3A
NE\NSmt Charlotte $o«t
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Blacks at risk of mortgage trap
Continued from page 1A
adjustable rate mortgages
based onborrowei-s’ ability to
repay after introductory
minimum payments end.
In the Charlotte metro
area, the study revealed:
• Homebuyers of aU races
have a high incidence of
acquiiing high-interest
home loans — 21.7 percent
for the region;
• Refinancing high-cost
loans is also prevalent at 24.3
percent;
• ’’42.9 percent of home
loans in communities that
are at least 50 percent non
white, were hi^-cost loans,
compared to 15.8 percent m
neighborhoods witli less than
20 percent minority popula
tion;
• Homeowners in non
white neighborhoods who
refinanced were nearly three
times more hkely to be sad
dled with a high-inta«st loan
than those who lived in most-
ly-white communities.
Lower-income borrowers
aren’t the only consumers at
risk, accoixiing to the study
In Charlotte, upper-income
blacks were 4.5 times more
likely to get a higher-rate
South Charlotte
resident Anita
Zarey (left)
turn^ to attor
ney Keenya
Justice to help
her fight con
struction of
Charlotte’s light
rail in front of her
Dewitt Road
home. “People
don’t like their
way of life dis
rupted,” Zarey
'PHOTOADURTfS WILSON
Light rail construction throws
quiet neighborhood off-track
Continued from page 1A
lar route, without making a U-tiuii. Some of
the trees on the street may have been-gi-andfa-
thered in, explained Zarey, but not h^ yard. A
permanent easement takes'about a of her
■ yard away, and a temporaiy easement will
claim another fourth of what’s left.,
De'witt Road used to be a qUiet dead' end
street. Tbday it’s construction ceiitral. What
used to be a peaceful cul-de-sac for Zarey to,
return home after work and classes at Queens
University now has orange cones, constniction
signs, orange barricades, Heavj' machinery and
a constant stream of construction workers.
The Dewitt his" Hit three houses, Zai-ey and
her family reside in the one closest to the rail
line. “People don't like theh way of life disiupt-
ed,” said Zarey
Starting in May 2005, Zarey was contacted
by a right of way agent about the Mght rail pi’o-
ject. She started making calls immediately
because she was concerned about losing her
fence.
“They \/ere going to remove tlie fence in my
yard, and I felt I needed a privacy screen, and
they should pay for it,"’ Zarey said.
She was advised to attend a City Coundl
meeting that simuner, where she inquired
about getting a privacy fence or buffer put in.
The coimcdl said no.
“They said they would put hack what was
there,” said Zarey who’d gotten an estimate for
a new fence. “Someone commented that the
fence would cost more than my house.
were just rude.”
Zarey considered what the change w'ould
mean for her family
“My fix>nt yard is where my gi'andson and I
play and where my family hangs out,” she said.
‘Tm losing my driveway part of my yaitl; I
can’t pai’k on the street. We’U have to ertend
the driveway move the fence on the side to the
back, and turn (vehicles) aixiimd in the back
yard.”
Is sun setting on controversial
congressman from Louisiana?
Continued from page 1A
Nevertheless, local political
groups smell the blood in the
ice, err, water, and have field
ed candidates to confront the
Second District congi’ess-
man’s re-election bid. The
potential match-ups are so
strong that a real possibility
exists that Jefferson might
not make the runoff
Part of Jefferson’s preblem
emerges from the Nigeria
scandal and its offshoots,
such as commandeering a
military Humvee after
Katrina to retrieve “files”
from his home. Jefferson
main hope for smvivmg the
scandal has I’ested in the
promise that his seniority
could be leveraged to provide
necessary financial assis
tance to a district still reeling
fi-om Katrina. Yet, time in
Congress, as any student of,
Capitol Hill dynamics will
attest, only cormts as far- as it
provides placement on key
committees that control the,
money — or m Jeffereon’s
case, the tax credits that
other coi^ressmen need and
wiH use their clout to obtain.-
Tire decision by' the
Democratic caucus to remove
Jefferson from Ways and
Means rerhoved. the major
justification for his. re-elec
tion. Even without an indict
ment, his opponents are
expected to ai^e, Jefferson’s
usefulness to the dtizens of
tlie Second District has come
to an end. It is'a stand that
Derrick Shepherd has
already begim to take.
