Feds want trailer park shut down

[flashl]

Source: Chicago Tribune

A toxic home, but still home

TORRES MARTINEZ INDIAN RESERVATION, Calif. - Until recently, children and adults wandered barefoot over raw sewage in this mobile home park for farmworkers.

Just behind the trailers, smoke rose from a dump. Teachers believed the fumes caused children to act strangely dazed in school.

...

Welcome to a place known as Duroville, home to about 6,000 people, where the squalor is so shocking that the federal government wants it shut down, even if families must go homeless.

A federal judge last week stopped short of closing the Coachella Valley trailer-home park, ordering what one lawyer called a precedent-setting receivership because the camp is on sovereign American Indian land.

Chicago Tribune

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-duroville_bdfeb17,1,2049305.story

---

No words.

[mitchtv]

1. It is local news here

There are about 3K people there at "Duroville" that will be dispaced. The place is actually in unlivable condition. The owner needs to be in jail.He is now adding some of the necessities called for by the judge. Hardly enough; if history says anything, nothing will change, as this has been festering for years.The farm industry here Coachella Valley, and Imperial Valley need help badly and things like this only makes things worse.

[shraby]

2. Why doesn't the tribe weigh in on this?

[mitchtv]

3. The tribe is of the poorest of the "gaming" tribes

their reservation has become the illegal dumping ground of the area, along with the Salton Sea drying up. They are beset with environmental problems. Apparently the small casino helpsonly marginally, That whole area is gross and there are fires all the time, and the county FD can't work there.

[flashl]

4. .

...

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, through the U.S. Attorney's Office, filed a lawsuit in October seeking a permanent injunction to halt operations at the Desert Mobile Home Park, better known as “Duroville,” after its owner, Harvey Duro, a member of the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian tribe.
...
The BIA has argued that the 40-acre property, located on tribal land, poses a health and safety hazard to residents, as well as the surrounding area.
...
A BIA official who toured Duroville with Larson said that raw sewage was leaking from some trailers and that drinking water and electrical wiring were substandard. There were also concerns that the hundreds of trailers parked within a few feet of each other represented a fire hazard.
...
An estimated 2,000 to 6,000 migrant workers and their families live at the park, which includes a used car lot, liquor store and junkyard.

Riverside County officials have expressed concerns over where Duroville residents would go in the event of a shutdown. Supervisor Roy Wilson, whose district includes Thermal, has said he would only support closing the facility if time were granted for residents to find other accommodations.
...
Ray Torres, chairman of the Torres-Martinez tribe, has proposed an ordinance to control growth at Duroville and institute building and safety measures as an alternative to closure.

Judge will rule whether Thermal mobile home park closes

---

Duroville in much better hands of judge-appointed receivers

A federal judge is doing the responsible thing by appointing three very capable people to manage the ramshackle Duroville, which for now avoids creating a flood of homelessness in the Coachella Valley.

The move keeps more than 4,000 tenants in their homes for the time being, saves the county about $25 million in social services that would be spent in emergency response to help the families if they became homeless, and gives the owner of the trailer park the direction he needs to make the required improvements.

...

Because Larson took the time to tour the mobile home park in December, he likely realized that complete closure of Duroville would have a domino effect that would negatively impact too many people and local commerce.

The majority of the people who live in Duroville are migrant farmworkers. They work the fields of a $500 million agriculture industry in the Coachella Valley. The average worker makes less than $15,000 a year and can barely afford the $275 per month rent offered in Duroville.

Larson has shown compassion and leadership in making very difficult decisions. Everyone involved is fortunate to have him as the judge presiding over the Duroville situation.

[jwirr]

5. Okay, who owns this camp grounds and why is it on Indian land?

What is going on that this article is not telling us? I am very worried when sovereignty is threatened but on the other hand I do not like people treated that way. If it is the native owner then the BIA should be asked to deal with it. If it is the growers who do not provide living space for their workers then they should be handled by the state. That way both issues can be respected.

[flashl]

6. The receivership and threat to this tribe's sovereignty is troubling ...

A method used in the courts by this admin is setting up a demonstration or precedent setting case to further their plans. Comments earlier suggest that this is a poor tribe, a prime candidate, for a precedent case.

It is a sad situation for all, the tribe member who is overwhelmed and the farm workers who are living in squalor.

[mitchtv]

10. First of all the oxnwer is Indian

second the BIA has been involved , that is why it is in federal not county court.
Thirdly, the inhabitants are mainly Mexican farm workers. The only threat is that if the owner doesn't clean up this pigsty it will get closed down. Tribal sovereignty is not an issue. As far as I am concerned the growers should be forced to provide housing.

[jwirr]

11. Hopefully, you are right but as the above poster said this administration

may be using them to break sovereignty. However, if that is the case I would suggest that *ss has taken on more than just a poor little tribe. When it comes to sovereignty issues the tribes stand together.

[mitchtv]

13. Harvey Duro is a slumlord

Raw sewage , the works. This shit has been going on for years ( at least since I moved here in '02). It's one thing after another with this mobilehome community. I don't care what is the intent . His property has become a danger to the community violating just about every ordinamce about housing thatwe have. The tribe seems disinterested, certainly there has been no objection from them. They have a casino, so They are not hurting as much as before ( tho it is the smallest of the bunch). Every year Fires, garbage fires it's got to stop

[LeftyMom]

14. The housing the growers provide isn't usually any better

and often doesn't have room for families. Then again, the field housing is generally meant to be very temporary, since field work is short and seasonal in nature.

Seems to me it would cost more to rehome so many families than it would to help cover the cost of the sanitation upgrades. Hell, if the materials were provided there are probably residents who know how to do a lot of the work involved, which would keep costs down.

[pattmarty]

7. We ought to get together an "album" of pictures of........

...... all of these places in the US (and there are probably more than I know) and circulate wherever to get as much exposure on our BECOMING a third world country in the very near future UNLESS we change it now.

[flashl]

9. Like ...

U.S. Roots in Pictures

[Sam Ervin jret]

8. Maybe they could offer them FISA trailers, I hear the feds did a bang up job on that.

The native tribes need to handle this, in cooperation, as a whole group not as single tribes. one poor tribe will set a dangerous precedent for all the others.

[mitchtv]

12. Heh like when Cyclamates were sent

to Cambodia