When Newark tried to give a fair housing proclamation to landlords

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Newark Councilmember Mike Bucci pulled a proclamation for fair housing month last week because the recipients were landlords, not tenants.

CITY NEWS

NEWARK

—PROCLAMATION SPAT—It’s very rare for a proclamation to be pulled from an agenda at last minute. Most are non-controversial. They also require those receiving the honor to spend a weeknight at a council meeting.

—But a proclamation at the Newark City Council last Thursday to celebrate Fair Housing Month was successfully pulled by Newark Councilmember Mike Bucci, who was upset that housing providers were receiving the honor.

—”I’m not going to pull any punches here,” Bucci said. “I’m disappointed that the Association of Realtors was here to accept it instead of a local non-profit or community group that’s out here really doing the work encompassed in the Fair Housing Act.”

Newark Mayor Michael Hannon said pulling the proclamation on short notice was disrespectful.

—Recognition for fair housing should be reserved for tenants, not landlords, Bucci protested. He added the group receiving the proclamation wrote it themselves.

—A similar proclamation came before the Union City Council two days prior without incident.

—Bucci’s ire seemed to emanate from a barrage of nasty mailers sent by the Realtors group during the 2022 election against Assemblymember Alex Lee, who represents Newark.

—Newark Mayor Michael Hannon called the action “unprecedented,” while criticizing the majority of the council for pulling the proclamation.

—“I apologize as the mayor, we were disrespectful to our guests. Shame on us.” he told officials in the audience from Bay East Association of Realtors.

—Hannon then read aloud the Fair Housing Act of 1968 seemingly line-by-line.

—“I want to read the proclamation even though we didn’t adopt it to let our residents know what we decided we do not to stand for,” Hannon said.

—He followed each section of the act with topics, such as opposition to racial discrimination, housing discrimination; support for inclusion, diversity, and gender identity with the refrain, “We don’t support that statement.”

—“The Newark Way is we’re celebratory. We celebrate success. We celebrate ideas. We recognize diversity in our community,” Hannon said. “We didn’t demonstrate that tonight.”

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