Suit Says School Bus Ban Constitutes Housing Bias
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A Westchester County condominium development that caters to older families was charged by the Justice Department yesterday with discriminating against younger families by refusing to permit school buses on its private roads. A civil suit filed in Federal District Court in White Plains charges that the development, Heritage Hills in Somers, violated the Fair Housing Act. A Justice Department official said that the complaint was the first of its kind in the Southern District of New York, but that such suits were not unusual. Lawrence Dittleman, the lawyer for Heritage Hills, said the development did not discriminate. But he also said he would try to “reach some accommodation” with Federal officials that he said “could” provide access for school buses that are now barred from entering. The action originated with a housing discrimination complaint by Robert Saturn, a 41-year-old Heritage Hills resident, who contended that he had to drive his 7-year-old stepson to school every day because of the prohibition against school buses’ using Heritage Hills’ private roads. Mr. Saturn said that Heritage Hills, a community of 3,000 people, discriminated against children in a number of other ways, like restricting their use of swimming pools and bicycles and banning any outward displays of birthday parties, including balloons. But the Justice Department complaint only seeks a court order to lift the ban on school buses, plus financial damages of an unspecified amount for Mr. Saturn and his stepson. When Heritage Hills opened in the mid-1970’s in Somers, in northern Westchester County, it restricted purchases to adults over 40. It was forced to admit families with children after the Fair Housing Act was amended in 1988 to extend the Government’s protection against housing discrimination to disabled people and families with children. More : query.nytimes.com |