To the editor:
"Fair Housing is Your Right!" proclaim several recent ads run in the Journal-World by the Lawrence Human Relations Commission. "The right to live where you choose ... to own or rent a home ... is a fundamental right guaranteed to all" which "cannot be denied to anyone" because of (among others) familial status or sexual orientation.
How then is it that our city commission has passed an ordinance to limit residency in single-family-zoned neighborhoods to a chosen number of unrelated people? Both familial status and sexual orientation directly affect what could be constructed as "relatedness," and age and other socio-economic factors may also strongly influence choice of housing. Does the city commission intend to violate the city's own fair housing laws in order to appease disgruntled citizens who are dissatisfied with current noise, trash, and parking ordinances and/or their enforcement?
Let us hope not! It is not the role of the government in a democracy to determine who lives where or the number and kinds of people that constitute an acceptable household.
Responsible citizens don't need to infringe on the basic rights of others to protect themselves from unpleasantness (whatever they perceive that to be). If better enforcement of existing nuisance laws is needed then that should be addressed. If landlords need to be made more responsive to complaints about unneighborly tenants, then that should be addressed.
But let's not open a very large, unsavory can of civic worms in order to deal with beer cans in our yards.
Betsy Boyce,
Lawrence
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