For those waiting for positive developments from the already maturing administration of New London Mayor Michael Passero, I would suggest you need look no farther than the new plans to fix a long-festering problem, the shameful housing at Thames River Apartments.

The mayor wisely re-invigorated the long dysfunctional Housing Authority board of commissioners, responsible for the Crystal Avenue subsidized towers, with new appointees.

And this week the board made a bold step toward improving the lives of hundreds of tenants there living in substandard, unsanitary, vermin-infested housing.

The board voted 4-1 to ask the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for approval of a demolition program that would close the old and deteriorating towers and provide residents with vouchers that would allow them to move wherever they want.

The vouchers essentially would vest the money HUD now pays the Housing Authority toward rent with the tenants themselves.

They could move anywhere, even outside the city or state.

The vouchers provide subsidies that close the gap between 30 percent of a tenant's income and market rates. In New London County, those market rates range from $732 for a studio to $1,710 for a four-bedroom apartment.

Tenants need not choose public housing. If they find a private apartment, it can be inspected and certified as HUD housing.

Some landlords welcome these tenants, since the bulk of the rent essentially is guaranteed by the federal government.

I like the concept because it discourages more clustering of the poor in one dense neighborhood and encourages a broader socio-economic mix in other neighborhoods, not just in the city but in surrounding towns.

One reader, opposed to the idea of building replacement housing for dislocated tower residents, told me it is essentially building more of the same "with new appliances."

I tend to agree with her.

The notion of putting that replacement subsidized housing in a neighborhood where many residents don't welcome it, in a project that would enrich a private developer, also seems to take some of the luster off the idea.

It also is unfortunate that Housing Authority Executive Director Sue Shontell seems more invested in the idea of building more housing warehouses than empowering tenants who have endured such terrible conditions at the Crystal Avenue towers to move on to the neighborhood of their choice.

There is some administration effort and expense involved if HUD approves the board's application to demolish the towers and give tenants relocation vouchers.

Shontell publicly has fretted about that expense.

Rhonda Sicilianom, a HUD spokesperson, told me the federal agency would help finance the administration costs of the relocation vouchers, including the certification of privately owned housing.

I am sure Mayor Passero, who has reacted decisively to the increasingly dire situation at the towers, where heat now comes from a temporary furnace, would volunteer the services of his new social services director, the city's first in many years, in helping tenants find new housing.

The deplorable conditions at Thames River Apartments have existed way too long.

Fixing it may not be as glossy as other accomplishments of a successful mayoral administration might. It's not as satisfying as cutting a ribbon.

But it is enormous progress for a city that has long let such prominent problems linger and grow worse over time.

Let's hope HUD gives the plan a green light.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com