---------- Darrell's letter sent 12/6/10 --------------
Dear Peekskill City Council Members,
Mr. Harold Phipps, current Director of the Peekskill Housing Authority (PHA), has again sought to disenfranchise the of the Housing Authority. I strongly urge you to intervene.
A group of tenants, some you know as being very critical of Harold Phipps, decided to seek a seat on the PHA Board in the spirit of democracy and give substance to their voices. When residents inquired about any upcoming openings for tenant commissioners they found out that the seat currently occupied by Mr. Holmes, who is a huge and open supporter of Mr. Phipps, is coming open and he intends to run for re-election.
Denise Davis, a resident for over 30 years, asked the housing office what the deadline was to hand in petitions to meet eligibility requirements and was informed the deadline was that very same day. The PHA neglected to publicly post this deadline or otherwise give notice of it to the tenants. Ms. Davis proceeded to obtain 60 signatures on her petition (only 50 were required) and submitted it to the Housing Authority office prior to close of business that day, which can be validated by PHA’s own date/time stamp.
This past Saturday, Ms. Davis received a letter from the Housing Authority saying her petition will not be accepted because she has a complaint pending and rent due, both issues that she challenged publicly weeks ago. In fact, the rent issue was partly a mistake on the PHA's part.
Prior to Ms. Davis being told she is ineligible, an attorney who is now assisting the Committee for Justice and some of the tenants, including Ms. Davis, repeatedly tried to contact Mr. Phipps, Mr. Florence (the PHA attorney), Mr. Holmes (Chairman of the PHA Board) and the PHA "office" in an attempt to obtain written rules, policies or regulations. To date, our attorney has been given nothing.
It is clear the Housing Authority is purposely keeping the tenants in the dark regarding their rights and undermining the tenants’ right for representation. The election is this coming Tuesday, December 7, 2010. You have an obligation to insist that the residents’ rights be protected.
To that end, given that the PHA has not given proper notice to the tenants of either (a) election procedures, (b) eligibility requirements or (c) dates of nominations or elections, which is required by HUD, and given the fact that the PHA , including its Board and Executive Director has shown itself to be disconnected from the tenants, I implore you City Council and Mayor, to join us in demanding that the election be rescheduled, that reasonable and proper notice be given, and that a third party, perhaps the Justice Department, be brought in to oversee the election.
At some point this Council is going to have to move beyond calls for patience. What we need is a clear message from you that the people's rights will not be trampled on. You have a responsibility to do this.
Sincerely,
Darrell Davis
Committee for Justice
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