Also this issue: Shoot To Kill? Law enforcement is increasingly wary of photographers. -Daniel Brook Off the Mapp Construction at 30th Street Station is killing newsstand owner Randy Mapp’s business. -Daryl Gale Casino Royale Of bikers and bosses, betting and brawling. -Brendan McGarvey Old News At-Large Gripe -Mary F. Patel The Bell Curve City Paper's weekly gauge of Philly's Quality of Life

February 27-March 5, 2003

city beat

Charles In Charge

Though he’s been ousted from a Grays Ferry neighborhood group, Charles Reeves is still stirring it up.

by Jenn Carbin

Grays Ferry is undergoing all kinds of changes.

The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) is re-imagining, razing and rebuilding Tasker Homes at a scheduled cost of $160 million.

In December, the Committee of Concerned Citizens (CCC) voted out Charles Reeves, a controversial leader and longtime resident who has since resurrected the Resident Action Committee.

Since Reeves' departure, the CCC hasn't lost momentum, securing "Maintenance Blitz" funds to revamp Vare Recreation Center.

Jim Helman, CCC administrative coordinator, says, in fact, "One of the strange results of the change in leadership is that a number of city agencies and groups now want to share resources and information with us."

Indeed, half a dozen neighborhood groups, including longstanding CCC nemesis, the city-funded Grays Ferry Community Council (GFCC), have formed a coalition of sorts to deal with neighborhood transformation. So far, the Resident Action Committee is not among them.

Moreover, it seems that with transformation deals looming, rebuilding to start in earnest at Tasker Homes and Universal Company interested in Audenreid High School, powers that be are courting the coalition.

The CCC can't, however, get a meeting with PHA, despite a letter-writing campaign that commenced this past fall.

Wait a minute -- nonsense, says PHA, there have been two meetings. The confusion? Reeves, it seems, is at the heart of it.

Helman expresses concern that, despite embarking on an ambitious plan for Tasker Homes that will require the support of the surrounding community, PHA is mishandling and tainting its relations with the neighborhood.

He says, "We have consulted with an attorney. We will challenge PHA if they are not responsive to our entire community."

Helman credits the breakdown to PHA's reliance on Asia Coney, who is both director of Tenant Support Services, Inc. and president of Tasker Homes Tenant Council. Though not an employee of PHA, she serves as a community liaison for the agency.

It all started this past fall, when the CCC wrote to City Council President Anna Verna, expressing concern that Grays Ferry residents were not being included in discussions allegedly taking place between PHA and the School District, presumably on the fate of Audenreid.

Verna intervened, asking the School District and PHA to respond to the CCC's concerns. The School District did, in January.

PHA representatives say they did too, in December.

In a letter to the CCC dated Feb. 11, PHA Assistant Executive Director Jemine Bryon disavows any PHA involvement in Audenreid's fate. What's more, she refers to two December meetings with the CCC, the first involving Coney and PHA Executive Director Carl Greene. The second was a meeting "held specifically for the [CCC] on Dec. 16, at Audenreid High School."

Bryon further notes that fliers were distributed announcing that meeting, "yet only two people from the community showed up."

Helman says, however, "None of the members of the Committee of Concerned Citizens had any knowledge" of that meeting, and that they "have not met anyone in the community who got a flier."

Members of the GFCC, including Vice President Bob Gormley, also say they didn't see any fliers.

How is this possible?

Coney, when dispatched to alleviate the CCC's concerns, reached out to Charles Reeves. He and a handful of people attended the first meeting, she says.

According to Helman, however, Reeves never informed the others in the CCC of the meeting with Greene. Between the Dec. 5 meeting and that of Dec. 16, Reeves was voted out of the organization. Helman suggests that Reeves, in an act of revenge, neglected both informing the group of the Audenreid meeting and distributing the fliers, in an attempt to embarrass CCC members.

PHA spokesperson Kirk Dorn confirms that fliers were entrusted to the individuals, led by Reeves, who met with Greene.

According to Reeves, who is the community outreach coordinator for the Department of Recreation at Audenreid, he left the group by the time of the meeting with Greene, and didn't owe them information. "Why would I tell them? I left six or seven months before that," he says.

Of course, PHA seems to be under the impression that the meetings were with the CCC, not simply Reeves, and not with his Resident Action Committee.

Helman maintains Reeves did not unofficially resign prior to being voted out.

Coney says she set up the meeting between Reeves and Greene. "Charles Reeves had worked with me for 20-some years. The fact of the matter is I reached out to Charles Reeves as I've always done."

Coney was personally involved with Reeves for years. She says that relationship ended two or so years ago, and that she did Reeves no favors.

But, she says, she'll continue to reach out simply to Reeves. "From what I've always known, Jim Helman's area is recreation issues."

Helman says there are large implications attached to such perceived roles. "Ms. Coney communicates only with Charles Reeves, giving him authority out of all proportion to his status in our community. He has no working dialogue with any of the six Grays Ferry organizations."

What will PHA do? Dorn says, "We will be more than happy to meet with the [CCC] again if that's what they want."