Judge at issue in housing case Far N. Dallas residents doubt impartiality

The Dallas Morning News Craig Flournoy

(Copyright 1996)

An attorney representing more than 1,000 homeowners seeking to block public housing in two Far North Dallas neighborhoods told a federal judge Monday that his clients have little faith that he will give them an impartial hearing.

"They do not believe that they can get a fair trial," attorney Mike Lynn told U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer, who is being asked to throw out key parts of his own desegregation order. An attorney representing the seven poor black women who brought the landmark desegregation lawsuit in 1985 said the record shows otherwise.

"The judge consistently receives high marks from the Dallas Bar Association for being extraordinarily fair," said attorney Mike Daniel.

Attorneys for both sides agreed that the latest legal challenge could fundamentally reshape what desegregation remedies are used.

If the homeowners are successful, they said, it would kill the Dallas Housing Authority's plans to build two 40-unit public housing projects in Far North Dallas - a 4.8-acre site at the northeast corner of Meandering Way and McCallum Boulevard and an 8.8-acre site east of Hillcrest Road and a half-mile north of Frankford Road.

In addition, the attorneys said, a ruling in favor of the homeowners would cancel the judge's order requiring the housing authority to build 474 public housing apartments in predominantly white, middle-class neighborhoods by February 1998 - including a controversial 75-unit development at Marsh Lane and Frankford Road.

Jacob Cherner, an attorney and officer of one of the opposing neighborhood groups, said he believes it will be difficult for the homeowners to get a fair trial given that they are entering the case more than a decade after it began and asking the judge to throw out his own order. In testimony Monday, attorneys representing the Preston Highlands and Highlands of McKamy neighborhoods said the two projects would drive down property values. They said the judge should abandon public housing in favor of certificates and vouchers, which poor families can use to rent apartments of their choosing.

Judge Buchmeyer pointed out that newly built public housing represents a small portion of his desegregation order. Last year, the judge ordered the housing authority to provide housing for more than 3,200 families in predominantly white, middle-class areas. More than 2,700 - or about 85 percent - are expected to be certificates or vouchers.

The judge issued the order after finding that government officials had forced thousands of low-income black families to live in taxpayer-supported slums in ghetto neighborhoods for decades. Mr. Daniel said a wealth of studies 1shows that public housing causes little or no loss of property values. And he said the judge's order - which relies primarily on certificates but also scatters public housing in largely white neighborhoods - is the right solution. "The remedy precisely fits the violation," he said.

Mr. Cherner said the proposed projects would hurt his property values and quality of life. "The DHA is notorious for being a poor manager of its projects," he said. Joe Werner, an attorney representing the housing authority, presented Mr. Cherner with a series of photos depicting a home with high weeds, a roof with a squirrel peeking out, a building with a hole in the door, a yard littered with junk and other obvious housing code violations. All the photos were taken, Mr. Werner said, at homes and apartments in and around Mr. Cherner's neighborhood.

"The DHA does not do a poor job of maintaining its properties," he said in an interview. "The homeowners are just looking for an excuse not to have public housing in their back yard." Dr. Jay Sa-Aadu, a professor of finance at the University of Iowa who was hired by the homeowners, testified that his studies show that certificates and vouchers are always more cost-efficient than public housing. He suggested that the judge do away with public housing in favor of certificates.

However, the question of whether the money could be shifted from public housing to certificates remains unanswered.

Attorneys representing the homeowners said the money can be moved. So did an official with the Washington, D.C., office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 'It's legal but nobody has ever done it before," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. However, housing authority officials said the money cannot be moved. Asked by Judge Buchmeyer what would happen to the 474 public housing apartments if he were to cancel their construction, Mr. Daniel replied: "They would be gone from Dallas."

Dr. Brian J.L. Berry, a professor of political economy at the University of Texas at Dallas and an expert in economic geography, testified that numerous studies show that public housing hurts property values.

"Housing prices are lessened closer to public housing," said Dr. Berry, who also was hired by the homeowners.

Later, Dr. Berry said the only national study done on this subject found that public housing either had no effect or, at most, reduced property values by 4 percent.

On cross-examination, Dr. Berry was asked about a statement he made in a 1978 interview: "The only effective urban development planning in the world today at the societal level - note that I said effective , which says nothing about the justice or the quality or anything else - is in South Africa, the Soviet Union and China." Dr. Berry testified that he stands by the statement.