Editorial: A chance to end all the stress

Wednesday, July 2, 2003 | 8:48 a.m.

Four of the five Las Vegas Housing Authority commissioners have less than a month on the job. The fifth commissioner is still in the first year of her first term. With the board members so new, the timing is right for seeking ways to relieve the anxiety and tension that have come to characterize public housing in Las Vegas.

The new board met Friday and immediately encountered Patricia Brown, a longtime housing critic. Her assessment: The mayor appoints commissioners and year after year they come and go and vote and talk, all without ever really caring about anyone who actually lives in the stark little apartments maintained with public money. Whether that's true, partly true or totally false isn't really the issue. The issue is that Brown's perception is shared by many tenants, a fact that has led Housing Authority meetings to become verbal free-for-alls.

We would like to see this new board prove the perception false. A good start was made Friday, when residents of Marble Manor objected to a proposed $160,000 expenditure for barbecue grills and recreational equipment at housing units for seniors. They questioned its priority when their children don't even have playground equipment. The board held off on the expenditure. The next few months will give the new board members time to walk through the housing areas and work with the residents on setting priorities. They need to show genuine concern for all of their 16,500 clients -- without pitting one faction against the other.

This is a tall order, one that only a new board can fill. There has never been a better time for an all-new approach to public housing in Las Vegas, one that will not require emergency audits of the books and security guards to be on duty at public meetings. We hope the opportunity is taken.