Thread: Agreement to close SoCal migrant park may be near

Agreement to close SoCal migrant park may be near

The Associated Press
10:08 a.m. February 24, 2009

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A desert mobile home park that houses thousands of migrant workers, many of them in the country illegally, could close soon after years of government complaints that it is dangerous and rundown, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Owner Harvey Duro and the government are nearing a formal agreement for closure, U.S. attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said Monday.

Duro had been receiving $7,000 a month from rental payments collected by the nonprofit Duroville Renaissance Corp., which manages the Desert Mobile Home Park, popularly known as Duroville.

However, a judge halted the payments in December, saying Duro had failed to keep promises to fix problems.

"If I can't get a fair shake, why not close?" he said.

U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Larson refused to reinstate the payments during a hearing last week. A trial on whether to close the park is scheduled to begin April 7.

On Monday, the judge took under advisement a government request to close the park without a trial but did not say when he might rule.
The 40-acre Coachella Valley camp has about 300 mobile homes, and its population can grow to 6,000 during the valley's harvest season.

The government first tried to close the park in 2003. It has been repeatedly cited for health and safety violations such as open sewage, faulty wiring and fire hazards.

Duro said the loss of income had prompted him to stop fighting to keep the park open.

"They're using my property and using my equipment there, but I'm getting nothing out of it," he said after the hearing. "To me, they're in trespass because I have no say in it."

He accused the judge and prosecutors of racial discrimination. The park is on the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Reservation. Duro is a tribal member.

"It's ridiculous," Mrozek said of Duro's accusation. "This case from the start has been about the health and safety of the residents at Duroville, period. We're looking at a facility where the potential for loss of life is very, very real."

Mark Adams, an attorney for the court-appointed Duroville Renaissance Corp., said there have been significant safety improvements in recent months.

Riverside County wants to keep the park open at least until the end of 2010 so there is time to find new housing for the tenants, said Tom Freeman, a spokesman for the county Economic Development Agency.
The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is asking for $25 million in federal funds to relocate residents, but the money has not been approved.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... ndex=57764

The 40-acre Coachella Valley camp has about 300 mobile homes, and its population can grow to 6,000 during the valley's harvest season.

That would average 20 people to one mobile home.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

The 40-acre Coachella Valley camp has about 300 mobile homes, and its population can grow to 6,000 during the valley's harvest season.

That would average 20 people to one mobile home. 8O

Some of the people have already moved out and taken their trailers or RVs with them.
Many of the migrants tow a travel trailer in, or drive an old motor home in, for the season.

U.S. EPA orders Coachella Valley mobile home owners to comply with drinking water, waste requirements

Release date: 10/05/2007

Contact Information: Francisco Arcaute Cell: (213) 798-1404

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has ordered Coachella Valley mobile home owners Scott Lawson and Harvey Duro to comply with federal drinking water and waste requirements.

The Oasis Mobile Home Park, Indian Village Mobile Home Park, and Desert Mobile Home Park provide housing for several thousand residents and are located on the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Reservation in the Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs, California.

The EPA and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have recently stepped up efforts to insure human health and environmental protection at mobile home parks located in the area. In July, the Bureau of Indian Affairs conducted an emergency inspection of the Desert Mobile Home Park. In August, the EPA and the BIA conducted joint health and safety assessments of three additional mobile home parks on the reservation.

“These actions will help insure the health and safety of residents living in these trailer parks,â€

Closing arguments start over Calif. migrant camp
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, The Associated Press
Thursday, April 30, 2009

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) -- Conditions at a migrant housing encampment on tribal land are so poor that the only solution is to close it, even though several thousand residents would be displaced, a federal prosecutor said Thursday during closing arguments of a trial to determine the park's fate.

www.sddt.com

Judge refuses to shut down dilapidated migrant camp

ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:00 a.m. May 1, 2009

RIVERSIDE – A federal judge refused yesterday to close a squalid migrant encampment on tribal land where thousands of farmworkers live in broken-down trailers without hot water along dirt streets roamed by wild dogs.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson ruled Desert Mobile Home Park will remain open until alternative housing can be built, but he banned new tenants. He also appointed a court receiver to manage the park for two years and oversee repairs to shabby electrical, water and sewage systems.
Prosecutors said conditions at the rural Riverside County encampment, known as Duroville, are so poor that the only solution is to close it, even though up to 4,000 residents would be displaced.

“We now have over 250 mobile homes (there), and even though the court has acted to clean up some of the worst conditions, we still have multiple and serious health and safety concerns,â€