Monday, January 7, 2008

The new Flatbush


In this craigslist posting this Westminister Road housing seems to have no problem blazingly violating fair housing laws by posting a subtle racial listing with a picture of 3 white women in front of the Building. One can only wonder if they would have done the same thing of 3 black teens. Although the majority of the black tenants kept up the Building throughout the 90's when nobody wanted to live in Flatbush, the good people in Westminister Co-op in Ditmas park has decided to illegally steer white people into the building. I know this for a fact because they told a black friend of mind a week ago that they only had for sale and there were no rentals. (This craiglslist ad is for a rental). Good to know good old American racism is alive and well and is being brought head on into flatbush. I will be on the trail. If you have had any problems you can file a Housing lawsuit against them by calling the New York city Human Rights Commission at 311 or (718) 722-3130. Or you can file directly with HUD online complaint here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

who is the broker? they have more to do with who gets "steered" to the building than the co-op board does.

Anonymous said...

Dan,

I'm white. When I was looking for a house in 1974 many brokers tried to steer me away from PLG, where I've now lived for 33 years, and areas further south in Flatbush because these areas were "changing"and I "wouldn't want to live there."

I'm glad I ignored them--any type of racial steering is unconsionable. Still, I can't find fault with those few brokers, like Shirley Juergenson, who tried to buck the then prevalent racial steering and interest white people in PLG back in the '70s. Of course Shirley, and people like her, would never have tried to discourage black buyers--a big difference. The right thing IMO is to make neighborhoods attractive to EVERYONE.

Anonymous said...

Dan, I'm confused about your blog. You mention that your blog is for unpretentious people in flatbush but it seems like every post involves race. Maybe your blog should be for people interested in addressing racial issues in flatbush? Or maybe you can fill us in why there needs to be a blog for the modest folks of flatbush? Thanks in advance, I look forward to your response!

Anonymous said...

Hey! That's my building!

I think you're right about that ad.