Ringside: Nutter-Street showdown looms over Philadelphia Housing Authority's future

The drama surrounding Carl R. Greene has a few more twists and turns to go, but it's pretty clear how that part of the story is going to end.

Greene's days running the Philadelphia Housing Authority are over. It's just a matter of negotiating the time and terms of his departure.

Meanwhile, a much more compelling drama is shaping up between Mayor Nutter and former Mayor John F. Street. At stake is which mayor is going to chart the future of the PHA.

The tension underlying the two mayors is more compelling than Greene's pathetic sex and power scandal.

Nutter and Street are not close and come from different political factions. Street's popularity remains strong in poor and working-class black neighborhoods, while Nutter's base likes bike lanes, recycling, and shopping at Weavers Way Co-Op in Mount Airy.

Nutter was elected mayor largely on a platform that was going to clean up City Hall after the widespread corruption probe of the Street administration. But rather than moving entirely off the public stage, Street, in his final days as mayor, installed himself as chairman of PHA's board of commissioners.

As such, Street controls the PHA's five-member board and is in charge of trying to clean up and contain the fallout surrounding Greene. That also leaves Street in position to lead the search for Greene's eventual replacement.

Nutter doesn't have any direct authority over the PHA, but he does have two appointments to its board. The city controller has the other two. A fifth member is a public-housing tenant.

Nutter also has enormous power by virtue of the mayor's bully pulpit. Just asking tough questions and demanding answers in public will keep the spotlight on the PHA and its board.

Nutter sent a three-page letter to Street last week asking what the heck has been going on at the PHA. He took particular aim at the board and Street, saying the agency "may be suffering from a lack of appropriate oversight."

"I am baffled, like most Philadelphians, to learn of your contention that you as board chairman had no knowledge of the sexual-harassment cases brought against Mr. Greene," Nutter wrote.

Street dismissed the mayor's criticisms. "He's just talking," Street said. "He has to say something."

Ouch. That sounded like Mayor Street putting Councilman Nutter in short pants.

Nutter came back the following day with some strongly worded comments asking how the board could claim it didn't know about the sexual-harassment settlements against Greene and other allegations of pay-to-play that have surfaced.

This is getting interesting.

It remains to be seen whether Nutter will continue to lead, press his case, and force changes at the PHA beyond Greene's removal. Nutter's track record has not been so good when it comes to playing power politics.

During the budget crisis, he demanded that City Council members turn in their city cars, and they rebuffed him. Nutter called on the board of the Board of Revision of Taxes to resign, and they told him to pack sand. When he tried to close a handful of library branches, he was thwarted by a group of bookworms.

That doesn't bode well when it comes to taking on a master political chess player like Street. The former mayor is at his best when it comes to process, stringing things out and playing rope-a-dope.

In his letter, Nutter told Street he wanted to be kept informed of any developments at the PHA. But the current mayor shouldn't expect too many text messages from the former mayor.

If I were Nutter, I'd be on the phone to City Controller Alan Butkovitz to work together to reshape the board with independent representatives to oversee the agency.

Nutter's two PHA board appointments are currently held by Street and Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, a Street ally. Blackwell's term has expired, and Nutter could appoint someone to take her place tomorrow.

Nutter could even appoint himself to the board and then have a seat at the table with Street. But such a move would upset Blackwell and make things more difficult for Nutter with City Council.

Street is making the right moves so far as well. The PHA board suspended Greene and is doing an internal investigation. He rightly wants to give Greene his due process. But questions as to what Street and others on the board knew or didn't know about what was going on linger.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors are now on the case. In addition, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is sending an audit team to Philadelphia on Tuesday.

That gives Nutter time to figure out his next move. Rest assured, Street is already plotting his.