Cisneros

DEAR SECRETARY CISNEROS,Whether or not your scheduled address before the Maryland Association of Counties in Annapolis today centers on a housing controversy in the Baltimore region, that dispute will be foremost on the minds of a portion of the conference attendees.No doubt you're aware of the history: As Baltimore was imploding the high-rises that have failed as "safe, secure and decent" subsidized dwellings, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the city to break the concentration of poor blacks in the urban core.

WASHINGTON -- Officials from four of Baltimore's suburban counties yesterday urged the federal housing secretary to back away from a proposal that would allow more than 1,300 families in inner-city public housing to move to the suburbs.In their first face-to-face meeting with U.S. Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros on the issue, they said the proposal -- part of a settlement in a housing discrimination lawsuit -- could hurt the counties financially and create pockets of poverty."I told him that idealistically, his policy sounds like a good idea, but pragmatically, it just isn't going to work," Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III said after the morning meeting in Washington.

The nation's housing chief supported in principle yesterday a proposed settlement of a desegregation lawsuit that calls for shifting 1,324 families from Baltimore's public housing to better neighborhoods mostly in the suburbs.U.S. Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros described the plan as "a responsible way" to break up the nearly all-black concentrations of poor people in inner-city housing projects.He said he hopes a decision on the agreement between the Baltimore Housing Authority and the American Civil Liberties Union can be reached in the next few days.

U.S. Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros yesterday announced awards totaling $4 million to aid nine historically black colleges in reviving their surrounding neighborhoods, including a $500,000 grant to Baltimore's Coppin State College."

CHICAGO -- The entire board of the Chicago Housing Authority has resigned, dumping the nation's second-largest housing agency -- and widely considered the most troubled -- in the lap of the federal government.The Department of Housing and Urban Development will take control of the city's 40,000 public housing units at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the largest-ever federal takeover of a housing agency."As we went around the country inspecting public housing, Chicago really stands out," Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros said yesterday.

Washington. -- A cloud of gloom has settled among associates of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros. They fear that whether or not a special prosecutor finds that he tried to mislead the FBI, his political effectiveness has been irreparably compromised.Their reaction -- and ours -- should be different. It should be outrage that a case is being pursued against Henry Cisneros at all.Here is a man never accused of misusing his public offices, local or federal, for any kind of personal gain.

When he was being screened for appointment as secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Henry Cisneros told FBI agents a falsehood about his financial relationship with his former mistress. He now says it wasn't a lie -- at least not a felonious one -- and he may be right. Some lawyers in the Justice Department agree with his lawyers on that.But not telling federal officials the truth in a situation in which the truth is expected is a serious enough mistake to disqualify Mr. Cisneros from holding a position of trust in the cabinet.

WASHINGTON -- In another blow to the prestige of the Clinton administration, Attorney General Janet Reno recommended yesterday that a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate Henry G. Cisneros, the secretary of housing and urban development.Mr. Cisneros, after speaking with President Clinton, told reporters at HUD headquarters that he would "stay and fight," dispelling speculation that he would resign as HUD secretary while battling charges that he lied to FBI agents about payments he made to a former mistress.

WASHINGTON -- Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros, under investigation by the Justice Department about payments to a former lover, learns today whether Attorney General Janet Reno will seek appointment of an independent counsel.Under a federal law providing for outside investigation of alleged wrongdoing by government officials, Ms. Reno could ask a judicial panel for an independent counsel to investigate Mr. Cisneros or seek a 60-day extension to determine whether further inquiry is warranted.

After much speculation and spinning, Henry G. Cisneros has apparently saved the Department of Housing and Urban Development from extinction. He did it by promising to get rid of dozens of programs and to make radical cuts at HUD. "Many aspects of this department are simply indefensible," he said at a news conference Dec. 19 with Vice President Al Gore.It's an extraordinary conversion for Mr. Cisneros. The man who less than two years ago committed himself to "reinventing" HUD with bold new programs, now seems to be throwing his old ideas overboard.