Closing Arguments Heard in GC Housing Discrimination Trial

Closing arguments were heard Wednesday in an eight-year-old federal housing discrimination suit against the village of Garden City.

The trial began June 17 at the U.S. Federal Court House in Central Islip. U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spatt, who ruled in February 2012 that the case against Garden City should proceed, heard two weeks of testimony by civil rights lawyers, New York Communities for Change, MHANY Management, advocates and supporters of affordable housing.

Charges were first made against the village when the now defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) group claimed Garden City officials purposely changed its zoning codes to disallow affordable housing at a multi-family housing development proposed for the old Social Services site off Eleventh Street.

To accomplish the goals of his real estate consolidation plan, former county executive Tom Suozzi requested that the village re-zone the area, which only allowed for public use, to provide for residential if the county were to sell the property to a private developer.

The Village of Garden City, which does not own the property but does have zoning jurisdiction, changed the zoning to allow for luxury homes and town houses.

Plaintiffs allege Garden City’s actions were discriminatory and were intended to keep affordable housing - and African Americans or Latinos who might occupy such housing - out of Garden City.

To bring attention to the trial, on June 11 members of NY Communities for Change (NYCC), as well Douglas Mayer, president of both the Freeport-Roosevelt NAACP and the Long Island Caribbean American Association, civil rights attorney Fred Brewington and Joe Rick from the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights Under Law took a civil rights “Freedom Ride” highlighting what they perceive as a lack of affordable housing in Garden City.

After the tour, Town of Hempstead council member Dorothy Goosby joined the "Freedom Riders" at a press conference on the steps of Garden City Village Hall.

Garden City officials will not comment on pending litigation. According to village counsel Gary Fishberg, a briefing schedule is being established, which he assumes could be a few weeks. "I wouldn’t expect a decision for a couple of months," he said.