WHEREAS: APRIL 2004 marks the thirty-sixth anniversary of passage of the Fair Housing Law as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which was comprehensively revised by passage of the federal Fair Housing Act of 1988, to protect the rights of all to fair and equal opportunity for housing without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin; and
WHEREAS: The City of Lawrence, following its long tradition of leading the way in the struggle to achieve the ideal of freedom and justice for all, adopted its first Fair Housing Ordinance on July 19, 1967, adopting comprehensive amendments in 1972, 1983, 1994 and 1995, each of which included and expanded the Fair Housing provisions of the City’s Human Relations policy in Chapter X, Article 1, of the City Code, to protect all from discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national origin, age, ancestry, familial status, sexual orientation, or disability, which was ruled in 1994 to be substantially equivalent to the federal Fair Housing Act of 1988; and
WHEREAS: The State of Kansas adopted Fair Housing legislation in 1970, which was amended significantly in 1991 and 1992 to expand the remedies and options available relative to Fair Housing, and to protect all from discrimination in housing on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, or ancestry; and
WHEREAS: Fair Housing is consistent with the principles of freedom and justice for all, upon which the United States of America, the State of Kansas, and the City of Lawrence each were founded; and
WHEREAS: The month of APRIL 2004 provides an opportunity for all Lawrence citizens to rededicate themselves to the principle of freedom of choice and equal housing opportunity and to reacquaint themselves with the rights and responsibilities that are theirs under the local, state, and national Fair Housing laws;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Mike Rundle, Mayor of the City of Lawrence, Kansas, in conjunction with the annual national celebration, do hereby proclaim the month of APRIL 2004 to be
“FAIR HOUSING MONTH”
in Lawrence, and ask the people of Lawrence to join me in reaffirming our obligation to fair and equal housing opportunity for every person who resides or wishes to reside in our city.
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Mike Rundle, Mayor
April 20, 2004