Thread: Farmers Branch Rental update

FB immigrant rental ban blocked

Judge issues temporary order after allegations that council violated open meetings act


07:32 AM CST on Friday, January 12, 2007
By STEPHANIE SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News

A state district court judge has temporarily blocked Farmers Branch from implementing a controversial ordinance banning apartment owners from leasing to illegal immigrants.

The action Thursday came amid a flurry of legal activity involving the city ordinance that was scheduled to take effect Friday.

Judge Bruce Priddy of the 116th District Court issued the temporary restraining order in response to a request from resident Guillermo Ramos. Mr. Ramos sued the city in December, alleging the City Council violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by conducting all of its deliberations on the immigration ordinance behind closed doors, then voting before residents could see the text of the ordinance and comment on it.

On Monday, the council agreed to let voters decide in May whether to keep the ordinance but planned to enforce the measure in the interim.

Accompanying the request for the restraining order was a sworn affidavit from Mr. Ramos alleging that city officials debated the ordinance and discussed their potential votes outside the public eye.

An affidavit from another resident alleges that Mayor Bob Phelps said he tried to persuade council members to vote against the ordinance and that two of them were pressured to vote for it by council member Tim O'Hare, the driving force behind the city's measures against illegal immigrants.

Mr. Phelps denied the allegations in the affidavit on Thursday.

"I didn't tell him any such thing," Mr. Phelps said before declining to speak further about the restraining order or the allegations in the affidavits.

Mr. O'Hare denied pressuring his fellow council members to support the ordinance.

Also on Thursday, a group of merchants filed a fourth lawsuit against the city over the ordinance, adopted Nov. 13. The new suit alleges the ordinance and a companion resolution making English the city's official language have made Hispanics afraid to go to Farmers Branch and are hurting the merchants' businesses.

The suit seeks damages for loss of revenue and future profits.

On Wednesday, representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund also petitioned a court for a temporary restraining order blocking the ordinance. The two civil rights groups have sued the city, saying the ordinance is unconstitutional.

Marisol Perez, a staff attorney with the defense fund, said Thursday that the two groups were awaiting a hearing on the request but did not expect the federal court to issue a temporary restraining order since the state district court did.

Another suit involves three of the city's largest apartment complexes. It also charges that the ordinance is unconstitutional because it targets an ethnic group – Hispanics – and interferes with the ability of the apartment complexes to conduct business.

The restraining order issued Thursday is effective until Jan. 22, when a court hearing is scheduled on a request in the same case for a temporary injunction until the case goes to trial.

"We're obviously gratified," said William Brewer III, partner in the Bickel & Brewer Storefront, the attorneys representing Mr. Ramos and the three apartment complexes that have sued the city.

"We allege and believe the ordinances were fully deliberated upon and discussed over a period of many weeks by City Council members, drafts were exchanged back and forth, etc., all in a back room, all in back channel, not in front of their constituents," Mr. Brewer said. "Rather than just an unwitting violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act, what occurred here was an intentional disregard of the obligations imposed on [public officials] under that act."

City Attorney Matthew Boyle didn't return phone calls Thursday but has said he can't comment on pending litigation.

Mr. O'Hare said he wasn't surprised by the restraining order.

"It's only a 14-day order, or until a hearing is held, so I will defer to the judge's wisdom and would hope that at the hearing on Jan. 22, the stay will be lifted so the will of the people of Farmers Branch can be carried out," Mr. O'Hare said.

He was concerned by some of the mayor's alleged conversations outlined in the affidavit by resident Tony Salerno.

Mr. Salerno said the mayor told him the day after the council adopted the apartment ordinance that the mayor had attempted to get council members to vote against the ordinance. The affidavit stated Mr. Phelps told Mr. Salerno that he thought the vote would go 3-2 against the ordinance, but that council members Bill Moses and Charlie Bird "were ultimately pressured by fellow Councilman Tim O'Hare to vote in favor of the Ordinance."

Mr. O'Hare said Thursday that he never pressured anyone to vote for the ordinance.

"These guys are grown men, fully capable of making their own decisions," he said, "and they did what they thought was right after listening to multitudes of residents ask them to pass it."

Mr. Salerno also said Mr. Phelps assured him that as mayor he did not have a vote on the council and that Mr. Salerno should not hold the passage of the ordinance against him or take his insurance business elsewhere.

"I have no idea if Mayor Phelps said any of the things that are contained in the affidavit," Mr. O'Hare said. "But if he did, I'm extremely disappointed."

The affidavit also notes a conversation Mr. Salerno said he had with council member Jim Smith on Saturday, two days before the decision to put the ordinance to a public vote.

Mr. Salerno said Mr. Smith told him he voted for the ordinance only after other council members agreed not to make the English language policy apply to libraries and recreation centers.

"I don't remember that," Mr. Smith said Thursday. "I don't know. I've just got to consult an attorney before I say anything more."

Spanish signs have since been removed from city libraries, and a Spanish-language TV channel in no longer available to rec center users.

The affidavit from Mr. Ramos also cites several media reports that he says indicate the council has continued to debate issues related to the ordinance before meetings or only during closed session.

E-mail ssandoval@dallasnews.com

The criminal alien supporters are laughable. Oh please! Tim O'Hare single handedly made everyone vote for the ordinance.

What a joke!

Dixie

I'm waiting for the change in leadership there. Tim O'Hare will be mayor of Farmers Branch, or something more. Perhaps he'll run against that state legislator that showed up to join with the LULACkies. I'd vote for him.

Tim O'Hare for Gov?

I'd vote for him over Ricardo Perry, for sure!!!