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Bound Brook's other storm This time, borough is grappling with its discrimination tempest BY PETER N. SPENCER AND RUDY LARINI, Star-Ledger from the Web, March 12, 2004Bound Brook, NJ -- In August 1999, one month before Hurricane Floyd would devastate the small borough of Bound Brook, a Puerto Rican shop owner told the FBI that local officials would not allow her to expand her Main Street business because she was Hispanic. When an FBI agent came to town to speak with her a few days later, Debra Betancourt told the agent how there was systematic discrimination by the borough against the Hispanic community. "The town didn't give the landlords certificates of occupancy, because they thought only Hispanics would rent there," said Betancourt, who owned Avatar Pottery Shop on Main Street and has since moved her business to Franklin Township. The agent agreed, and the FBI soon launched an investigation into the borough's housing practices which culminated Wednesday with the borough agreeing to pay almost a half million dollars to settle a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit. The agreement, which does not equate to an admission of guilt, requires the borough to pay the federal government $30,000 and set up a $425,000 victims' compensation fund. The borough also agreed to dramatic changes in its housing and zoning practices, including hiring a full-time bilingual coordinator to work with residents on their housing-related matters, to revise the property maintenance code and amend the existing downtown redevelopment plan. Mayor Frank Ryan said many of the inspections came after police, who responded to domestic disturbance calls, sometimes found 15 to 20 people packed in a one-bedroom apartment. "Some police called building inspectors in the middle of the night. Does that mean we are out to get them?" Ryan said. "When you try to make changes, there's always some accusations of prejudice," he said. "I don't think there is a real problem." Ken Zimmerman, executive director of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, who spent 6 1/2 years as a lawyer in the civil rights division that brought the case against the borough, said the settlement was "significant." "The Justice Department has brought other cases against municipalities, but it's not an everyday occasion," he said. "Bringing a case of this nature and settling it on these terms reflects that they felt there was a significant issue that needed to be resolved." Eight of the 52 housing discrimination complaints filed by the Justice Department's civil rights division since 2001 accused municipalities, according to spokeswoman Casey Stavropoulos. Stavropoulos said she did not know which cities were involved or how many of the complaints alleged discrimination based on ethnicity. Zimmerman said the Bound Brook case is just one example of how municipalities have used zoning and housing laws to practice a subtle form of discrimination. He cited another case a decade ago in which the Justice Department accused the Shore resort of Wildwood of discriminating against publicly subsidized families with children, many of whom were Hispanic, by unreasonably limiting the number of persons who could occupy a dwelling based on its size. The government obtained a consent decree in 1994 in which the city agreed to pay a fine of $10,000 and to replace the restrictive ordinance with an occupancy standard established by a nationally recognized building organization. A year later, the division reached an agreement with Addison, Ill., resolving claims that the village discriminated against Hispanics by designating two neighborhoods with large Hispanic populations as "blighted" areas for redevelopment. The agreement required the village to pay up to $1.5 million to compensate displaced tenants and owners whose buildings were acquired involuntarily. J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, said the Bound Brook case was unusual because it targeted a whole municipality. Far more common in New Jersey, he said, are cases of racial or ethnic discrimination against rental agencies or apartment complexes. Martin Perez, president of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, said he is convinced discrimination against Hispanics in housing is not uncommon. Perez said the overcrowding of dwellings that Bound Brook officials say they were trying to solve is common in the Hispanic community. "There's a lack of housing for low-income people, so whatever little is available they have to share," he said. "People find it necessary because they cannot afford the rents." For nearly two decades, Bound Brook has been a haven for Central American immigrants, mostly from Costa Rica and El Salvador, and those from Mexico. Most of the immigrants live in the Bound Brook Apartments and converted multifamily homes in the downtown and west end, while multigenerational, mostly white families live in larger homes in the suburban northern part of town. Between 1980 and 2000, the number of Hispanic residents in the borough increased by nearly 500 percent, and Hispanics now compose more than 35 percent of the entire population. But as the Hispanic population in the blue- collar town increased, so did tensions with the longtime residents. Many residents complained about public loitering and noise, and pointed to overcrowded rooms as safety hazards. In 1999, former code enforcement officer Michael Gupko sued the borough, claiming he was harassed by officials to target Hispanics in his inspections and to make frequent, late-night housing "raids." Some of the raids were prompted by anonymous tips on a 24-hour, code violation hotline launched by Mayor Ryan. The borough is hopeful that some of the changes outlined in Wednesday's agreement -- which include translating the property maintenance code into Spanish, providing information about residents' rights to Spanish-speaking households, removing mandatory minimum fines for overcrowding, and providing written notice in English and Spanish at least 24 hours before any residents are asked to be removed --will address the concerns of Hispanic families, and avoid any future problems with home inspections. (Emphasis Added.) |
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