An uneven start to Greene's time in Phila.
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Back in 1998, Mayor Ed Rendell was determined to hire Carl Greene to run the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
But he was sufficiently concerned about a budding sexual-harassment allegation to send a team to Detroit to investigate. And he didn't send just anybody.
Rendell sent two strong women: Judith Harris, a former city solicitor, and Asia Coney, a tenant leader who vigorously opposed Greene's appointment.
During two days of interviews with Greene's subordinates at the Detroit Housing Commission, they found nothing to prevent him from taking the bigger, better-paying job in Philadelphia.
That helped clear Greene's path to becoming executive director of PHA, where he now faces a new allegation of sexual harassment.
"A lot of folks informed us his attitude would leave something to be desired, but he was very professional," Coney said last week, recalling the 1998 mission to Michigan. "We were given carte blanche to call anybody in that we wanted, and we did."
Efforts to reach Harris, now a partner at Morgan Lewis in Philadelphia, were unsuccessful.
Greene, 53, has been accused of sexual harassment by a former PHA interior designer and planner, Elizabeth Helm, who filed a complaint in April. Her attorney said Greene had made unwanted sexual advances toward Helm during a discussion about a promotion.
Last month, Wells Fargo Bank foreclosed on Greene's $615,000 home in upscale Naval Square. In December, the IRS filed a $52,000 lien for unpaid taxes on non-PHA income.
Greene, who earns more than $306,370 a year, paid his back taxes in March. Last week, he said he had paid his mortgage through October. He also announced he was taking a leave of absence.
The person most responsible for bringing Greene to Philadelphia is Rendell. As mayor and concurrent head of the PHA board, Rendell doggedly pursued the man he called "the best housing director in the nation."
Rendell persisted even as the hiring process degenerated into farce, a confusing yes-but-no drama in which Greene both accepted and rejected the job.
"I just hope he's worth it," Michael Nutter, then a city councilman, said at the time. "I've never seen such a tortured hiring process."
It concluded with a specific provision placed in Greene's three-year contract: If he were found liable of sexual harassment in Detroit, PHA could fire him - but would still have to pay the balance of his contract, then worth $160,000 a year.
"One simple reason," Rendell said last week, when asked about that clause. "When I took over as chair of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, it was perhaps the worst public-housing authority in the nation. . . . I don't think it's an understatement to say now that PHA is the best in the nation."
The transformation is due to Greene, whose work "has been stunning," Rendell said. "He has done more to improve the lives of poor Philadelphians than anyone I know."
The saga that brought Greene to Philadelphia began three days before Christmas in 1997, when the Housing Authority board met with him and three other finalists. They sought to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of John White Jr., who left to run for mayor.
On Jan. 14, 1998, Rendell announced that Greene had accepted an offer to become PHA director.
As head of the Detroit agency, Greene had driven a $300 million upgrade of what was miserable housing stock. His tenure saw the federal government remove Detroit from its "troubled" list.
But tenants here were opposed. They backed the one internal candidate, Frederick Purnell, who lost to Greene in a 3-2 board vote.
Things quickly got complicated.
Two days after Greene's hiring was announced, a lawsuit was filed in which a Detroit Housing Commission accountant accused Greene of unwanted sexual advances. Gertrude Faye Johnson said Greene repeatedly propositioned her and on some occasions grabbed her blouse, kissed her, and made sexual remarks.
Greene denied the allegations. But they fueled opposition to his appointment.
Rendell said the PHA board would investigate.
He dispatched Harris and Coney to check out the harassment allegations and those made in two other suits: that Greene required a manager to donate to the United Negro College Fund, and that he ignored complaints that one worker was sexually harassing another.
Harris led the probe, during which 17 of Greene's subordinates, from a typist to a senior manager, were interviewed. Greene was interviewed, too. No interviews were conducted with his accusers or their attorneys.
The verdict: Greene was a stern taskmaster, but not even the aides in his office suite had ever "observed him engaging in any conduct that constituted sexual harassment," Harris wrote in her report.
Last week, Coney said she did not recall the trip being aimed at investigating alleged harassment, but rather intended as an overall assessment of Greene's fitness.
At the time, she said, she felt her task "was a no-win situation."
"If I came back and reported he was good, my colleagues would be upset. If I said he wasn't good, the administration would be upset," said Coney, now director of the nonprofit Tenant Support Services Inc. "I decided I would just go and report what I saw."
Coney later came to support Greene, and she said he has done excellent work at PHA. She, Greene, PHA Commissioner Nellie Reynolds, and a PHA employee serve on TSSI's five-member governing board. The fifth board member is a PHA tenant, records show.
Coney was paid $101,170 as TSSI director, according to 2007 IRS records.
Back in 1998, after the findings of the Detroit inquiry were released, things got weird.
On Feb. 13, the mayor of Detroit issued a news release saying Greene had decided to stay.
Rendell officials said that was news to them.
The next day, a letter signed by Greene arrived by fax in Rendell's office. "I must respectfully withdraw my acceptance letter," Greene wrote. He was upset that Council voted, 12-4, to urge Rendell to reopen the search, saying that action, though symbolic, would make his service "difficult at best."
Why not just phone Greene and clear up the confusion? Rendell said Greene could not be reached.
Five days later, to settle things, Greene issued a statement: He was staying in Detroit - period. But Rendell would not quit, insisting that Greene was the person to lead PHA forward.
Rendell administration officials were hoping he'd show up on Feb. 23, his first scheduled day of work in Philadelphia. He didn't. Rendell said Greene was "undecided." Detroit officials said there was no indecision - Green wasn't leaving.
Three days later, Greene told The Inquirer that despite Rendell's impressive lobbying, he was staying in Detroit. That is, he was staying, barring a "miraculous event."
That event came to pass. And the miracle?
"The hounding of the mayor," said retired city labor leader Joseph Rauscher, then a PHA board member. "Ed can be very persuasive."
On March 2, Greene appeared at a City Hall news conference to formally accept the PHA job. He gave himself credit for having the "courage and conviction" to reverse course.
In early 2000, the Detroit harassment suit was settled on the eve of trial. Greene admitted no wrongdoing and paid no damages. The City of Detroit was required to make a payment to the plaintiff, Johnson.
"They shouldn't be surprised, but nobody listened and they still hired him anyway, so that's what they get," Johnson, a former auditor at the agency, told The Inquirer last week. She referred to the decision to hire Greene despite knowing of her lawsuit.
This week, Rendell said recent events had not changed his mind about Greene.
"It's a personal tragedy what Carl is going through," he said. "If we lose him, it's a tragedy for citizens of Philadelphia."