dr. Leslie Callahan, pastor of St. Paul's Baptist Church in North Philadelphia; Rev. Bonnie Camarda, director of partnerships for the Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia; and PHA tenants Shellie Jackson and Vernell Tate.