Resident Advisory Bd. v. Rizzo, Civ. A. No. 71-1575.

• Decision Date: 10 December 1976
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 71-1575.
• Citation: 425 F. Supp. 987
• Parties: RESIDENT ADVISORY BOARD et al. v. Frank L. RIZZO et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

425 F. Supp. 987

RESIDENT ADVISORY BOARD et al. v. Frank L. RIZZO et al.

Civ. A. No. 71-1575.

United States District Court, E. D. Pennsylvania.

November 5, 1976.

As Amended December 10, 1976.

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Janet F. Stotland, Harold R. Berk, George D. Gould, Jonathan M. Stein, Community Legal Services, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiffs.

Charles W. Bowser, Philadelphia, Pa., for Urban Coalition Housing Task Force.

Arthur R. Littleton, Roberta S. Staats, Philadelphia, Pa., for Multicon Properties and Multicon Constr. Corp.; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Philadelphia, Pa., of counsel.

Martin A. Weinberg, City Sol., A. P. Libetti, Philadelphia, Pa., for City of Philadelphia.

Peter A. Galante, Nicholas J. Scafidi, Philadelphia, Pa., for Redevelopment Authority of City of Philadelphia.

Paul Eisenberg, Joseph Mistrano, Harold Cramer, Arthur W. Lefco, Philadelphia, Pa., for the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

Walter S. Batty, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., William F. Hall (Regional Director) HUD, Philadelphia, Pa., for defendants.

Joseph M. Gindhart, Krusen, Evans & Byrne, Philadelphia, Pa., for Whitman Area Improvement Council, defendant-intervenors.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

BRODERICK, District Judge.

The plaintiffs in this action have brought suit alleging that various defendants have violated the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1871, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986; the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d; Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., as well as the Fifth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The plaintiffs commenced this action in 1971 seeking both injunctive relief and damages against the defendants in connection with their actions or inactions in the proposed construction of a low income public housing project in a White residential area. The Whitman Park Townhouse Project was to be built in South Philadelphia on a site bounded by Porter Street to the north, Oregon Avenue to the south, Front Street to the east, and midway between Second Street and Hancock on the west. (Exhibit P-168). Plaintiffs contend that the failure to build this proposed project violates their rights under the statutes and constitutional amendments enumerated above. Prior to trial, the plaintiffs, with the permission of the Court, dropped all damage claims against the defendants and now seek only injunctive relief. The plaintiffs are asking this Court to enter a sweeping decree which would order the defendants, their officers, agents, employees and any and all other persons acting in concert or participation with them to take all necessary steps to build the Whitman Park Townhouse Project as planned and establish an affirmative program to insure that the occupancy of the Whitman Park Townhouse Project is racially integrated; declare null and void any and all agreements and resolutions which are dysfunctional to the completion of the Whitman Park Townhouse Project; permanently enjoin the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from dissipating any funds now held in reserve for the purpose of constructing the Whitman Park Townhouse Project; order the City of Philadelphia (City), the Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia (RDA), the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), the Philadelphia City Council, and HUD to appropriate and/or spend any necessary funds to complete the original Whitman Park Townhouse Project, made necessary because of the delay resulting from the defendants' respective unlawful acts; and order the defendants City, RDA, PHA and HUD, in cooperation with the plaintiffs, to present to this Court a comprehensive plan which will remedy the racially segregated public housing system in Philadelphia by increasing as rapidly as possible the supply of housing units in non-racially impacted areas of the City so as to create equal housing opportunities for low income persons. This plan would, according to the plaintiffs, include a broad range of alternatives available to the City for public housing. Finally, the plaintiffs seek from this Court an order directing the defendants to reimburse plaintiffs for all costs and attorneys' fees arising as a direct result of this litigation.

