California IN BRIEF : INDIO : Residents Sue Over Condemnation Plan

Residents of a low-income neighborhood in Indio have filed a lawsuit challenging the city’s plan to condemn their homes to make way for a shopping mall expansion. About 300 mostly black and Latino residents in a three-block area would be displaced by the project, which would double the size of the Indio Fashion Mall. Attorneys for the residents criticized as inadequate a replacement housing package offered by the city. They also said many residents will be left homeless because of a shortage of affordable dwellings in the desert city southeast of Palm Springs. The class-action suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, charges the city with violating civil rights and fair housing laws and seeks to block condemnation of the homes.