Judge OKs Farmingdale housing-bias lawsuit

A federal judge has ruled that an anti-discrimination lawsuit accusing Farmingdale officials of trying to force Latinos out of the village's "Little Latin America" neighborhood can go to trial.

Stefan Krieger, the Hofstra University Law School professor leading the long-running case, called the decision late last week by U.S. District Judge Denis R. Hurley "groundbreaking."

"I believe this is the first time in the courts in the U.S. that a judge is saying that a village redevelopment plan that is being executed by a private developer can be the basis for a discrimination case," Krieger said. "A municipality cannot use private parties to do its discrimination for it."

But village attorney Kevin Walsh called Hurley's decision, which denied a motion by the village to dismiss the lawsuit, a procedural move. Walsh said he still believes Farmingdale will prevail.

"We have a lot of minorities in the village, and we've never taken steps to limit the right of anyone to live" here, Walsh said. "That's clearly not what Farmingdale stands for."

The case filed by nine Latinos and Hofstra University Law School's housing clinic revolves around a 54-unit apartment building at 150 Secatogue Ave., which used to house about 150 Latino residents in the predominantly white village and was the heart of Farmingdale's small Latino community. After years of conflict, it was sold in 2006 and turned into upscale apartments.

Krieger and the plaintiffs contend that the village helped facilitate the sale -- and the ouster of the Latino residents -- by failing to force the former owner to make repairs on the decaying building and by fast-tracking permit processes for the buyer, who turned it into high-end apartments. Tenants had complained the old building was plagued by rats, mold, exposed electrical wires, broken radiators, leaking ceilings and other problems.

The plaintiffs "are going to be able to have their day in court and have their voices heard by a jury," Krieger said. The trial is expected to heard by a jury in the U.S. District Court in Central Islip by the end of this year.

Walsh denied there was any discrimination and said the village did everything it could to make the former owner repair the building, which he says the owner had every legal right to sell.

"If someone buys it and makes it into a much nicer building, we don't have a lot of control over that," Walsh said, adding, "All of Farmingdale is on the upswing. That's a good thing."

Village officials had long described the building as dilapidated and said they wanted to improve the blighted area and boost the tax base.

The former tenants have dispersed throughout Long Island, Krieger said, but one plaintiff, Isidoro Rivera, 41, a native of El Salvador, said he and the others are still following the case closely.

"Justice is being carried out," Rivera said in Spanish. "We're finally being listened to."