Atlanta Housing Authority commissioners investigated

By Jeremiah McWilliams

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An investigation of two Atlanta Housing Authority commissioners has determined that they made hostile and offensive comments to agency employees late last year, according to an 18-page report that a local law firm representing the agency has sent to Mayor Kasim Reed.

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Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com An investiagtion found Atlanta Housing Authority commissioner James Allen, Jr. made hostile and offensive comments to agency employees.

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Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com An investiagtion found Atlanta Housing Authority commissioner Wayne Jones made hostile and offensive comments to agency employees.

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The Dec. 9 letter advised the mayor that the housing authority, one of the largest agencies in the city, could be held liable for possible violations of state and federal law because of racially derogatory and sexually charged comments that AHA employees allege were made by Commissioners James Allen Jr. and Wayne Jones. Both men are Reed appointees.

It is not clear whether the mayor has intervened in the situation in the two months since.

Neither commissioner could be reached for comment Friday, and the housing authority declined to comment.

"The mayor has seen the report," spokeswoman Sonji Jacobs told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. "He is still in the process of reviewing it and will take action shortly."

The report on the investigation, written by attorney Jennifer Keaton of One Mediation, stemmed from complaints by AHA employees after Allen and Jones visited the agency's offices Nov. 4.

During that visit, Allen is alleged to have told one employee that, "back in my day, it would have been nothing for me to take my .357 and pistol-whip the [expletive] out of" an AHA executive Allen disliked.

The report says Jones saw Allen watching a female employee and said, "I don't know what you're looking at that for -- you can't do anything with her."

The report says Allen pulled cash from his pocket and suggested to Jones that he could pay to keep the employee happy. As he was leaving the lobby, Allen assured two AHA employees that they didn't have to worry about losing their jobs in an expected shakeup of management, but those "upstairs" did have to worry. Allen, who is an African-American, allegedly used a racial slur twice during the visit.

In November, the housing authority was going through a public split between its longtime chief executive, Renee Glover, and Reed's appointees to the board. Glover said she would be willing to leave her post, although she has not yet done so.

The investigation did not name the employees who complained about Jones' and Allen's comments.

The report was also sent in December to officials at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provides much of the AHA's funding.

"The AHA is legally obligated to take any and all steps reasonably within its power to see that appropriate corrective and remedial action is taken to ensure that there is no recurrence of the conduct at issue," the law firm of Elarbee Thompson wrote in its letter to Reed.

Allen did not participate in the investigation, which came to light this week through an open records request by Channel 2 Action News.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Richard Belcher contributed to this article.