On June 19, 2006, Mayor John F. Street called a summit for two powerful players in Philadelphia real estate.
On one side was Kenny Gamble, the millionaire R&B maestro whose local nonprofit - Universal Community Homes - was a developer in the Martin Luther King Plaza public housing project in South Philadelphia.
On the other was Carl R. Greene, the head of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, who was in charge of the redevelopment.
The men were at war over four parcels of land.
Greene refused to give the land to Universal. He said Universal hadn't done any work to earn it. And if Gamble didn't like it, he could get a lawyer to negotiate buying the land.
After Street had left and the meeting had ended, Greene said, Gamble leaned toward him and said, "I don't need lawyers."
"I have friends."
Gamble's contact with one of those friends - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson - is now the focus of a federal lawsuit, as well as an investigation by the inspector general for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
PHA alleges that Jackson tried to pressure the authority to turn over to Universal - at no cost - land worth $7 million. And that when the housing authority refused, HUD retaliated.
Last year, HUD declared PHA in default of its agreement to redevelop the Martin Luther King project. Separately, it stripped the authority of any autonomy in spending $300 million in federal funds.
Greene said that would result in fewer new affordable housing units, as many as 240 layoffs, and fewer services for residents.
The dispute involves four properties: a shuttered community center; a cleared block intended for a park at 12th and Catharine Streets; and two lots where 19 market-rate houses were planned.
Greene said in an interview that Gamble wanted them all - "literally for nothing."
Gamble did not return calls seeking comment for this article.
HUD has denied undertaking any retaliation. The department has said that PHA lost its autonomy to spend "Moving to Work" funding because it did not provide enough housing for people with disabilities.
Street, who is PHA's chairman, wrote in an e-mail to The Inquirer that he was dismayed that his efforts to mediate the situation were unsuccessful.
"Now there are investigations, litigation, and so much aggravation over a situation I hoped and believed could have been resolved a long time ago," Street wrote.
A deal turns sour
