The New York City Housing Authority announced today it would appeal a federal court ruling barring the Authority from proceeding with plans to rent to Orthodox Jews many of the apartments in a new Lower. East Side housing project in Manhattan.
Federal District Court Judge Morris Lasker ruled on Feb. 8 that the plan excluded Puerto Rican residents and that “the use of religious criteria in the assignment of an apartment” in the 23-story apartment building “is a violation of the First Amendment.” The building is part of the Seward Park Extension Urban Renewal Project.
The National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs, which is acting as counsel in the case for most of the Orthodox Jews, welcomed the announcement. COLPA and the Legal Aid Society appeared in the case to argue the validity of the leases granted to the Jews. The apartment building, though completed last July, has remained vacant while the court battle was in progress.
The Housing Authority had leased 171 of the 369 apartment units to Orthodox Jews now living in other Lower East Side housing projects. The goal was to bring them all into one building across the street from a synagogue. The Housing Authority had planned to move Puerto Rican families into the apartments–most of them reportedly large–vacated by the Jews.
CLAIM PRIORITY FOR PUERTO RICAN FAMILIES
Lawyers from the Lower East Side Community Corp and the Coalition on Human Rights contended that the Puerto Rican families deserved priority because they lived in the immediate neighborhood of the project and because many of their homes had been demolished to make room for it. More than 160 of the units have been leased to other white residents of the neighborhood and 26 remain unrented.
Simeon Golar, the Housing Authority chairman, said the Authority was trying to maintain the Lower East Side as an integrated community. He had noted that many Puerto Ricans and Blacks already live in public housing in the area.
Judge Lasker, in his ruling, declared that despite federal laws requiring the Housing Authority to promote integration, the former renewal area residents could not, in this case, be deprived of their priority for the new apartments. His ruling said that “by giving some persons apartments because they are religious Jews, the Housing Authority deprives others because they are not Jewish.” COLPA and the Legal Aid Society indicated previously they would appeal the judge’s ruling for their clients.
Howard Rhine, COLPA president, said that if the Housing Authority had decided not to appeal Judge Lasker’s ruling, complicated legal action would have been necessary with uncertain results. He said COLPA’s appeal petition is being prepared by a COLPA committee of attorneys, headed by Harvey Blitz. The Legal Aid Society appeal papers are being prepared under the direction of Kalman Finkel. Rhine added that “our chances in the appeal” would be enhanced by the Authority’s decision.
More than 250 Jewish residents marched in front of the United States Court House in lower Manhattan yesterday to protest Judge Lasker’s ruling. The demonstrators chanted in Yiddish and English and carried signs demanding a “fair shake” for Lower East Side Jews.
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