Latino Family Evicted to Pave Way for Gentrification, Suit Charges

By Oliver Lukacs

Jan 23 -- Hoping to make a stand against an alleged wave of "gentrification" whitewashing the Pico Neighborhood, a family on Thursday announced they are filing a federal lawsuit charging they are being driven out of Santa Monica's only minority neighborhood because they are Latino and have kids.

Candido and Elvira C. Vivanco and their four children, who are being evicted from the rent-controlled apartment they have lived in for 17 years, are charging their landlord, Jaroslava Liska, with racial discrimination, harassment and violation of a slew of municipal, State and federal laws.

Expected to be filed by Monday in the U.S. District Court, the 36-page complaint -- which also names Aricka Traylor, an African-American mother of five, as a plaintiff -- was released at a press conference in the family's apartment.

The lawsuit alleges that in 1987, when Liska assumed ownership of the apartment at 1711 Delaware Avenue, she "started a campaign of eliminating low income tenants of color with children in favor of single non-colored tenants," said Dario Navarro, a veteran civil rights lawyer representing the family.

The Vivanco family eviction would cap a 16 year "campaign" of "gentrification" that has replaced families of color with mostly single whites in all nine apartments "through egregious tenant harassment, continuing civil rights violations and shocking tortuous misconduct," according to the complaint.

Liska -- whose eviction notice alleges the family is loud and disruptive -- could not be reached for comment.

The allegations made in the Vivanco family's lawsuit are backed by 15 verified complaints -- sworn notarized affidavits attested to under penalty of perjury -- by prior and current tenants. The lawsuit makes eight independent claims that Liska violated numerous laws, including California civil codes, Santa Monica housing and tenant laws, and most importantly, the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

The suit also alleges that Liska "refused" to rent to Aricka Traylor "because of race, national origin and familial status," according to the complaint.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount in monetary compensation to be determined in court for emotional distress, mental anguish, and humiliation "directly caused by the continuing harassment and discrimination,"

Other damages allegedly caused by Liska's behavior are Candido Vivanco's "life-threatening" heart condition and damages to 9-year-old Teresa Vivanco's "cognitive development and educational achievement," incurred from stress.

Elvira Vivanco, the mother and housewife who is the central plaintiff, said through a translator that the family submitted to the harassment for so long "out of fear of getting evicted" and "for lack of knowledge of (our) rights."

Speaking softly, her arms folded, Elvira, a recently naturalized American citizen, said they "didn't want to fight," they just wanted to raise their children in a relatively good neighborhood. But the eviction -- which would push them out of Santa Monica into a poorer neighborhood with under funded schools -- finally forced her act.

"We just want justice, that's all," she said with a thick Spanish accent, standing in the doorway of her cramped living room, a large sparkling painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the background.

The alleged harassment involved prohibiting the children from playing outside or inviting friends over. "They were like prisoners in their own apartment," Navarro said.

In addition, the family was allegedly forced to remove a picture of the Virgin from their window, although a white tenant was allowed to display an American flag. The suit also alleges that the family was charged additional rent for each child and had to make repairs that were the landlord's responsibility.

The harassment allegedly intensified two years ago after the building was rehabbed following the rapid eviction of two other colored families, one with a handicapped mother with three kids.

The alleged harassment peaked when Liska screamed at the children to stay indoors, and even posted a sign that still remains on the parking lot side of the building that says: "This parking lot is not a playground nor a party area. Children and adults are forbidden to play on the premises."

School Board member Oscar de la Torre said the lawsuit was a community effort, which was illustrated by the presence of Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights activists, Mothers for Justice (of which Elvira is a member) and the Legal Aid Fund of Los Angeles (LAFLA), a co-prosecutor in the case.

"It's a community effort because everybody sees the stakes are so high," de la Torre said, noting an observed increase of similar evictions in the last two years. "If we would lose this case, and this family can be evicted, there's no hope for the other families. It would send a signal that the diversity in Santa Monica is going to be lost."

"They did not want to initiate legal action," said SMRR member and former school board president Patricia Hoffman, "They just wanted to raise their children here peacefully and hopefully retire here as well."

Asked if SMRR has seen this kind of behavior by landlords towards white tenants, Michael Tarbet, an organizer for the tenants' rights group, said:.

"We've seen this kind of behavior across the board, because landlords are greedy," Tarbet said. "In general, landlords just want money. They don't care how they get it."

"Just the bringing of the suit itself it will stop the increase in that kind of activity and hopefully slow it down," said Tarbet