Woman goes on hunger strike after being evicted
LOS ANGELES CITY HALL — Elected officials on Tuesday unanimously requested that all parties return to the negotiating table over the recent evictions at Lincoln Place, an affordable housing complex in Venice.
Dozens of tenants took to the streets more than a week ago after deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department forced their removal from Lincoln Place, a 54-year-old post-World War II apartment complex located on the 1000 block of Elkgrove Avenue. The sheriff’s department was acting on a court order requested by Denver-based Apartment Investment Management Co. (AIMCO), the landlord which plans to redevelop Lincoln Place into condominiums.
Meanwhile, local politicians said AIMCO’s move may make it difficult for the company to expedite development projects in the Los Angeles area in the future. The Los Angeles City Council unanimously supported a motion from City Councilman Bill Rosendahl to urge AIMCO, the Lincoln Place Tenants Association, and historical preservationists to return to negotiations.
“Everyone must come together and find a resolution,” Rosendahl said. “These evictions are intolerable. We cannot continue to see the middle-class and affordable housing be squeezed out of the west-side.”
In October, AIMCO was prepared to provide as many as 180 Lincoln Place households with apartments at the site, in which they would pay below market rent for life. In addition, 50 more units also were to be designated as historical and would not be redeveloped, under the terms of the settlement. Some tenants were offered between $3,000 and $10,000 a piece to relocate.
The settlements fell through, due to the tenants’ distrust of AIMCO, they said.
The City Council also unanimously approved a second motion made by Rosendahl directing various city departments to conduct a sweeping review of the state Ellis Act and make recommendations for it be reformed on the state level. The Ellis Act, which has been used by AIMCO, allows landlords to go out of the rental business and evict tenants so long as they redevelop the property into condominiums.
Rosendahl said the act has been abused and misinterpreted, resulting in widespread condo conversions and reducing affordable housing stock citywide.
The Ellis Act motion will be heard before the City Council's Housing Committee before the holidays, according to City Councilman Eric Garcetti, who chairs the committee.
Rosendahl said he also contacted State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who has agreed to investigate potential reforms of the Ellis Act. Rosendahl has been meeting with state lawmakers to alert them to the problem and find a champion of such reform in Sacramento.
Tuesday’s action came after nearly 90 minutes of deliberations on the Lincoln Place evictions.
Lincoln Place tenants were present to speak at the meeting. One of them was Maria Luisa Colores, who’s been fasting for seven days in the hopes that it will send a message and will allow her and her fellow neighbors to return to their units.
Venice and neighboring communities have shown their support for the locked-out and remaining tenants by contacting city leaders and by providing food and moral support to the tenants’ tent city, which was erected last week.
On Dec. 9, Father Tomas Elis from St. Clement's Catholic Church led an ecumenical mass with Reverend Janet McKeithen of the Church in Ocean Park and Pastor Tom Ziegert of the Venice United Methodist Church. Rosendahl said approximately 200 tenants and members of the community attended.
AIMCO has indicated it will evict the 100 remaining households, who are elderly and disabled, by March 2006.
Aaron Gross, a representative from Rosendahl’s office, said the councilman has been in direct contact with AIMCO and hopes the company will come around.
“We’ve been unsuccessful so far, but Bill is holding out hope,” Gross said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 14, 2005. Read the original PDF.