Controversial ex-housing authority chief Sartini dies

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004 | 11:26 a.m.

Arthur D. Sartini, who as executive director of the Las Vegas Housing Authority for 17 years won acclaim for building hundreds of apartments for the poor yet drew allegations of rent-gouging, nepotism and insensitivity, died Tuesday at his Las Vegas home. He was 67.

The cause was cancer, a family friend said. The Clark County Coroner today said Sartini died under hospice care shortly after 5 p.m. Services for the Las Vegas resident of 40 years are pending.

"He was a visionary who ran the housing authority like a business," said former Las Vegas Mayor Ron Lurie, a longtime friend. "Under Art's leadership, the housing authority became a model agency, where members of other housing agencies came here to see the decent low-income housing that was provided."

Sartini was associated with the housing authority from 1966 until his departure in November 1989, when he accepted a separation package. He had been suspended by the board in the wake of a 1988 audit by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that found several problems with the agency.

Among them was that the housing authority charged tenants -- many who made less than $4,500 a year -- $15 a month for rent on the stoves and refrigerators in their apartments between 1982 and 1988.

Sartini and others had maintained that some tenants were damaging the appliances and that the money collected would discourage abuse and pay to repair them.

Lurie said the money also paid for security for tenants and provided scholarship funds for the children of poor public housing residents. "These were things HUD should have been providing money for. HUD should have taken a page out of Art Sartini's book to better utilize funds," Lurie said.

Instead, HUD found that the imaginative way of bringing in revenue was a violation of federal policy and ordered the housing authority to reimburse tenants. An out-of-court settlement returned $350,000 to the tenants for the stove and rent fees.

Tenants also had claimed they were overcharged $2.5 million in rent, which HUD also ordered to be repaid.

The charges and comments Sartini made brought criticism that he was insensitive to tenants' needs, which he denied.

"We are housing the poor," Sartini told the Sun in 1987, noting that average rent for a family was $110. "The media is trying to portray us as not catering to poor people, but we are."

Sartini also maintained that HUD had conflicting rules and used its auditing powers to shift the blame for problems onto local housing authorities.

But many of Sartini's problems were of his own doing.

In March 1988 the Clark County district attorney's office decided against prosecuting him for nepotism for putting several family members on the housing authority payroll.

Sartini also was not disciplined for his ownership of federally financed senior citizen centers in rural Nevada and Utah. He said he purchased the units in the 1970s because the housing was badly needed for the poor and that he saw an opportunity to make money.

Despite the appearance of conflict, there was no law to prevent him from making an investment in public housing overseen by other housing agencies. In fact he was considered highly qualified based on his years of running the housing authority.

In the year following Sartini's departure more serious allegations came to light. Housing authority records showed that Sartini used his agency-issued credit card to spend $16,000 on expensive dinners, personal luxuries and trappings for his car.

Sartini maintained he reimbursed the agency for personal items purchased on his agency credit card.

In addition, subsequent directors found housing authority money had been invested in penny stocks and in junk bonds, which was permitted. Tens of thousands of dollars reportedly were lost in the risky ventures.

Despite his problems Sartini also had a long list of awards and accomplishments that dwarfed those of any local housing director before or since.

Between 1969 and 1989 he oversaw the construction of 1,680 units and 14 housing authority complexes, including Aida Brents Gardens and Sartini Plaza, named for him.

Building those units not only provided much needed housing for seniors and poor families but also pumped nearly $85 million into the Las Vegas economy, including nearly $52 million in federal funds. An additional 568 units were built without taxpayer dollars, including the Robert J. Gordon Plaza and James M. Jones Gardens.

Sartini's tenure also provided 670 Section 8 vouchers, allowing the poor to reside in private residences throughout the city.

Also under Sartini, Freedom Park was built by the agency and donated to the city of Las Vegas, the Howard W. Cannon Center for Senior Services was built, a sophisticated computer system was installed and computer assistance was provided to 35 other housing authorities in nine states.

During Sartini's tenure the agency also helped construct eight community youth centers for Project Youth, group homes for the mentally disabled and a day care center for the National Association of Latin Americans.

Sartini and the housing authority also received several awards recognizing the agency for quality housing.

Born Dec. 5, 1936, in Stockton, Calif., Sartini earned an associate of arts degree from San Joaquin Delta College (Calif.) and served in the Army.

He is survived by his wife, June Sartini of Las Vegas; a son, Blake Sartini of Las Vegas; a daughter, Julie Sartini of Panaca; a sister, Diane Hackett of Thornton, Calif., three grandchildren, Blake Sartini II, Lorenzo Sartini and Sandra Sartini, all of Las Vegas.