Thursday, July 10, 2003 | 9:15 a.m.
As he prepared to tour Las Vegas Housing Authority properties this morning, recently appointed Housing Commissioner Don Davidson said he plans to remain an "effective" force in changing the tarnished image of the agency.
Just last week, Davidson offered to resign from the post in the wake of the FBI's political corruption investigation spreading to include ties between Clark County commissioners and local developers, including Canadian-based Triple Five Development Corp., of which Davidson is vice president.
"I would never do anything to embarrass Mayor Goodman," said Davidson, a Las Vegas resident of eight years who was a longtime buyer of public housing apartments and manager of Section 8 housing in Ohio. "I called him and offered to resign and he refused it.
"Some people may believe I cannot be effective (because of the government probe). I will be as good as it gets. I want to do a terrific job. I will not let anything stop me from being effective."
Davidson had lobbied for the LVHA job that pays $80 a meeting by sending an e-mail to Goodman asking if there was anything he could do to help get the agency through its crisis.
Davidson is part of a new commission established by Goodman in the wake of a recent Department of Housing and Urban Development report that found that the agency had contracting and oversight problems.
Goodman, who last month replaced four of the five LVHA board members, including two whose terms expired in June, has asked HUD for a full audit of the agency and has asked the agency to provide special training to the new board to prevent similar future problems.
Davidson said the training issue will be discussed at Friday's monthly meeting of the Las Vegas Housing Authority board.
Davidson, who attended the June 27 Housing Commission meeting via telephone hookup from Ohio just hours before attending his mother's funeral, said he set up today's tour with the other commissioners so that they can get a handle on the needs of the residents.
"Things cannot be just a piece of paper with an address on it," Davidson said. "I have to to envision it."
Davidson declined to discuss the potential FBI probe, including whether he has been questioned. He referred all inquiries to his attorney Dominic Gentile.
Gentile has told the Sun that in conversations with other attorneys that the government apparently is "investigating any developer who sought a zoning change before the County Commission over the last three or four years."
However, Gentile also has said, "The government has not said to me that it's investigating Triple Five."
Bill Marion, of Purdue Marion & Associates, the public relations firm representing developer Jim Rhodes, who wants to develop on Blue Diamond Hill, said his client has not been contacted by the FBI regarding the ongoing political corruption probe.
"Rhodes design and development has not been contacted by any federal authorities," Marion said.
Former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny has been criticized for lobbying commissioners on the proposed development restrictions that would allow Rhodes to develop homes at near Red Rock Canyon.
An official with Connell Outdoor advertising, an billboard company that has appeared before the commission in the past over advertising regulations, said the company has not been contacted by the FBI.
Dario Herrera, a former commissioner, who is also being investigated by the FBI, has been criticized for allegedly voting for regulations that benefit his wife's clients in the billboard industry.
An official from the Walters Group, Billy Walter's development company, said the company had not been contacted by the FBI. Phone calls to Kaufman & Board home builders and the Howard Hughes Corp. were not immediately returned Wednesday.
The FBI is investigating potential political corruption in Las Vegas and San Diego, related to the Galardi family, which owns strip clubs in both cities.
Gentile confirmed that Triple Five hired former County Commissioner Erin Kenny as a consultant after she lost her race for lieutenant governor last year. Kenny has been named a target in the FBI probe, along with County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and former Commissioner Dario Herrera.
As county commissioners in 2000, Kenny and former Commissioner Lance Malone backed an ill-fated neighborhood casino project by Triple Five near Flamingo Road and Grand Canyon Drive. Gentile also represents Malone. Kenny's lawyer, Frank Cremen, has declined to comment on the investigation.
Triple Five has built Boca Park at Charleston and Rampart boulevards and Village Square at Sahara Avenue and Fort Apache Road, among other commercial projects.
The biggest controversy the new housing board is expected to deal with is the HUD report that was critical of the Housing Authority's handling of five contracts from January 1999 through June 2002, including a controversial $36,000 public relations contract to Herrera in 2001.
Also, prior to the new board being installed, a burglary at the Housing Authority offices resulted in travel and finance records of board members and other agency officials being stolen from files.
The other new LVHA board members are Las Vegas Constable Robert "Bobby G" Gronauer, who is serving as temporary chairman until the new board elects a permanent leader; Federal Public Defender Franny Forsman; and Deputy Public Defender Bill Gonzalez.
Vice Chairwoman Beatrice Turner, a longtime housing activist, is the only hold-over from the old board.
The Las Vegas Housing Authority, now in its 56th year of operation, provides 6,800 units to 16,500 low-income families and seniors and operates on a $65 million budget.
Sun reporter Jace Radke contributed to this story.
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