Blackwell aide's conviction prompts difficult questions

The Associated Press In the wake of City Council aide Michael Youngblood's conviction of an array of crimes as the project's construction manager, Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell blamed "horrible misjudgment" for the waste of nearly $2 million in taxpayers' money. A federal jury convicted Youngblood last week on 34 of 36 counts, including extortion and bank fraud. He was acquitted of tax evasion. He remains free on bail pending sentencing expected within three months. Rendell, whose administration has stressed accountability with detailed five-year financial plans, "targeted budgeting" and a string of budget surpluses, said oversight of the Deliverance Center of Hope II shelter project was poor. "And we bear responsibility," the mayor said. Rendell told The Philadelphia Inquirer in Sunday's edition that he had been unaware of the role that Youngblood, an aide and driver for City Council member Jannie Blackwell, whose district includes West Philadelphia, was playing in the shelter renovation. William Parshall, the city's homeless czar at the time, testified at Youngblood's trial that he kept Youngblood on the job for fear of political repercussions from removal of "a staff aide to a very important Council person." Other city officials questioned whether Parshall, now an administrator at Drexel University, bore all the responsibility. "The general public would like an answer as to how we could put $2 million into a project and have nothing at the end of the day," City Council member Michael Nutter said. "I do not believe we have a full accounting of the actions of government officials who were involved in this." The city Office of Emergency Shelter and Services was in charge of supervising the renovation of an abandoned factory building into a 400-bed homeless shelter. Youngblood, 41, had been a convicted drug dealer when he went to work for Blackwell in 1993 but shared her private office in City Hall and had check-writing privileges on her personal bank account. When he was kicked off the Council payroll for concealing his criminal record on his job application, Blackwell continued paying him out of her own salary. Rendell, beguiled by Youngblood's "tremendous degree of likeability," said he approved hiring the street-smart former boxer for the shelter project, assuming he would work in a low-level capacity. Later, when the original construction manager left, Youngblood took day-to-day control and no one challenged him. Asked why he did not object, Parshall said, "Well, I really don't have a very good reason for that." Parshall got a memo from a deputy, Richard Shaeffer, in October 1996, saying that Youngblood, the church that donated the former factory building for the shelter and the city were all "in over their heads." Parshall testified that he still did not act because he thought the job would be finished in a couple of months. Youngblood stayed on as manager and, Shaeffer testified, "the city continued to pour money into this project." According to trial testimony, Youngblood would contend at meetings concerning the shelter that he had been speaking directly with the mayor and would leave the impression that Rendell approved of what was going on. Rendell said he met weekly with Parshall but was never told Youngblood had assumed such an important role in the project. "Had Bill brought that to me, gosh, I would have taken action immediately," Rendell said. Even after the City Controller's office began looking into the project and the administration hired a construction management firm in late 1996, Youngblood held on to his day-to-day role. City Controller Jonathan Saidel finally pulled the plug on the project, halting payments in 1997. The present plan is to sell the empty, partially renovated building to pay contractors' claims that total $300,000.