Current:Home > FinanceBlack and Latino families displaced from Palm Springs neighborhood reach $27M tentative settlement-InfoLens
Black and Latino families displaced from Palm Springs neighborhood reach $27M tentative settlement
View Date:2024-12-23 15:04:53
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Black and Latino families who were pushed out of a Palm Springs neighborhood in the 1960s reached a $27 million tentative settlement agreement with the city that will largely go toward increasing housing access.
The deal was announced Wednesday, and the city council will vote on it Thursday. The history of displacement that took place there had been largely forgotten until recent years, said Areva Martin, a lawyer representing more than 300 former residents and hundreds of descendants.
“The fact that we got this over the finish line is remarkable given the headwinds that we faced,” Martin said.
The deal is much smaller than the $2.3 billion the families previously sought as restitution for their displacement.
It includes $5.9 million in compensation for former residents and descendants, $10 million for a first-time homebuyer assistance program, $10 million for a community land trust and the creation of a monument to commemorate the history of the neighborhood known as Section 14.
It has not been determined how much each family or individual would receive in direct compensation, Martin said. Money for housing assistance would go toward low-income Palm Springs residents, with priority given to former Section 14 residents and descendants.
“The City Council is deeply gratified that that the former residents of Section 14 have agreed to accept what we believe is a fair and just settlement offer,” Mayor Jeffrey Bernstein said in a statement.
The city council voted in 2021 to issue a formal apology to former residents for the city’s role in displacing them in the 1960s from the neighborhood that many Black and Mexican American families called home.
The tentative deal comes as reparations efforts at the state level have yielded mixed results. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in September to formally apologize for the state’s legacy of racism and discrimination against Black residents. But state lawmakers blocked a bill that would have created an agency to administer reparations programs, and Newsom vetoed a proposal that would have helped Black families reclaim property that was seized unjustly by the government through eminent domain.
Section 14 was a square-mile neighborhood on a Native American reservation that many Black and Mexican American families once called home. Families recalled houses being burned and torn down in the area before residents were told to vacate their homes.
They filed a tort claim with the city in 2022 that argued the tragedy was akin to the violence that decimated a vibrant community known as Black Wall Street more than a century ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma, leaving as many as 300 people dead. There were no reported deaths in connection with the displacement of families from Section 14.
Pearl Devers, a Palmdale resident who lived in Section 14 with her family until age 12, said the agreement was a long-overdue acknowledgement of how families’ lives were forever changed by the displacement.
“While no amount of money can fully restore what we lost, this agreement helps pave the way for us all to finally move forward,” she said in a statement.
___
Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @ sophieadanna
veryGood! (4349)
Related
- Louisville officials mourn victims of 'unthinkable' plant explosion amid investigation
- Santa Fe considers tax on mansions as housing prices soar
- Cover crops help the climate and environment but most farmers say no. Many fear losing money
- Video captures final screams of pro cyclist Mo Wilson after accused killer Kaitlin Armstrong tracked her on fitness app, prosecutor says
- Let Demi Moore’s Iconic Fashion Give You More Inspiration
- New Study Warns of an Imminent Spike of Planetary Warming and Deepens Divides Among Climate Scientists
- Officers fatally shoot knife-wielding man at a popular California restaurant after machete attack
- Cattle grazing is ruining the habitat of 2 endangered bird species along Arizona river, lawsuit says
- Mike Tyson has lived a wild life. These 10 big moments have defined his career
- Disney to acquire the remainder of Hulu from Comcast for roughly $8.6 billion
Ranking
- Fire crews gain greater control over destructive Southern California wildfire
- 'The Office' creator Greg Daniels talks potential reboot, Amazon's 'Upload' and WGA strike
- AP Week in Pictures: Global | Oct. 27 - Nov. 2, 2023
- Bank of England keeps main UK interest rate unchanged at 15-year high of 5.25%
- Richard Allen found guilty in the murders of two teens in Delphi, Indiana. What now?
- Mark Davis can't be trusted (again) to make the right call for his Raiders
- Tuberville pressured by Republicans on Senate floor to end hold on military nominations
- Horoscopes Today, November 2, 2023
Recommendation
-
The Best Gifts for People Who Don’t Want Anything
-
Gerry Turner explains his wild lion tattoo before 'Golden Bachelor' heads to hometowns
-
The average long-term US mortgage rate slips to 7.76% in first drop after climbing 7 weeks in a row
-
Titans vs. Steelers live updates: Predictions, odds, how to watch Thursday Night Football
-
Bitcoin has topped $87,000 for a new record high. What to know about crypto’s post-election rally
-
Man and 1-year-old boy shot and killed in Montana residence, suspects detained
-
Pakistan’s parliament elections delayed till early February as political and economic crises deepen
-
Jennifer Lopez Reveals How Ben Affleck Has Influenced Her Relaxed Personal Chapter