By Mary Hladky
City Council members are considering increasing the number of Boca Raton Housing Authority board members to give more residents a say in how the agency operates.
The possible council action comes as residents of the Dixie Manor public housing complex, located near the historic Pearl City neighborhood, are worried that the Housing Authority will make changes that could push them out of their apartments.
The council discussion arose after three people submitted applications to serve on the Housing Authority board. The board sometimes has struggled to fill vacancies that drew little public interest.
But that changed as word circulated that the authority is considering removing Dixie Manor from the federal public housing program with the intent of gaining access to financing that would allow it to improve Dixie Manor and add more low-income housing.
That sparked fears the board would take action that could leave Dixie Manor residents without affordable housing.
Many current or former residents turned out for City Council meetings on Nov. 8 and 9 to urge that Dixie Manor tenants be protected as council members decided who should serve on the five-member Housing Authority board.
Among them was Reggie Cox, a Delray Beach architect, former chair of that city’s Community Redevelopment Agency and a former Dixie Manor resident who urged “development without displacement.”
Council members selected Lanette Wright, who served in the U.S. Marines for 30 years before retiring in 2019 and returning to a home in Lincoln Court near Pearl City. She has since become involved in many community efforts.
“I knew I had the time and capacity to sit on the board. I like service,” Wright said in an interview. “I thought it would be good to have someone closer to the neighborhood be part of the board.”
She fills the board seat held by Carol Wolfe, whose term expired in November but who sought reappointment.
Also applying were Charles Graves, a retired Florida Atlantic University urban planning professor who has served as director of planning and community development in Baltimore, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati and has secured grants to document Pearl City’s history, and George Love, a licensed acupuncturist whose résumé states he is also a doctor of oriental medicine.
Wright and Graves favor expanding the board, possibly to seven members.
“I think it is a good thing,” Wright said. “It brings in more experience, more ideas and more perspectives.”
Expansion was suggested by Angela McDonald, a Housing Authority board member who lives in Dixie Manor and who has been helping tenants organize.
Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke seized on the idea, saying it was difficult to select only one of the applicants to serve on the board. Council members Monica Mayotte and Yvette Drucker also supported expansion.
City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser said she believes the City Council has the authority to make the change but will research the matter.
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