Redevelopment Has Cost Reader His Home

Redevelopment has an interesting history. The fact that Congress robbed the American Indians of their land is information I learned way back in high school; I never gave a second thought about living on land that was taken from the Mexicans in the 19th Century; I hardly glanced at the stories written about the relocation of people in Bassett; I didn’t take notice a year ago when families were being moved out of Covina. It never occurred to me that I was shopping on land where these people once had their homes.

Now, the shoe is on the other foot. The city of La Puente has decided they can confiscate my home, and other low-income properties in my neighborhood, and sell them to investors at a profit. Someday you might buy goods and services at the location where my home once stood.

Mine is not an isolated case; it could happen to you. According to U.S. government records, in 1989 our free Democratic society seized the private property of 500,000 households and forcibly relocated 1.4-million people. There are 240 redevelopment programs in Los Angeles County alone.

There is no liberty or justice for me or my family, and my heart goes out to the millions of people who have had their lives disrupted and destroyed by the greed that comes from too much money and too little property to spend it on. It is truly a tragedy that cities such as La Puente can arbitrarily and without good reason confiscate people’s homes and property.

RICHARD CURTS

La Puente