Yonkers Defies U.S. Judge on Housing Order

YONKERS, N.Y. — In a raucous and bitter session, the City Council here voted narrowly Monday night to defy a federal judge’s housing desegregation order, despite the judge’s promise that he would punish the city with fines heavy enough to bankrupt it.

The four councilmen who voted to continue resisting the order also face fines of $500 a day until Aug. 10 and jail after that.

The three who supported the order, meanwhile, felt the raw anger of hundreds who had gathered inside and outside the council chamber. Angry white citizens shouted “Traitor!” and “Judas!” as the councilmen cast their votes in favor of the court order.

Mayor Nicholas C. Wascisko, who had unsuccessfully sought to persuade a majority to carry out the order, said he hoped to hold another session in a few days.

“I hope that sanity will prevail,” the mayor told reporters. “I’m disgusted, personally.”

However, opponents promised to remain steadfast. “Am I supposed to simply bow to a judge who would destroy a city?” Councilman Henry Spallone said of Judge Leonard B. Sand’s order to build 200 units of low-income housing and 800 units of middle-income housing in white neighborhoods of Yonkers.

“I will go to jail for 20 years if I have to,” Spallone said.

“It’s a sad day when a madman federal judge wants to punish elected officials for representing their constituencies as their constituencies demand,” complained Councilman Nicholas Longo.

Monday night’s showdown was the latest chapter in a landmark desegregation battle that has lasted almost eight years.

In 1985, Sand ruled that Yonkers had intentionally and illegally segregated its housing and schools for four decades.

The ruling, a major victory for civil rights, marked the first time that racial discrimination in housing was linked with segregation in education.

Ground Still Not Broken

Yonkers complied with the judge’s demands that it integrate its schools. However, three years after the judge’s order to build the low- and middle-income apartments in white neighborhoods, ground has not been broken.

Sand has described Yonkers as “a national symbol of defiance of federal civil rights orders.”

The judge promised last week that unless the council agreed to implement the order, he would fine the city $100 today and double that amount each day it did not comply. At that rate, the fines would wipe out Yonkers’ entire $337-million budget in less than a month.

About 100 opponents jammed into the sweltering council chamber, while another 300 or more gathered in the street outside, carrying placards and U.S. flags. As a line of police held the crowd back, one protester brandished a sign reading: “May Sand Drop Dead in His Black Robe.” Another sign read: “Sand Is Dirt.”

Bothered by Noise

The crowds both inside and outside raised such a din that it was often impossible for the councilmen to hear each other.

Outside, one elderly man was arrested for disorderly conduct, and the crowd circled the police car into which he was ushered.

While supporters of the order argued that continued defiance could destroy the city’s bond rating, their statements drew only boos and catcalls.

“Heil, Hitler!” one spectator shouted as the mayor tried to explain the judge’s order.