Questions Raised Regarding Process, Motives and Role of Executive Director, National Counsel, and HUD

The removal of four Commissioners of the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority (NRMHA) by the former City Manager brought an uproar from community members during the public portion of the Tuesday, Feb. 14 City Council meeting.

Of primary concern is the future of Peter Bracey Houses, the last true public housing left in New Rochelle. The dismissed board members were preparing to adopt a redevelopment plan for Bracey that included more low-income and workforce housing, community services and ownership opportunities for residents. With the removal of the four commissioners, the future of Bracey, which is home to 100 families, remains uncertain.

“Where am I going to go in these buildings that you are building here,” asked long-time Bracey resident Stephanie Bartee. “What’s going to happen to me and my family? Nobody here is thinking about the little people. It’s not fair.”

Angelique Murphy, another Bracey resident, told Council Members, “You guys are making plans on a place where you’re not looking at the face of the people involved in that place. Well, this is a face. I live there. I’m a person, a real person, a dedicated 50-year member of the city. I raised my children here…. We’re not going to keep being pushed over and pushed aside. … We want answers and we want them now…. You guys can knock on the door real quick and dandy at [public] housing when you want a vote, but you can’t do what you promised. Live up to your promises.”

Bracey residents were joined by a number of supportive community members who raised numerous questions, none of which were addressed by the Mayor or Council Members.

“If the City Manager dismissed the Board based upon HUD’s claim of improper or insufficient oversight, then how does the City justify appointing new Board members who are directly connected to the Executive Director through the African American Advisory Committee, of which the Executive Director is the president?” asked Derick Roberts. 

“Why did Attorney, Michael Syme publicly state at last month’s Citizens to Be Heard that the Board refused to take the required HUD training when HUD noted on the Recovery Agreement that the Board had completed the training?  How much was Michael Syme paid for such a trip from Pittsburgh to make a false statement? … Why is Attorney Michael Syme constantly appearing on behalf of the Housing Authority when he is the national counsel for the Housing Authority and not local counsel?  He was hired as national counsel for re-development, which has not started yet,” stated Afua Afriye-Fullwood. 

Other residents read a letter addressed to the City Manager by nationally recognized public housing expert Jim Stockard that stated, in part, “Just when a board is seizing the initiative to turn their agency around and deal with the current condition of one of their properties largely caused by the US Congress’ failure to adequately fund the agency (and, frankly, by HUD’s failure to fight hard enough for reasonable funding), HUD pulls the rug out from under the agency. This all sounds very much like a strategy that is motivated by a hidden agenda – and one that is not related to the mission of a public housing agency. … If, indeed, the reasons behind this very unusual act by HUD and now by your predecessor, are about Peter Bracey and the desire for that land to be turned over to some third party for development purposes, then such action is, in my mind, highly irresponsible.”

Speaking about the newly appointed commissioners who replaced those who were dismissed, Myriam Decime said, “Now you got a bunch of new people … [who] have no training. They couldn’t even conduct the meeting. So once again, we’re paying this lawyer out of Pennsylvania to conduct the board meeting. … You don’t have anybody who knows how to run it.”

Jeff Apotheker addressed the disrespectful process used to dismiss the commissioners. “What did this communicate to our community about how the city treats and views its volunteers?” he asked, continuing, “Tonight, in response to the shameful process used to terminate our housing board volunteers, I offer the City Manager, Mayor and Council Persons this PIP (Performance Improvement Plan). Number one, review the city’s code of conduct and ethics describing how city staff and elected officials should treat one another, including our volunteers; two, review, revise and/or create the policy and procedure for managing volunteers; three, reinstate [the dismissed commissioners] to the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority Board of Directors. This will allow them to engage in meaningful discussion with the city so as to come to a decision regarding their continued service.  Four, and finally, the City Manager, Mayor and Council Persons should issue an apology to these volunteers and to our entire community and announce the corrective actions you are taking to reduce the future probability of terminating volunteers in a similar manner.”

Highlighting the history of Black New Rochelle residents being dispossessed of their property, Brian Carter told his story, “I’m a 7^th generation New Rochellean. My family is in the 1850 census as free people. One of the 13 indigenous Black families in this city.  … My great-great-great grandfather, Mr. William Henry Carter, was in that census as a free person. … [He] got here through the Underground Railroad. He became a property owner, he owned four houses. He was wealthy. … All of his houses were taken through eminent domain [in Pugsley Hollow]. Since then, my grandfather Sivan R. Mullings had two houses, [on] Rochelle Place and Guion Place, both taken by eminent domain [to build Memorial Highway to nowhere]….  Something’s wrong!”