{"id":993,"date":"2014-03-06T09:18:03","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T14:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=993"},"modified":"2014-03-06T09:26:33","modified_gmt":"2014-03-06T14:26:33","slug":"downingtown-considers-anti-discrimination-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=993","title":{"rendered":"Downingtown considers anti-discrimination law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Council splits over creation of commission as part of proposed ordinance<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Nate Adams<\/strong>, Correspondent, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"DowningtownCouncil\"<\/a>

Downingtown Borough Council Vice President Alex Rakoff makes a point during discussion over a proposed ordinance banning discrimination, during Wednesday night’s council session.<\/p><\/div>\n

DOWNINGTOWN \u2014 A proposed ordinance aimed at developing a commission to protect borough residents from discrimination sparked debate from council members at Wednesday\u2019s Downingtown Borough Council meeting.<\/p>\n

Ordinance 2014-05, which was discussed for potential future adoption by council, calls for a statement of policy and the creation of a human relations commission \u201cto ensure that all individuals, regardless \u2026 of race, color, sex, religion \u2026 sexual orientation, gender identity or expression \u2026 be given equal opportunities for employment, housing and the use of public accommodations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new commission, as outlined in the ordinance, would \u201cpromote mutual understanding \u2026 make studies to the status of human relations in the borough \u2026 [and] act as a referral group for complaints of alleged discrimination and refer complaints to the appropriate social, civic or government agencies for further action.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to council Vice President Alex Rakoff, who said the ordinance was developed based off a similar ordinance in Bethlehem, more than 30 municipalities across the state have created such human relations committees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no specific incident [that inspired this ordinance],\u201d he said. \u201cWhen is there timing to do the right thing?\u201d<\/p>\n

While members of council stated their support for the ordinance in spirit, council members Nick Winkler and Ann Feldman expressed concerns with creating a commission, citing potential future costs to the taxpayers and overreaching powers granted within the ordinance as main points of contention.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe agree on principle, but we disagree on rolling it out,\u201d Winkler said. \u201cLet\u2019s come up with a mediator or a committee. We\u2019re giving residents a tremendous amount of authority for an issue that isn\u2019t an issue here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feldman questioned the timing of such an ordinance and called it a redundancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see this as a layer of bureaucracy that could cost the taxpayers more,\u201d she said. \u201cI find the idea of a committee with expanded responsibilities unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Josh Maxwell expressed support for the ordinance, saying that he had spoken to representatives from West Chester and Doylestown where such ordinances have been adopted, and that local support in other municipalities was strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people in this community who would be happy to have a resource like this in the area,\u201d he said. \u201cIt applies to people in our town who maybe aren\u2019t us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another point of contention on the board was the proposed ordinance\u2019s extension to include residents based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Currently\u2019 the state\u2019s Human Relations Act does not expand its protection based on sexual identity or orientation. Rakoff said that the ordinance\u2019s expansion was included to offer a resource to residents and to make a statement to state lawmakers that this should be reexamined.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a statement,\u201d he said. \u201cHarrisburg won\u2019t move without change from the ground up. There is no legal protection for LGBT. This can give hope for resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winkler expressed concerns about creating a group with municipal powers that exist outside the state\u2019s legal purview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is the power this gives the commission,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy not create a committee for mediation? If we want to talk it out in a good neighbor way, we can do that without all the bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council adopted the ordinance for discussion at a future meeting, with members saying they would support an ordinance that made a policy of nondiscrimination for all residents, but that the commission would be addressed and changed before final passage.<\/p>\n

The next borough council meeting is scheduled for March 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Council splits over creation of commission as part of proposed ordinance By Nate Adams, Correspondent, The Times DOWNINGTOWN \u2014 A proposed ordinance aimed at developing a commission to protect borough residents from discrimination sparked debate from council members at Wednesday\u2019s Downingtown Borough Council meeting. Ordinance 2014-05, which was discussed for potential future adoption by council, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8],"tags":[52,51,797,796],"class_list":["post-993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-borough-council","tag-downingtown","tag-mayor-josh-maxwell","tag-ordinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}