Los Angeles paid Black family 20 million for waterfront
2023.01.04 11:55
Los Angeles paid Black family 20 million for waterfront
Budrigannews.com – Los Angeles County will spend $20 million to buy a prime beachfront property from the heirs of an African-American couple who were given the land back a century ago after local officials took it from them in an unfair way.
Janice Hahn, chairperson of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, stated in a tweet on Tuesday that the Bruce family has informed county officials that they have made the decision to sell Bruce’s Beach to the county for the estimated value of the Manhattan Beach property.
Hahn wrote that the dispute “has always been about what is best for the family, and they feel that selling this property and finally rebuilding the generational wealth they were denied for nearly a century” is what is best for them.
Willa and Charles Bruce’s great-grandsons received the deed to the 7,000 square foot (650 square meter) property in July from county officials. Prior to the county’s eminent domain claim in 1924, the Bruces owned the land.
In order to make amends for decades of exploitation of Black Americans by predatory developers, which was exacerbated by segregation and a lack of access to the legal system, the movement to return the land to the family was part of a wave of reparative justice that has gained traction in parts of the United States.
In segregated and discriminatory Los Angeles County in the early 20th century, the property had been a rare resort where Black people could gather to enjoy the beach before it was taken over by the county.
Politicians and activists came to the conclusion that racism was the real reason for eminent domain, and in 2021, a state law was enacted to allow the land to be returned to the family’s heirs.
A training facility for lifeguards occupies the land now. The Bruce family had agreed to lease it to the county for $413,000 per year when it was returned, but the county still had the option to purchase it.
More Goldman Sachs Expects M&A Market Recovery in 2023
