Council Members Upset Over Bloomberg Pick to Head Housing Authority

Six months after New York City Housing Authority chairman Tino Hernandez said he was leaving, Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday afternoon announced his replacement, John Rhea, an executive at Barclays. The appointment immediately drew criticism from many in the City Council.
It came because Rhea has no experience in housing. A few hours after his appointment was announced in City Hall, multiple Council members sent out statements denouncing the pick.
Councilwoman Letitia James said that Rhea was the wrong man for the job, both on account of his inexperience in the housing field and his background on Wall Street.
“The appointment of an African-American man,” she said in a statement, “who has no experience in managing a low-income public housing authority of this size and scale, and whose experience may be limited to private equity financing is troubling, and should not serve as a substitute or a panacea for the lack of diversity at City Hall.