Background on the Kennedy Park Homes Association, Inc. et al. v. The City of Lackawanna, New York et al.
Press Release
December 2, 1970

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Press Releases, Volume 6. Background on the Kennedy Park Homes Association, Inc. et al. v. The City of Lackawanna, New York et al., 1970. 894e954c-ba92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/4e5d3d72-4362-413b-9184-385e9bacd719/background-on-the-kennedy-park-homes-association-inc-et-al-v-the-city-of-lackawanna-new-york-et-al. Accessed July 30, 2025.
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ressRelease ®t ae ae <a 4 <> Tm DEC z- 1970 BACKGROUND KENNEDY PARK HOMES ASSOCIATION, INC, ET AL vs ° THE CITY OF LACKAWANNA, NEW YORK ET AL Attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc. (LDF) are awaiting decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a case involving efforts of a black citizens' organiza- tion in Lackawanna, New York to construct homes outside the city's black ghetto in an area almost exclusively white. As a result of the first court battle, the U.S. District Court in Buffalo handed down a decision favorable to LDF which ordered the city to take affirmative action to permit construction of the housing development. The City of Lackawanna now seeks a reversal of that ruling. If the LDF suit is successful, it would seriously hinder attempts of any local government to block construction of similar black-sponsored projects, and make it difficult -- if not impossible -- for local governments to defend laws and ordinances which have the effect of discriminating against minorities. The plaintiff, Kennedy Park Homes Association (KPHA) -- a non-profit housing corporation -= was organized early in 1968 by a group of concerned black citizens to alleviate the desperate housing conditions of the city's black minority, confined to a ghetto in the northern section of Lackawanna's First ward. (MORE) NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. | 10 Columbus Circle | New York, N.Y. 10019 | (212) 586-8397 Jack Greenberg - Director-Counset Ho Rivers - President KENNEDY PARK HOMES V. LACKAWANNA, N.Y. -2- After several unsuccessful attempts to purchase city-owned land, the KPHA received a commitment to buy a 30-acre tract in the city's almost exclusively white Third ward owned by the Diocese of Buffalo. The group then secured initial approval of federal mortgage assistance for low and moderate income housing from the FHA. However, the project was halted when it met with municipal resistance, Lackawanna's City Council first acted to block the develop- ment in October 1968 when it ordered a moratorium on new subdivisions, rezoned the Diocesan land from residential to park and recreational uses exclusively, and directed city officials to acquire the property. In xresponse, the Diocese of Buffalo, and later the U.S. Justice Department, joined with the KPHA in a legal fight against the city. After litigation had begun, the City Council rescinded its park zoning and subdivision moratorium ordinances. However, the mayor refused t> approve Kennedy Park's application to use the municipal sewer system claiming it was inadequate to handle the additional sewage the new subdivision would create. During court hearings, LDF lawyers characterized the city's use of its sewer crisis as a "club" to defeat the black project, claiming that the problem has existed for years, and that no action was taken by the city to halt any previous construction or sub- division in the area, LDF lawyers further charged that while the city has been aware of steps it might take to alleviate the crisis -- the Chief Chemist of the Lackawanna Treatment Plant testified that he had been offering municipal authorities such suggestions since 1964 -- only one of the suggestions was acted upon, and only after the State of New york had threatened to cut off state aid. (MORE) KENNEDY PARK HOMES V. LACKAWANNA, N.Y. -3- LDF attorneys also claimed that, according to the city's Master Plan, the Kennedy Park site had never been intended for other than residential use and that in previous applications for federal assistance, the city has candidly admitted that it is segregated. Of the city's 28,717 residents, 2,693 or 9.4% are nonwhites. Of these, 98.9% reside in the First Ward and almost 3/4 of the black population there live in what has been described as the worst, most dilapidated and crowded housing in the entire city. A major reason for the current black thrust into traditionally all white areas, LDF lawyers further charge, is a direct result of past municipal injustice. The city had rezoned its black residential ghetto for industrial uses, and Bethlehem Steel's plant expansion to the northern part of the First Ward not only contributed to the unhealthy environment of that ghetto -- where the chances of con- tracting TB are now twice as great as in any other part of Lackawanna -- but has displaced blacks, most of whom have had to relocate in other cities because they are unwelcome in white areas of Lackawanna. Some of the lower court's findings were: -- That "the history of Lackawanna is that of a racially separate community;" that the city, in adopting the park rezoning and subdivision moratorium ordinances of October 1968 was acting in response to "the discriminatory sentiments of the community;" and that the city's actions were a "wilful contrivance" to discriminate against the city's blacks. -- That, under the Fourteenth Amendment, the result of the City's actions, whether or not racially motivated, placed an unfair burden on the black population, which the city cannot justify; and that the district court is obligated to issue a remedial order to eliminate the discriminatory effects of past municipal actions and assure the prevention of future discrimination. (MORE) ey Sore KENNEDY PARK HOMES V. LACKAWANNA, N.Y. =—A5 -- That the city is enjoined from issuing any building permits in its Second and Third Wards which would add sanitary sewage to the city's system until Kennedy Park Homes Association is allowed to use the municipal sewer system. In filing its appeal to the Second Circuit, the city claims that the district court erred in finding acts of racial discrimina- tion in this case, and that it overstepped its jurisdiction in acting to eliminate the discriminatory effects of past municipal actions on current residential patterns in Lackawanna. LDF attorneys contend that the lower court's ruling of racial discrimination is correct and that the city's attempts to block KPHA building plans are in direct violation of the Equal Protection Clause of, the Fourteenth Amendment as well as the Fair Housing Act of 1968; that the district court is well within its bounds in acting to eliminate the effects of past municipal injustice on its black citizens and in ordering the city to act to end the critical housing and environmental problems of its poor, black citizens. =30= For further information contact Attorney Jeffry Mintz (212) 586-8397 o e s