A Vendetta on Autopilot

Will Michael Nutter cross Darrell Clarke, by stopping Street's mean machine?

by Bruce Schimmel

When neighborhood organizer Haile Johnston saw a glowing report about him from the Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD) last fall, he believed his nightmare had ended. What he hadn't imagined was that John Street's legacy would have such a long and nasty tail.

Last spring, Johnston challenged Street's protégé, Councilman Darrell Clarke, in the 5th District. Johnston lost the primary, and then his East Park Revitalization Alliance group lost a $70,000 city contract to clean-and-green a couple hundred lots in his Strawberry Mansion neighborhood [Loose Canon, "Phone Home," Oct. 4, 2007].

Johnston had previously garnered high praise from Street himself, who called him the "heart and soul" of the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI). Still, Johnston's NTI contract was the only one tagged for review in the city. Clarke had gone to Joyce Wilkerson, Street's then-chief of staff, and Wilkerson reopened Johnston's contract. Because, she told me, the process wasn't sufficiently transparent and inclusive. Uh-huh.

So Johnston reapplied, and when he came across OHCD's enthusiastic evaluation (that the applicant-vetting agency had accidentally released), he believed his crew would soon be cleaning hundreds of lots, now filling with trash.

The internal OHCD report gave Johnston its highest rating, adding that his group "always takes care of additional lots and goes above and beyond the call of duty." East Park had "submitted the most comprehensive proposal," with "200 signatures from community groups."

For Johnston, this was great. But what was even sweeter was OHCD's take on his primary competitor, the Friends of East Park. OHCD was as critical of the Friends as it was kind to him. "Need additional information/history on the group," it notes. "The organization does not have a staff. The budget does not add up. They do not have enough money in the budget for workers."

Initially, one key goal of the community cleaning program was to give work to residents, and Johnston had provided good jobs for locals. But in the rebidding, these rules mysteriously changed: Now applicants could subcontract the work.

But even under rejiggered rules, OHCD found the Friends' application lacking: "The work would be done through a subcontractor but it is not clear how the subcontractor will be managed. The primary contact works full time with PGW."

Despite the OHCD report, Johnston learned around Christmas that half of the $70,000 contract would go to the Friends anyway. The Friends don't have an office, so I reached the group's president, Anthony Langford, at his full-time job at PGW. Asked how he got the contract, despite the negative comments, Langford answered, "I can't explain."

Well, let me take a stab at it. Langford's friends are Clarke's political allies. Melvin Smith, a former board member of Langford's group, works in Clarke's office. And the new home of Langford's currently homeless group will be located in the offices of the Neighborhood Advisory Committee, an agency controlled by Clarke.

Does it all make sense now? Johnson had the gall to try to knock Clarke out of power, and so it seems Street's people set in motion a machine to knock Johnston out of play. Point, game — and possibly match. Because, says OHCD, NTI made the decision in December, and then went out of existence.

Now Johnston's fate lies with the new mayor. Michael Nutter has already undone some of the dirty deals that Street left in his wake, but this one will be a toughie because Clarke has been called a Nutter ally.

And so we'll see if this mayor has the guts to do right by Johnston — and the people of Strawberry Mansion. Or if he'll simply let Street's mean machine continue to wreak its revenge.

(bruce@schimmel.com)