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http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stor...+discrimination
Belleville is accused of housing discrimination
By William Lamb
Of the Post-Dispatch
05/13/2004
A fair-housing advocacy group is crying foul over the eviction Tuesday of a couple from their rented house in Belleville, alleging that Heather and Kenneth Walker were discriminated against because she is white and he is black.
Will Jordan, executive director of the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportu
ity Council, said the Walkers were targeted because they are a mixed-race couple living in a predominantly white neighborhood southwest of downtown Belleville. Jordan said he had filed formal complaints wit
h t
e Justice Department and the Department of Housing a
nd Urban Development.
Belleville Police Chief Terry Delaney, who oversees code enforcement for the city, dismissed Jordan's account as "ludicrous." The Walkers, he said, were evicted from their house in the 700 block of State Street because they were months behind on their utility bills and had lived for nearly two weeks without electricity.
Delaney said the situation amounted to a "serious code violation" that required immediate action from the city.
Heather Walker, 30, and her husband, 41, fell behind on utility bills while they both were living off unemployment checks. The couple owe Illinois Power about $1,800, a debt they hope to wipe out by filing for personal bankruptcy, Heather Walker said
.
Walker acknowledged that she broke the lock on the electric meter, which prompted Illinois Power to remove the meter entirely.
"It's not a racial issue at all,"
Del
aney said.
"It's a routine code enforcement issue. We're just not in the business of harassing people, esp
ecially because of race."
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stor...+discrimination
Belleville is accused of housing discrimination
By William Lamb
Of the Post-Dispatch
05/13/2004
A fair-housing advocacy group is crying foul over the eviction Tuesday of a couple from their rented house in Belleville, alleging that Heather and Kenneth Walker were discriminated against because she is white and he is black.
Will Jordan, executive director of the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportu
ity Council, said the Walkers were targeted because they are a mixed-race couple living in a predominantly white neighborhood southwest of downtown Belleville. Jordan said he had filed formal complaints wit
h t
e Justice Department and the Department of Housing a
nd Urban Development.
Belleville Police Chief Terry Delaney, who oversees code enforcement for the city, dismissed Jordan's account as "ludicrous." The Walkers, he said, were evicted from their house in the 700 block of State Street because they were months behind on their utility bills and had lived for nearly two weeks without electricity.
Delaney said the situation amounted to a "serious code violation" that required immediate action from the city.
Heather Walker, 30, and her husband, 41, fell behind on utility bills while they both were living off unemployment checks. The couple owe Illinois Power about $1,800, a debt they hope to wipe out by filing for personal bankruptcy, Heather Walker said
.
Walker acknowledged that she broke the lock on the electric meter, which prompted Illinois Power to remove the meter entirely.
"It's not a racial issue at all,"
Del
aney said.
"It's a routine code enforcement issue. We're just not in the business of harassing people, esp
ecially because of race."