The state senator from
District 3 opened his congres
sional race on Aug. 7 by
pledging his money would not
come out of. a freezer along
with other comments undei--
lining how the controversy
has finished. Jefferson.
• Sliepherd said h,e would stick
to the issu^, and theu added
that the majoriissue was that
Jefferson now, lacked the
'.influencein the U:S. House of
. Representatives to' get any-
thir^ done'.;
However, the real danger
. that Shepherd poseS to
Jefferson comes not'fiom his
woiris, but fiom the way that
the Second • Congressional
Distiict has evolved over the
loan than low-income whites.
Upper- and middle-income
Afiican American homebuy
ers are also more likely to pay
more on mortgages than low-
income whites.
ACORN, an activist group
of low- and niod^ate-income
neighborhoods, is pushing for
stronger federal anti-predato
ry lending laws that would
shield borrowers fium abuse.
In the meantime, the
ACORN is “working to edu
cate people in the community
about the dangers of predato
ry lending,” said Lucille
Puckett, a member of the
organization who hves in
Charlotte. “But legislators
and banking regulators need
to do their pail to protect our
communities fium unscrupu
lous lending practices.”
The study used a sample of
275 lenders owned by 15 of
the largest lenders in the U.S.
According to estimates, those,
lenders account for 65.5 per
cent of all residential mort
gages in 2005 and 55 percent
of the subprime market,
which cany higher rates.
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Overwhelmed, Zarey tiled to find help. She
Wjrote’ U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, Gov Mike Easley,
and other elected officials. Watt and Easley
wrote letters on her behalf, but both su^ested
she hire an attorney
“Most people give up at that point and accept
what the city or state offers,” said Keenya
Justice, senior partner with The Justice Fum,
whom Zarey found while researchir^ eminent
domain. The Charlotte firm handles condem
nation and eminent domain cases.
’^ei'e’s an ongoing debate and balancing act
in Charlotte,” said Justice. “The dty is grow
ing, uifrastracture has to grow to accommo
date that growth, but roads never grow to keep
up. •
“Most people dealing with a partial' taking
like this don’t think about the implications on
the rest of their preperty” said Justice. ‘It was
a good thing she thor^t about it.”
Zarej^s case is now in litigation, but not over
the taking of her yard. “Tb fight the city over
eminent domain is hard,” said Justice. “Our
fight is compensation. 'The constitution says
that the state or city can’t take private proper
ty fca- pubhc use without just compensation.”
“There’s a conflict of interest there, the entity
tliat is taking your property is also the sole
determinant of its value,” Justice said.
Thov^ some of Zareys neighbore were will-
hig to sell, she believes it’s because they did not
own their homes.
“My husband has paid for this house, we
don't have a mortgage,” said Zarey “They want
us to move and get another house, get another
mortgage and go in debt... for the dty The dty
is growing; which is a good thing, but it’s not
good for me if I have to go in debt. ”
“Everyone likes growth imtil it adversely
affects them,” said Justice. “Think about the
diminution of property values. This was dose
to the dty on a dead end street, it was the best
of both worlds. Now it wOl be like living in a
thoroughfare.”
years — growing the infiueaice
of African-Americans in
Shepherd’s native Jefierson
Paiish.
To maintain its black
majority Jefferson’s seat has
been redrawn twice to
include other parts of the
metro area, espedally
Afiican-American sections of
East and West Jefferson.
Despite the perception that it
is a New Orleans district,
suburban voters have grown
in powei’ in the Second.
Katrina only accelerated a
trend already underway
Piior to the storms, 28 per
cent of the popiilation of the
total population of Jefferson
Parish was African-
American, with its sizable
concentrations in west bank
commxmities of Marrero and
Gretna and east back neigh
borhoods like South Kenner.
These growir^ Black neigh
borhoods sit within the 2nd
District. In the wake of
Katrina, these areas experi
enced neither overly disrup
tive flooding nor considerable
permanent population dislo
cation.
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