Problems at the West Palm Beach Housing and Community Development Department, ranging from alleged corruption to rampant mismanagement, stretch back years. So when Mayor Jeri Muoio abruptly fired Pembroke Pines consultant Community Redevelopment Associates on Wednesday, the news landed with a thud.
It shouldn’t be this way. But it is, and it needs to change.
Before CRA (no connection to the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency) was brought in two years ago to replace and fix the perennially troubled department, its directors had been lasting about two years on average. They almost always seemed to be either struggling with or trying to skirt U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations.