[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish drops 'blood relative' rental ordinance

[Westley Annis]

OOPS, der goes da neighborhood(s). ;) There could be more than floodgate,
symbolically that will be opened. Besides noticing changes with eye contact,
da parish will have to see in the 2010 census how the demographic makeup
will fare. More rental properties going up, single family homes being
converted, probably drug and crime statistics taking place, New Orleans
spillover, and anything that "can go wrong, could go wrong, might go wrong
and in other cases will probably go wrong. Civil liberties group watch
dogging it, Acorn, civil rights groups, activists, lawsuits, --you name it,
liberals flock together like ants at a picnic.

GNOFHAC (fair housing?) When is it fair to destroy da "family", da
neighborhood? Da Community? Da parish? Something to ponder about.

Everyone knows this. Unfortunately, there's no law that says one can
discriminate against a liberal <smile>.. Seems one can't be a blood relative
without being discriminated against here.

--jer--


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St. Bernard Parish drops 'blood relative' rental ordinance
2/26/2008, 6:14 p.m. CST
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY 
The Associated Press    

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - St. Bernard Parish has dropped an ordinance requiring
property owners to get the government's permission to rent houses to anyone
who is not a blood relative, and has agreed to pay $32,500 to settle damage
claims.

Neither side announced the agreement because it won't be final unless and
until U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan signs it, Lucia Blacksher, attorney
for the nonprofit housing rights group that filed the lawsuit, said Tuesday.

The parish did not admit any liability, said Parish Attorney David Anthony
Paysse.

U.S. District Court records show that the proposed consent decree was
submitted Friday to Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan.

St. Bernard Parish was predominantly white before Hurricane Katrina hit on
Aug. 29, 2005, and opponents called the ordinance a ploy to keep blacks and
Hispanics from moving in.

It was passed Sept. 19, 2006, on a 5-2 vote, but enforced for less than two
months. The parish agreed on Nov. 13, 2006, not to enforce it while the
lawsuit was in court. A news release sent the day after the original passage
said council members saw it as a way to encourage homeownership and promote
stability.

The parish canceled the blood-relative ordinance in January 2007, but passed
a new ordinance requiring landlords to get a permit to rent any
single-family homes. The proposed agreement gives the court jurisdiction
over that ordinance for three years, to ensure that it is administered
constitutionally.

Among other things, landlords must get a property survey map and send any
neighbors within 500 feet a certified letter saying that they have asked for
a rental permit, Blacksher said. She said the housing group will be keeping
an eye on permit decisions "to see if there is a pattern and practice of
discrimination."

The proposed consent decree calls for the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing
Action Center, which filed the lawsuit, to get $20,000. The remaining
$12,500 will go to Wallace Rodrigue, who owned property in the parish.

Rodrigue owned a four-plex and three single-family houses, and was
renovating two of them when Hurricane Katrina hit, according to the
settlement proposal.

The lawsuit said he had no relatives who could live on his property, and he
could not afford to repair them without the chance of renting them.

The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center also has asked Berrigan
to make the parish pay attorney's fees and court costs.

That question is scheduled for a hearing before Shushan on April 16. Court
records show that the decision will be based on legal briefs, without oral
arguments.

The parish must file its briefs by March 28, and GNOFHAC has until April 11
to file its response.