League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Council No 4434 v. Mattox Opinion

    Be Sie 

Release? See 

December 11, 1970 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

KENNEDY PARK HOMES ASSOCIATION, INC. ET AL 

Vv. 

THE CITY OF LACKAWANNA, NEW YORK, ET AL 

eee 

APPEALS COURT RULES THAT CITY DISCRIMINATED 

New York, N.Y. -- Ina decision handed down last Monday, the 

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a lower Federal 

court's ruling which ordered city officials in Lackawanna, New York 

to take affirmative action to permit the construction of a black- 

svonsored, low-income housing development in an area of the city 

aAimost exclusively white. 

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), 

which represented Kennedy Park Homes Association -- the black, non- 

 rofit housing corporation -- in the U.S. District Court at Buffalo 

sad again in the Court of Appeals, feels that the decision is a major 

breakthrough for all black-sponsored housing projects. In its opinicn, 

ne court said that any law, ordinance or action (by a government 

body) -- whether or not racially motivated -- which has the effect of 

discriminating against a minority is unconstitutional. 

Kennedy Park Homes Association was organized in 1968 by con~ 

cerned black citizens in a last-ditch attempt to provide some dec 

housing for Lackawanna's placks. Past city actions had rezoned th 

overcrowded ghetto from residential to industrial use, and Bethlehem 

¢teel's plant expansion to that area not only contributed to the un- 

healthy environment there -- where the chances of contracting TB are 

twice as great as in any other part of Lackawanna ~~ but displaced 

Slacks, most of whom have had to relocate in other cities because they 

are unwelcome in white areas of Lackawanna. 

after unsuccessful attempts to purchase city-owned land, the 

Association received a commitment to buy a 30-acre tract owned by the 

Diocese of Buffalo. It also secured initial approval of federal 

mortgage assistance from the FHA. 

At this juncture the city acted to block the development by 

rezoning the Diocesan land from residential to park and recreational 

uses exclusively. But when Kennedy Park, joined by the Diocese of 

Buffalo and later the U.S. Justice Department, instituted litigation, 

the city rescinded its zoning action. However, they refused to sign 

Kennedy Park's application to use the municipal sewer system, claiming 

it was inadequate to handle the additional sewage. 

A sewer crisis does exist in Lackawanna, the court said, and 

only the city is to blame for it. Until Kennedy Park can use the 

system, no one else will either. 

-30- 

For further information: 

Please refer to background release sent to you on December 2, or 

contact: 
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 

10 Columbus Circle 

New York, New York 

(212) 586-8397 

Jeffry Mintz, Atty. or Sandy O'Gorman, Pub. Info. Dept. 

NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. | 10 Columbus Circle | New York, N.Y. 10019 | (212) 586-8397 

.. Rivers - President