Congress gives noted economist Andrew Brimmer authority to oversee D.C. financial recovery

Jet, August 18, 1997

Ever since President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 named him the first Black governor of the Federal Reserve Board, Harvard-trained economist Andrew F. grimmer has set a torrid pace in the field of finance in the nation's capital.

Today, at the age of 70, grimmer has a stiff assignment in the city where he has won a reputation and the respect of the citizens. Congress and President Clinton want the financial genius to pull the predominant Black city from a morass of red ink and poverty.

No longer is the city a tourist paradise or model middle-class community for minorities. The District is floundering in millions of dollars of debt, experiencing a huge flight of middle-class residents, both Black and White, and troubled by a break-down of municipal services under the administration of Mayor Marion Barry.