[StBernard] Judge: St. Bernard risks $10, 000 a day fine if it stands in way of mixed-income development

[Westley Annis]

NEW ORLEANS -- A federal judge has barred officials in a suburban New
Orleans parish from blocking a developer's plans to build mixed-income
housing in a community devastated by Hurricane Katrina. 

Friday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan says St. Bernard
Parish has continued to defy her order last month to lift a moratorium on
the construction of new multifamily homes in the aftermath of the August
2005 hurricane. 

Berrigan has found that parish officials had a racially discriminatory
intent in trying to thwart Provident Realty Advisors Inc.'s proposal to
build 288 units of mixed-income housing in the predominantly white parish. 

The judge held the parish in contempt of court and said it risks daily fines
of up to $10,000 if officials fail to meet deadlines she set for approving
Provident's plans. 

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) 





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Oh well, there's still the Court of Appeals.




JY