Public Housing

Talk to some of the old-timers along Annapolis' historic Clay Street, and they'll say the neighborhood has seen its ups and downs: Once a vibrant African-American enclave, replete with black-owned businesses, the neighborhood struggled in the wake of civil rights-era rioting and the crack epidemic. The area is changing again, with a $24 million revitalization of the city's two oldest public-housing complexes, Obery Court and College Creek Terrace. The structures are being torn down and rebuilt with the help of a private developer.

For the past two decades, many in Maryland have worked tirelessly to eliminate lead poisoning and to protect our most vulnerable children and families. It has required a lot of heavy lifting - organizing and educating parents, children and homeowners, strengthening enforcement standards and compelling property owners to become partners in primary prevention. Through all of this, Maryland has been blessed with great public sector leadership that understood that by eliminating the tragic and costly impact of lead on our children, schools, juvenile justice system and communities, we would all reap great benefits.

Baltimore Housing Commissioner Paul T. Graziano defended the city's public housing authority Friday, a day after a U.S. senator began an inquiry into what he termed "a wide range of allegations, including possible conflicts of interest, fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayers' monies. " Graziano said in a statement that "there have been a number of unfair accusations made against" the Housing Authority of Baltimore City. "We are confident that there has been no wrongdoing," he said. Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican and one of the Senate's most active watchdogs, sent a letter Thursday to federal Housing Secretary Shaun S. Donovan requesting reams of documents.

One of the U.S. Senate's most aggressive watchdogs said Thursday he has begun an inquiry into Baltimore's public housing agency, after receiving calls and emails concerning "a wide range of allegations, including possible conflicts of interest, fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayers' monies. " Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, ranking Republican member of the Judiciary Committee, requested reams of documents from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees housing authorities around the country and steers millions of dollars a year to Baltimore.

State Sen. James Brochin suggested Wednesday that a surcharge could be used to help the Housing Authority of Baltimore City pay nearly $12 million in court-ordered judgments that it owes former public housing tenants who suffered lead-paint poisoning years ago as children. Brochin, a Towson Democrat, made the comments the same day he wrote a scathing letter to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake decrying the authority's refusal to pay the judgments because of a lack of funds. He urged the mayor and Housing Commissioner Paul T. Graziano to rethink their position.

Paul T. Graziano looked for all the world like a short-timer. Just weeks into his new job as Baltimore's housing commissioner, he was arrested at a Fells Point bar after a drunken tirade laced with anti-gay slurs. That was more than 10 years ago. He's still in the job. Now on his third mayor, he has outlasted three police commissioners and numerous agency heads to become the city's longest-serving housing chief. It's a powerful perch. He oversees not only public housing, but everything from the rebirth of onetime slums such as the Uplands apartments in West Baltimore to code enforcement complaints in wealthy areas like Roland Park.

The chairman of a City Council committee says he will ask federal officials to push Baltimore's public housing agency to pay a six-figure judgment for lead-paint poisoning, saying the agency had effectively stuck its tongue out by refusing to budge on the issue. The dispute is the latest development in a story that came to light in April, when housing authority executive director Paul T. Graziano said the cash-strapped agency could not, and would not, pay nearly $12 million in court-ordered lead poisoning judgments against it. Councilman James B. Kraft said Thursday that he was "very dissatisfied" with Graziano's refusal to seek federal approval to pay one judgment in particular — a $200,000 consent judgment involving a former public housing resident named Daron E. Goods.

The public housing unit Susan Batchelor shares with her teenage daughter on a blighted East Baltimore block has new kitchen cabinets, modern appliances and central air. After years on a waiting list, Batchelor is delighted with the renovated two-bedroom apartment she now calls home. "I love it, I really do," she says. A widow who works as a teacher's assistant, she also loves her low rent: $475 a month, utilities included. But whether it's such a bargain for taxpayers is debatable.

The chairman of a City Council committee told Baltimore's housing authority Tuesday to take immediate steps toward paying a former public housing resident who suffered lead poisoning — just one in a looming tidal wave of legal claims that the authority warns could eventually total hundreds of millions of dollars. "You're just lying to them," Councilman James B. Kraft said to housing authority chief Paul T. Graziano after hearing how the authority has refused to pay a $200,000 settlement it reached with Daron Goods.

The Annapolis Public Housing Authority's board will vote Thursday on a plan to ban some window air conditioning units in three of the city's housing complexes in order to comply with federal and local safety standards — a proposal that many residents are rallying against. Carl Snowden, chairman of the board, said he plans to vote for the ban, which would affect about 344 apartments in Robinwood, Newtowne 20 and Eastport Terrace, because the units pose a serious safety issue. Snowden said the city fire marshall and federal housing policy requires at least two emergency exits in the case of a fire or other emergency.