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Major Realty Firm Accused Of Racial Discrimination
CBS2CHICAGO ^ | 22 AUGUST 2006 | CBS2CHICAGO

Posted on 08/22/2006 9:38:43 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist

Coldwell Banker Denies Claims By National Fair Housing Alliance

(CBS) CHICAGO A well-known real estate company is in the hot seat this Tuesday morning, accused of racial bias when it comes to selling Chicago area homes.

As CBS 2’s Kristyn Hartman reports, the National Fair Housing Alliance conducted an undercover investigation of Coldwell Banker realty and says it came up with some very disturbing information.

The investigating agency says this is the third complaint nationally against the firm NRT Inc., the largest residential brokerage firm in the country and parent company to Coldwell Banker.

The National Fair Housing Alliance says it was the Coldwell Banker Gold Coast office specifically where their testers encountered discriminatory practices.

They had white and African-American testers pose as potential condominium buyers, looking for homes in such neighborhoods as Lincoln Park, the Gold Coast and Lakeview.

An Alliance spokeswoman said the investigation uncovered blatant discrimination by real estate agents against African-Americans. She said white testers saw 36 properties, while their African-American counterparts with better qualifications were shown only seven.

In one case, a real estate agent reportedly even suggested an African-American tester posing as a buyer should rent rather than buy.

At a news conference, the president of the group said agents were steering clients, which violates Fair Housing law – violations she said Chicago has seen in the past.

“Why, in Chicago, are we finding real estate agents still blatantly engaging in violations of the Fair Housing Act, these people who are working for Gold Coast?” said National Fair Housing Alliance President Shanna Smith. “You know, there are a lot of good agents in Chicago, but it only takes a handful of agents to perpetuate segregation and to limit a person’s choice.

In filing its complaint, the Alliance is preparing federal litigation and talking with the U.S. Department of Justice.

In response to the allegations, Coldwell Banker President and Chief Operating Officer Doug Ayers said in a statement: "We take the allegations made by the National Fair Housing Alliance very seriously. But we have no reason to believe at this time that there is no merit to the complaint. Our company does not tolerate discrimination, which is well documented. We will of course continue to review the allegations."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: realestate
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To: AmishDude; Calpernia; Jim Robinson

You said -- "Wow. In 5 seconds. Amazing. And some relate to this thread exclusively. Really strange thread to do this on, you know?"

It's possible that a hacker has an algorithm using relevent words "around" and in association with what the user is doing (or has files for). So, the algorithm can quickly scan documents and or files, then put together a dictionary list of key words for purposes of hacking a password -- under the assumption that people will use passwords that they are most associated and familiar with.

Thus, this attack turns into an alphabetical list of certain "combinations" of words that are picked from surrounding documents and/or files.

In light of that "hypothesis" -- no, it would not be strange. The algorithm would be doing what it was intended to do.

Regards,
Star Traveler


61 posted on 03/03/2007 9:55:27 AM PST by Star Traveler
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To: AmishDude; Calpernia; Jim Robinson

You said -- Sure he did. He said "not guilty". But he isn't tech support.

No, that's not what I read. My "reading" of Jim Robinson's statement was that he meant he wasn't the one who was acting the matter. Hence -- he was saying "not guilty" in reference to himself (not being involved in what was going on in this thread).

HOWEVER, I'll admit that I could be wrong on this particular matter -- because -- *two words* leave a lot open to "interpretation". Without further clarification (from Jim himself) -- this is what I would have to say that he meant.

I'll leave it for Jim to comment, if he wishes to. Otherwise, we could then *assume* (in the absence of a comment from him) that what I'm saying is correct.

Regards,
Star Traveler

P.S. -- Another interpretation is that the Admin is "not guilty"... who knows..., two words don't quite "cut it"....


62 posted on 03/03/2007 10:00:47 AM PST by Star Traveler
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To: Star Traveler

>>>>P.S. Calpernia..., did you make any more sense of this incident?

What you posted, makes sense; but I don't think it may be related to this incident.

I've found these words keyed into other posts.

And I found them pasted as a message post.

I did post here asking what the names were on the other words; but no one replied.


63 posted on 03/03/2007 10:14:33 AM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: AmishDude
Even though JimRob ruled you "not guilty"

Is that how you read it? I think JimRob was ruling himself not guilty.

64 posted on 03/03/2007 10:21:55 AM PST by Junior_G
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To: RSmithOpt
So, do you think Caldwell agents may have immediately checked personal info as ....the real name of the person(s), credit history, who they bank with, etc.? So, unless the National Fair Housing Alliance can create 'real' wealthy people in the system(s), how can their undercover work be legitimate?

Exactly. By this means, they can get whatever results they want. A real estate agent who receives a "buyer" who claims to be an upper-middle-class professional, but who looks and acts like a ghetto thug, is going to do what with him?

Is he going to take him at his (easily-checked as false) word and parade him thru his upper-middle-class listing and give the people who hired him the impression that he's letting gang-bangers case their homes?

A solution is to have each prospective buyer fill out a form where he attests that the facts he presents are true and accurate, and prosecute to the hilt phoney National Fair Housing Alliance people

65 posted on 03/03/2007 11:04:35 AM PST by SauronOfMordor (Never try to teach a pig to sing -- it wastes your time and it annoys the pig)
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To: Star Traveler

It's an old thread. I'll take Calpernia at his/her word. It seemed a bizarre attack and I felt Cal was being way too defensive and not as shoulder-shruggingly apologetic. But it's over now. If Jim has no problems with it, neither do I.


66 posted on 03/03/2007 1:05:21 PM PST by AmishDude (It doesn't matter whom you vote for. It matters who takes office.)
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To: Junior_G

Yes. It can go both ways. Anybody can see that. And chose which way to take it. Sometimes ambiguity is intentional. Intentional ambiguity is intent to deceive.


67 posted on 05/20/2007 3:09:14 PM PDT by Zon (Honesty outlives the lie, spin and deception -- It always has -- It always will.)
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