This litigation, which was filed in 1971, has been protracted and vigorously contested by all parties and encompasses a complex and prolonged procedural history. Shortly after the suit was filed, this litigation was stayed by consent of counsel to await the outcome of a suit filed by the Whitman Area Improvement Council (WAIC) in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.¹ In that lawsuit WAIC attempted, unsuccessfully, to halt construction of the Whitman Park Townhouse Project through the judicial process. After a trial in state court which lasted from August 4, 1971 through September 6, 1971, the case was dismissed as moot on March 20, 1974. In 1972, after it became apparent that the Common Pleas Court suit would not dispose of the issues raised in this Federal action, the parties began a discovery process which required constant intervention by this Court. The record in this case now contains over 450 docket entries. The parties, during the course of this litigation, participated in protracted discussions in an effort to bring about settlement of this litigation, and although it was generally conceded that additional housing was badly needed in Philadelphia, a settlement never materialized. The non-jury trial of this case commenced on October 7, 1975 and consumed 57 days, finally ending on January 21, 1976. All parties have now filed with the Court proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law with briefs in support thereof, and the matter is now ready for decision.

The Parties.

The plaintiffs in this case are individuals claiming to represent a class defined as "all low income minority persons residing in the City of Philadelphia who, by virtue of their race, are unable to secure decent, safe and sanitary housing, outside of areas of minority concentration, and who would be eligible to reside in the Whitman Park Townhouse Project."² The only individual named as a plaintiff in the plaintiff's Corrected Second Amended and Supplemental Complaint to testify at trial was Ms. Jean Thomas. Ms. Thomas resides in a scattered site house owned by PHA at 5024 Brown Street in Philadelphia, a predominantly Black area of the City. (N.T. 43-77, 43-78). Prior to moving to the Brown Street address in June of 1971, Ms. Thomas lived at 3855 Mount Vernon Street in Philadelphia, a scattered site house owned by PHA and located in a predominantly Black neighborhood. (N.T. 43-77). Ms. Thomas moved from her home on Mount Vernon Street because of the bad condition of the house.³ The most serious problem in this house was that water constantly leaked into her basement up to the fifth or sixth step leading to the first floor. This basement water would become stagnant, creating a health hazard for her and her family. (N.T. 43-77). Her present scattered site house also has water in its basement which has destroyed all her personal belongings stored in the basement. (N.T. 43-78, 43-79). In addition, the electric wiring is in poor repair and Ms. Thomas has difficulty heating her second floor front bedroom. (N.T. 43-78). As a result of these problems, Ms. Thomas asked PHA to find her another house in 1971 and was placed by PHA on their waiting list. (N.T. 43-79, 43-83). Ms. Thomas testified that she "would have loved" to live in the proposed Whitman Park Townhouse Project. (N.T. 43-80).⁴

Additionally, there are two organizational plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the Resident Advisory Board (RAB) and the Housing Task Force of the Urban Coalition (Housing Task Force). Both organizations have sued the defendants on behalf of themselves and their members. Ms. Nellie Reynolds is the president and chairperson of RAB and testified on behalf of RAB. (N.T. 43-6). RAB is an organization whose membership includes all those currently living in public housing in the City of Philadelphia. (N.T. 43-6, 43-8, 43-9, 43-10). Currently, there are approximately 120,000 public housing tenants in the City of Philadelphia. (N.T. 43-6). RAB and PHA have signed a memorandum of understanding which enables RAB to effectively advocate the position of all tenants of public housing and to act as a liaison between the tenants, PHA and HUD.⁵ (N.T. 43-8, 43-11, 43-12). All tenants of public housing in Philadelphia are eligible to become members of the Board. (N.T. 43-8). Also, those who are eligible to become tenants of public housing, regardless of whether they have applied for and are on the waiting list for public housing, are eligible to become members of RAB.⁶ (N.T. 43-10). Although people on the waiting list have no vote in RAB elections, RAB has undertaken to represent those on the public housing waiting list. (N.T. 43-65, 43-66). Ms. Reynolds personally has lived in public housing for 35 years and she currently lives in the Johnson Homes project at 2630-D Norris Drive, Philadelphia. (N.T. 43-6, 43-32). Ms. Reynolds testified that she felt that the Johnson Homes project needed modernizing and that if Whitman were built as proposed, she would consider asking to transfer to that project. (N.T. 43-34, 43-35, 43-75, 43-76).

The Housing Task Force is a semiautonomous arm of the Urban Coalition. (N.T. 44-101). The Urban Coalition is described as a partnership of business, labor and community people who have joined together for the purpose of bringing the varied resources of the community together to attack various urban ills, particularly those of minority groups living in the inner city. (N.T. 44-100). The membership of the Housing Task Force is chosen by the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Urban Coalition and the Housing Task Force is empowered to make decisions in connection with housing in Philadelphia without the...