Legislator calls West Palm Beach Housing Authority a 'ticking time bomb'

By Leon Fooksman | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Source


Calling the management of the West Palm Beach Housing Authority a "ticking human time bomb," a state representative has called for its board to be dissolved.

In addition, state Rep. Priscilla Taylor, D-West Palm Beach, asked federal housing officials last month to take charge in resolving financial, security and other problems in the public housing projects overseen by the authority. She outlined her concerns in a letter to the U.S. Housing and Urban Development in the wake of a public outcry over June's brutal gang rape at Dunbar Village.

Taylor, who represents residents at Dunbar Village and most of the city's other housing projects, said her demands followed talks in recent months with public-housing residents and community leaders who complained about leaky apartments, lack of social services and the presence of "gang lords" in Dunbar Village.


"The present board does not seem well informed, nor involved or knowledgeable to the extent that would be expected of a board with such an important mission," Taylor wrote in the Sept. 24 letter to HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson. "Recent site inspections of the development indicate that security is virtually nonexistent, that the properties [externally and internally] have been poorly managed, many boarded up, become homes for gang lords and drug dealers."

HUD has received the letter, and Taylor's issues are under review, department spokesman Donna White said.

Housing authority board chairwoman Thyra Starr said she has not seen Taylor's letter and declined to comment on the complaints.

"As a legislator, she has the responsibility to put out [her concerns] and it's her right to do so," Starr said.

Authority Executive Director Laurel Robinson could not be reached for comment Tuesday despite attempts by phone.

Taylor said she decided to reach out to HUD when the authority did not provide her with a line-item budget and learned that the authority was not promptly responding to residents' complaints. She said she also was alarmed that board members and authority staff were not "in tune" with ongoing problems at recent meetings with her and city commissioners.

"The people deserve better," Taylor said.

Authority officials have said that they are attentive to residents' complaints and that Dunbar Village's crime problems come from people who visit the complex. At least three of the four youths accused of raping the 35-year-old woman and assaulting her son have lived at Dunbar Village.

The authority has gotten mostly high scores for financial management and other categories from HUD managers in recent years, records show.

Leon Fooksman can be reached at lfooksman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6647.


For recently published stories on Dunbar Village and video reports, go to Sun-Sentinel.com/

dunbarvillage