But still former mayor John Street, who is chairman of the PHA board, finds Greene's absence odd, that he's not answering calls or emails. And Street notes that Greene cancelled a board meeting for later this month.
"He could have had a planned vacation but it's hard to imagine that he would be unavailable from like Thursday of last week to Tuesday of this week and not be able to be reached," Street said.
Greene has been unavailable since the news broke of his financial problems. Greene earns over $306,000 a year but Wells Fargo Bank is foreclosing on the $615,000 condo he bought 3 years ago at the gated Naval Square on Grays Ferry Avenue.
He also recently settled a $52,000 tax lien.
And as for any concern that PHA may be under the scrutiny of federal agencies:
"They are constantly looking at all of our records and transactions and I don't know nor have I heard of any kind of investigation of the PHA," said Street.
Greene's mortgage problems have come as somewhat of a surprise to those who know him and credit him with revamping PHA and building some of the city's finest public housing complexes.
"I don't know anybody in the country who is any better at what he does than Mr. Greene. He is a genius and I feel that we wait until Mr. Greene is available and we go from there," said PHA commissioner Jannie Blackwell.
The mystery over Greene's whereabouts may be answered Wednesday if in fact he returns to work.
