Los Angeles city officials and downtown developers who evicted or
harassed about 100 low-income residents of the Alexandria Hotel must
pay almost $1 million to house and compensate the victims under a
settlement announced Thursday.
The agreement followed a December
2007 lawsuit by 10 longtime residents of the once-elegant hotel at
Fifth and Spring streets and a federal judge's order last year that the
city and its Community Redevelopment Agency locate and assist the
displaced -- and potentially homeless.
Islas and his Amerland Group development firm, Logan Property
Management, the city and the CRA -- alleged that the defendants
"systematically and intentionally worked to remove the long-term
tenants of the Alexandria and replace them with non-elderly,
non-disabled and non-African American tenants."
Under the
settlement, the defendants must provide $400,000 for those kicked out
of the hotel, ostensibly to allow for renovations, or subjected to
power, water and elevator cutoffs aimed at driving them out.
An additional $550,000 in damages was agreed for the 10 named plaintiffs and their attorneys.
Hilda Quintana, 72, who has lived in two rooms
of the historic hotel for more than a quarter of a century, was one of
the 10 who fought to stay.
"They tried everything. It was ugly
at first, with this one woman putting padlocks on the doors. But being
an Indian, I don't give up easy," said Quintana, who continued to pay
her $600 monthly rent despite the conditions.
"The settlement
goes beyond the Alexandria because within the agreement are changes to
Community Redevelopment Agency policies on in-place rehabilitation,"
said Barbara Schultz, senior attorney with Legal Aid Foundation of Los
Angeles.
She said the provisions ensure that "the Alexandria
situation doesn't recur" in downtown's ever-shrinking
affordable-housing market.
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