[StBernard] Bias lawsuit puts council on defensive

[Westley Annis]

Lawyer hired to fight allegation of discrimination in St. Bernard 
 
Wednesday, November 08, 2006 
 
By Karen Turni Bazile
 
The St. Bernard Parish Council has hired an outside attorney to represent
the parish in a federal lawsuit contending that a parish housing rental
ordinance discriminates against nonwhites. 
 
The council's vote to hire local attorney Francis B. Mulhall came at the
same meeting Tuesday at which two of its members, Lynn Dean and Mark Madary,
unsuccessfully tried to repeal the ordinance. 
 
"Our parish is broke," Dean said. "We don't have the money to fix roads. We
are going to hire an attorney, and when it's all over with, we are going to
lose." 
 
The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center sued the parish Oct. 3 in
federal court, challenging the council's Sept. 19 rental ordinance. That
ordinance prohibits owners of single-family homes that had not been rented
before Hurricane Katrina from renting to anyone who is not a blood relative,
unless the owners first receive permission from the council. The housing
group says the ordinance discriminates against minorities because census
figures show the overwhelming majority of single-family homes in the parish
are owned by white people. 
The suit asks a judge to throw out the ordinance. 
 
Dean and Madary's attempt to get the council to repeal the law failed 5-2.
Dean and Madary supported it, but council members Judy Hoffmeister, Kenny
Henderson, Joey DiFatta, Craig Taffaro and Tony "Ricky" Melerine voted
against throwing out the law. 
The council's vote to hire Mulhall, a New Orleans-area lawyer, was 6-1, with
Dean casting the lone dissenting vote. It was a preliminary vote that must
be finalized at the next meeting because the council must hire attorneys by
an ordinance, which takes two votes. 
 
Even though Madary said he adamantly disagrees with the law, he said he had
to vote to hire an attorney. 
 
"I agree with you that we have other priorities," Madary said. "We can't sit
here defenseless." 
 
The council's hiring of an attorney comes in the wake of St. Bernard Parish
District Attorney John F. "Jack" Rowley recusing his office from
representing the council in the suit. 
 
Parish Council members said they must fight the suit because the rental
restrictions are meant to promote home ownership. Without such protection,
they have said, investors could buy flooded homes, make minimal repairs and
rent them, thereby depressing property values in traditionally
owner-occupied neighborhoods. Owners wanting to rent their homes to people
who are not blood relatives can seek a special permit that must be approved
by the council. 
 
Also Tuesday the council unanimously repealed a March ordinance that
prohibited anyone from renting a single-family home in the parish, because
Taffaro, the measure's author, said the September law is more comprehensive
and outlines a specific appeals process. 
 
At the end of the meeting, the council agreed to meet in a private,
closed-door session to discuss possibly censuring Dean over statements he
recently made about council members' intentions being racist in nature when
they passed the law. 
Alan Abadie, who is parish government's deputy chief administrative officer,
and David Paysee, who handles workers' compensation lawsuits for the parish,
met with the council. Dean's attorney, Sharon Williams, also attended. 
 
Abadie said the council could meet in executive session because Dean's
comments could affect the parish's strategy in the lawsuit. 
. . . . . . .