Local
D.C. real estate board member quits, blasts Fenty appointee
By: Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer
February 5, 2009
A member of D.C.’s powerful real estate board has resigned in protest, claiming the board is becoming too politicized.
In a letter addressed to Mayor Adrian Fenty and Council Chairman Vincent Gray, Lawrence Smith said he could no longer serve on the board because Fenty’s appointee, Towanda Paul-Bryant, “seems bent on precipitating its destruction.”
About one-quarter of the city’s total tax base comes from real estate taxes, and the Board of Real Property Assessments and Appeals is responsible for handling appeals on about $5 billion worth of property every year. Smith, a transactions lawyer who has served on the board for six years, said Paul-Bryant wasn’t equal to the task.
“She is inexperienced in the process, does not seem to appreciate the legal implications of specific decisions, lacks background in the valuation processes, exhibits no understanding of evaluation criteria, lacks leadership experience and abilities, is unable to bring the members together to effectively and consistently facilitate the caseload, and demonstrates a lack of respect for the process in general and for her colleagues,” Smith said in the letter, dated Jan. 30.
Smith added: “The singular qualifying attribute that she claims to the members is her friendship with the mayor.”
Paul-Bryant did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment. Nor did Fenty’s spokeswoman.
Smith confirmed that he sent the letter but said he didn’t want to add anything further to what he wrote.
“It’s all there,” he said.
Fenty appointed Paul-Bryant, a real estate agent, to the board in 2007. He elevated her to interim chairwoman late last year, after then-chairman Paul Strauss said he would not seek another term. Strauss had been blasted in a city audit for providing “dubious levels of service to residents and businesses” as chairman.
Smith’s letter said that on Jan. 26, Paul-Bryant set aside several pending cases. The legal deadline for those decisions was Sunday, and Smith wrote that Paul-Bryant was leaving the city vulnerable to millions in lawsuits by outraged property owners.
“As a taxpayer, a civic-minded citizen and a member of the board I consider Ms. Paul-Bryant’s contempt for the law and the board’s rules unacceptable,” Smith wrote. “The citizens and taxpayers deserve better.”
In a letter addressed to Mayor Adrian Fenty and Council Chairman Vincent Gray, Lawrence Smith said he could no longer serve on the board because Fenty’s appointee, Towanda Paul-Bryant, “seems bent on precipitating its destruction.”
About one-quarter of the city’s total tax base comes from real estate taxes, and the Board of Real Property Assessments and Appeals is responsible for handling appeals on about $5 billion worth of property every year. Smith, a transactions lawyer who has served on the board for six years, said Paul-Bryant wasn’t equal to the task.
“She is inexperienced in the process, does not seem to appreciate the legal implications of specific decisions, lacks background in the valuation processes, exhibits no understanding of evaluation criteria, lacks leadership experience and abilities, is unable to bring the members together to effectively and consistently facilitate the caseload, and demonstrates a lack of respect for the process in general and for her colleagues,” Smith said in the letter, dated Jan. 30.
Smith added: “The singular qualifying attribute that she claims to the members is her friendship with the mayor.”
Paul-Bryant did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment. Nor did Fenty’s spokeswoman.
Smith confirmed that he sent the letter but said he didn’t want to add anything further to what he wrote.
“It’s all there,” he said.
Fenty appointed Paul-Bryant, a real estate agent, to the board in 2007. He elevated her to interim chairwoman late last year, after then-chairman Paul Strauss said he would not seek another term. Strauss had been blasted in a city audit for providing “dubious levels of service to residents and businesses” as chairman.
Smith’s letter said that on Jan. 26, Paul-Bryant set aside several pending cases. The legal deadline for those decisions was Sunday, and Smith wrote that Paul-Bryant was leaving the city vulnerable to millions in lawsuits by outraged property owners.
“As a taxpayer, a civic-minded citizen and a member of the board I consider Ms. Paul-Bryant’s contempt for the law and the board’s rules unacceptable,” Smith wrote. “The citizens and taxpayers deserve better.”
