Word: weaver
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Human Renewal. In the past, HHFA programs had dealt essentially with money-bricks-and-mortar policies. But Weaver, who has said repeatedly, "You cannot have physical renewal without human renewal," attempted from the first to instill a more humanized philosophy. He stimulated better-looking public housing by instigating awards for design. He improved relocation policies by increasing funds available to help small businessmen displaced by urban renewal. He saw to it that the Housing Act of 1961 included grants for recreational and scenic open-space areas. And he pushed through in that bill controversial Section 221d3, which gives nonprofit corporations...
...Weaver also revived the long-dormant idea of federal rent subsidies for the ailing and aged. That proposal narrowly passed the Congress last year, but the eligibility regulations were so carelessly written by the HHFA that "hardship" cases with as much as $25,000 in net assets could have qualified for rent help. Congress refused to appropriate funds for it, and many people thought that Weaver had thereby destroyed his chances of becoming HUD Secretary. Weaver now airily dismisses it all as "purely a printer's slip...
Strength & Diversity. Weaver's appointment as head of HUD did not bring universal joy to municipal officials, many of whom were hoping that a mayor might get the job. His academic background and experience in Government housing clearly made him better qualified than any city official. Nevertheless, he has a reputation for being professionally cautious and personally aloof-a man more comfortable with ivory tower theoreticians than with city hall politicians...
...HHFA Director, Weaver followed an essentially inner-city-directed policy rather than attempting to deal with the metropolis as an entity. That approach has attracted criticism. Argues Harvard Business School Economist Raymond Vernon: "To talk about rebuild ing central cities for re-use by people there now is a good political move and a bad social one. Our Eastern cities were built around 1800. What a remarkable coincidence it would be if the density established for those patterns of life happened to be right for 1965!" To such barbs, Weaver retorts frostily: "I'm all for letting people...
Expanding Empire. The same could be said of HUD. Weaver faces the task of coordinating diffuse and disorganized federal programs ranging from sewage-disposal research (under the Public Health Service) and the location of new inner-city schools (Health, Education & Welfare) to the design and route of metropolitan freeways (Bureau of Public Roads). He has no charter to annex other agencies' territories; rather, it will be a matter of deft and exceedingly diplomatic manipulation aimed at finding some semblance of cohesiveness...