A second top manager of Baltimore's troubled public housing operation has resigned, city officials said yesterday.
Michael Kramer, who oversaw the day-to-day operation of the Section 8 program and supervised a staff of about 200, quit abruptly and left his job last week, according to spokesman Melvin Edwards. Kramer could not be reached for comment.
During his two years here, Kramer was known for his volatile temper and brusque behavior. But even his critics acknowledged that he did his best to turn around the housing authority's subsidy program for about 12,000 low-income renters.
When Housing Commissioner Paul T. Graziano brought Kramer here, that program, known as Section 8, was in such disarray federal officials described it as "barely functional."
Most recordkeeping was done by hand because the housing office did not have computers or they did not work; consequently, rent payments to private-sector landlords were often months in arrears.
Things were so bad that late last year the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development threatened to take over the subsidized rental program unless it came up to standards by the end of this month.
Neither Philip Tamburrino, the federal agency's local director of public housing programs, nor his deputies were available for comment yesterday. But Edwards said monthly reviews had shown steady improvement in the Section 8 program's administration under Kramer.
Four weeks ago, Lyle Schumann, the housing authority's deputy executive director, quit to take a similar job in St. Paul, Minn. Schumann's successor, Jemine Byron, who was previously with the Philadelphia Housing Authority, is to start here next week, Edwards said.
