skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Victory Over Housing Discrimination on Long Island

play audio
Play

Wednesday, February 17, 2016   

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - As Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched a major statewide initiative to combat racial discrimination in housing, a Long Island village is reforming an exclusionary policy.

Residents and activists celebrated in Garden City on Tuesday as the village trustees convened to prohibit using zoning to deny housing opportunities to minorities. Lucas Sanchez, Long Island director of New York Communities for Change, said the move is the result of a court challenge to a 2004 zoning ordinance that prohibited the construction of multi-family housing units.

"What the judge found was that this decision had a disparate impact on African-American people that were looking to live within the village," she said.

A federal court has ruled that Garden City, where more than 90 percent of the residents are white, had acted "with discriminatory intent."

According to Sanchez, the kind of racial imbalance found in Garden City has a long history in many suburban communities on Long Island and throughout the state.

"In many ways, that's continued to be the case on Long Island," she said. "So many communities continue to be primarily white communities with very, very low percentages of people of color."

Last week, a court-appointed monitor presented the village with concrete steps it can take to remedy its discriminatory practices. It's now up to the village to follow through and make real change happen, Sanchez said, "to be proactive in doing everything it can do in good faith and take concrete, tangible steps that will actually create affordable housing and bring more diversity to that community."

Sanchez said she believes that with adequate resources and commitment, the governor's initiative will help to end housing discrimination statewide.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021