A bad mistake

It's not an easy thing to admit you've made a mistake, but that is what the New London Housing Authority has done in the case of a Gordon Court tenant facing eviction for nonpayment of rent.

The authority has acknowledged that Frank Cirioni paid his December 2009 rent on time and that it was a shortcoming in the authority's own accounts receivable system that led to it to serve Mr. Cirioni with an unwarranted eviction notice.

Complicating matters is the fact that the authority had already targeted Mr. Cirioni, president of the Gordon Court Tenant Association. In a separate notice served last October, the authority alleged Mr. Cirioni had violated his rental agreement by harassing neighbors and discussing Gordon Court business outside the earshot of housing authority managers.

It was an egregious error on the authority's part to resolve a personality clash between Mr. Cirioni and another tenant at Gordon Court. Both men at the city's 38-unit complex for disabled and elderly tenants agreed last week to meet with a third-party mediator in an effort to resolve their differences, according to Sue Shontell, acting director of the housing authority.

That's a good thing - and a much better way of dealing with the situation. The authority only damaged its own image by singling out Mr. Cirioni and suggesting that his status as a public-housing tenant negated his free-speech rights. That's not only wrong, it's unconstitutional.

The housing authority in New London has much bigger problems to contend with than neighbor disagreements. Tenants at the Colman Street high-rise are concerned about drug dealers and thugs getting into their building after hours. The Bates Woods complex has had a problem with burglaries.

Not all the news is bad. Under Ms. Shontell's management since last July, the authority has had some successes, including paying down its sizeable debt and making noticeable property improvements.

Unfortunately, the authority's ham-handed treatment of the Cirioni situation has eclipsed much of that progress.