City alleges building owner discriminated against Latino tenants
Criminal charges were filed Monday against the landlord of an eastside neighborhood apartment building who allegedly tried to intimidate her Mexican-American tenants into leaving their rent-controlled apartment.
Jaroslava Liska, who owns the six-unit complex at 1711 Delaware Ave. in Santa Monica, is accused of illegally attempting to evict the Vivanco family, who has lived in the apartment for more than 17 years.
The building is occupied mostly by recent college graduates and the Vivancos are the last Latino residents, neighbors said.
Liska allegedly dislikes family renters so much that she allegedly didn’t allow the Vivanco’s children to play outside or have friends over, according to the charges filed by the Santa Monica City Attorney’s office. The charges also accuse Liska of allegedly yelling at the Vivanco children and trying to get the family to sign a lease increasing their rent if they had any more children.
The Vivancos pay $654 per month for their two-bedroom apartment, while similar units in the building go for more than $1,000, neighbors said.
Liska sent the Vivancos a 30-day notice in December, alleging the family is disruptive to neighbors because their four children play outside, kick balls against the apartment walls and play loud music.
Candido and Elvira Vivanco responded by filing a complaint with Santa Monica City Hall in December. The family launched a civil lawsuit against Liska in January alleging racial discrimination, harassment and violating several state and federal laws.
Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky said City Hall decided to levy criminal charges after concluding an investigation of its own.
Liska faces two counts of intimidation or coercion, two counts of harassment and one count of child discrimination. Each count carries a maximum penalty of $2,700 and six months in jail.
She is scheduled to be arraigned in Santa Monica Superior Court June 3.
Neither Liska, who lives in Santa Monica, nor her Santa Monica attorney, Eric Meller, returned calls Monday seeking comment.
Liska has not moved forward with court proceedings to remove the family from the building. With the lawsuits pending, the Vivancos still reside in the apartment.
The five violations Liska is charged with fall under the Tenant Harassment Ordinance, which was passed by the City Council in 1995. Radinsky said the ordinance was passed to protect tenants from unscrupulous landlords seeking to profit off the recently passed vacancy decontrol law.
More than 500 formal complaints have been filed with the city under the ordinance and the vast majority of them are resolved out of court, Radinsky said.
More than a dozen of the complaints have led to criminal or civil charges, he added. Only two have lasted through an entire trial, with both cases being found in favor of the tenants.
A host of religious and community leaders — including Father Michael Gutierrez, the pastor at Saint Anne’s Church in Santa Monica, and Oscar de la Torre, director of the Pico Neighborhood Youth and Family Center and a local school board member — have come out in support of the Vivanco family.
Neighbors on Monday said they hope the family will stay.
“Our landlord is full of it,” said Marc Clebanoff, who has lived in the building just over a year. “It’s a pretty ridiculous thing. I’m in full support of the family.”
“Our landlord is full of it. It’s a pretty ridiculous thing. I’m in full support of the family.” — — MARC CLEBANOFF Neighbor
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 6, 2003. Read the original PDF.