Feds sue New Berlin for racism
Published: Friday, June 24, 2011 11:19 AM CDT
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The U.S. government has filed a lawsuit alleging New Berlin city officials caved to pressure from their largely white community by deciding not to build low-income housing that could attract more black families.
The mayor and other city officials voted in May 2010 to allow the construction but reconsidered following an immediate backlash from the community, according to federal prosecutors. Their lawsuit was dated Wednesday and released Thursday.
Messages left with Mayor Jack Chiovatero and City Attorney Mark Blum were not immediately returned.
New Berlin is about 15 miles southwest of Milwaukee. The city’s website quotes 2000 census data that say about 96 percent of the city’s 38,000 residents are white.
The lawsuit said MSP Real Estate Inc. of St. Louis Park, Minn., submitted an application in March 2010 to build 180 units of affordable housing in New Berlin. The units would be designated for low-income workers and seniors, and rents would be below market rate.
The city Department of Community Development recommended that the application be approved. A few days later the city planning commission, of which the mayor is a member, voted 4-3 to approve the general application.
Over the next few weeks, city officials were inundated with emails and phone calls, the majority of which voiced opposition to the project, federal prosecutors said.
“Some of the opposition was based in part on fear that the prospective tenants would be African American or minority,” the lawsuit said.
The communications included references to crime, drugs and gangs, and some included the N-word, according to court documents.
The mayor also received threatening phone calls at home, his car tires were slashed, his car windows were shot through, and a sign reading “(N-word) lover” was placed in his yard, the lawsuit said.
About two weeks later the mayor asked the planning commission to let him reconsider his vote, saying he was concerned about certain parking waivers included in the original approval.
From that point, according to a chronology detailed by prosecutors, the commission sought reasons to deny the MSP project even as the developer argued that it had resolved or could resolve each issue raised.
Both sides appeared to reach a compromise in January, and a modified project was given tentative approval. However, the Common Council blocked the compromise.
Poster Comment:
Hold the line, men of New Berlin!