[StBernard] (no subject)

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard: Rent your house to anyone, but get government OK
12/20/2006, 3:32 p.m. CT
The Associated Press    

CHALMETTE, La. (AP) - St. Bernard Parish residents can now rent their homes
to anyone, not just relatives. But anyone wanting to rent out a
single-family home must get parish permission, the parish council has
decided.

The council voted 5-1 Tuesday to drop the relationship requirement, which
opponents said discriminated against blacks and other minorities because the
parish was about 93 percent white before Hurricane Katrina.

Owners lived in most houses before the storm, and council members said when
the ordinance was passed in September that they wanted to keep that pattern.

A proposal to kill the entire ordinance was rejected 5-2.

Proponents said the changes were meant to show the parish's intent was not
to discriminate but to protect property values.

Bill Schmidt, a 45-year Chalmette resident who is living in his renovated
home, said there are plenty of rental properties, and he does not want
renters in his neighborhood.

"I hope we don't hear this baloney about it being about race. The house next
to me is for sale. I don't care who you are. You can be from the planet
Mars. You can come buy it because I know you will take care of it because it
will be your property," he said before the vote.

David C. Jarrell of Meraux, said he wants to rent the house, but the review
process is too complicated and takes too much time.

"It's another roadblock to recovery," Jarrell said.

___

Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.timespicayune.com