Yonkers Asks High Court to Stay Fines
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YONKERS, N. Y. — The city appealed to the Supreme Court on Tuesday to block massive fines against Yonkers and to void jail terms for four city councilmen whose opposition to a court-ordered desegregation plan threatens to break the city’s budget.
The state’s fourth-largest city asked Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall to stay an Aug. 2 contempt of court citation and accompanying fines against Yonkers and the four councilmen.
U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand issued the citation a day after the City Council voted 4 to 3 to reject Sand’s plan to build 800 low-cost apartments in predominantly white, middle-class neighborhoods.
Each of the councilmen can be jailed and must pay $500 a day in fines until they reverse their votes under Sand’s contempt citation. The personal fines were stayed temporarily by an appeals court, as were fines against the city.
If the Supreme Court upholds the citation, the fines could be reinstated as early as Saturday and the councilmen could be jailed Sunday.
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