[StBernard] EDITORIAL: Mr. Taffaro's mistake

[Westley Annis]

EDITORIAL: Mr. Taffaro's mistake
Saturday, March 01, 2008
After spending taxpayers' money defending a discriminatory home-rental
ordinance, St. Bernard Parish will shell out another $32,500 to settle
damage claims prompted by the law. 

Yet Parish President Craig Taffaro apparently wants residents to focus on
something else. "We settled without an admission of any wrongdoing," he
said. "There was no finding of fault." 

That does not mean the ordinance was not wrong. And President Taffaro can't
expect residents to forget that the lawsuit -- and its costs to taxpayers --
came about because then-Councilman Taffaro conceived the discriminatory law
and the council decided to waste public money defending it. 

The ordinance, which was approved in late 2006, required council permission
for homeowners to rent to anyone who was not a blood relative of the owner
-- making it extremely difficult for minorities to rent in an overwhelmingly
white parish. 

Then-Councilman Taffaro and other council members who voted for his proposal
said they weren't seeking to discriminate, only to prevent an onslaught of
cheap rentals after Katrina. Maintaining a high ratio of homeownership and
well-maintained rental property are worthy goals, but most parishes
accomplish them with other regulations. The effect of St. Bernard's
ordinance was clearly discriminatory, and the New Orleans Fair Housing
Action Center sued the parish. 

The settlement calls for St. Bernard to pay $20,000 to the housing action
center and $12,500 to a parish landowner who challenged the ordinance. These
are modest sums as settlements go, but they are not the whole tab for parish
taxpayers. It's not known how much St. Bernard spent on attorneys and other
legal fees defending the suit, but it likely was thousands of dollars. 

These expenses are an unnecessary burden for a parish in dire need of
resources to rebuild after Katrina. This could all have been avoided if
then-Councilman Taffaro and his colleagues on the council had admitted the
flaws in their policy once protests arose. Instead, they did not delete the
non-relative clause from the ordinance until after the suit was filed. 

Even now, parish officials seem slow to learn from their past mistakes. The
parish is still requiring council approval for homeowners to rent homes that
were not rentals before Katrina -- an infringement on property rights that
could be challenged in court as well. 

When housing action center attorneys this week said the group is watching
rental permit decisions for signs of discrimination, President Taffaro
responded that anyone who feels discriminated against now could sue in
court. 

The prudent response would be for President Taffaro to urge the current
council to get rid of the remaining rental permit requirement and control
any neglected rental property with other maintenance and zoning requirements
as do most communities. That would once and for all end this episode -- and
the potential for another costly lawsuit.