Fair Housing Case Against Garden City Begins

A lawsuit alleging housing discrimination against minorities wanting to live in the village of Garden City went to trial today.

In February 2012, U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spatt ruled the lawsuit against the village could proceed while he dismissed claims that Nassau County's housing practices toward minorities were discriminatory.

Village counsel Gary Fishberg told Patch that village officials will not comment on pending litigation.

Charges were first made against the village nearly a decade ago 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.

In May 2006, demonstrators pitched tents on the 25-acre property for a 17.5-hour encampment to drive their point home - the only way they could live in Garden City was in a tent. The overnight protest was intended to shed light on what demonstrators called an affordable housing crisis, particularly a missed opportunity in 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.

Anne Wells, a NYCC member from Lakeview, said the bus ride was intended to "make the public aware that discrimination, which many people think has gone away, is alive today.”

“It has been going on for years, but with the coming court case I am confident what Garden City has done to minorities – the discrimination and the segregation – will not continue to go on,” she said.

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.

Current county executive Ed Mangano has plans to build a new Family and Matrimonial Court on the site. The complex is currently located in Westbury.