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RIVERSIDE (California) PRESS-ENTERPRISE January 29, 2008 Riverside County asks judge to put 'Duroville' into receivership
Riverside County and a nonprofit legal group are asking a federal judge to hand over management of a troubled Coachella Valley mobile-home park to a court-appointed administrator. The federal government filed a lawsuit in October to close Desert Mobile Home Park -- also known as "Duros" or "Duroville" -- because of what it alleges are dangerous conditions stemming from a slew of health and environmental violations. The park, near the Salton Sea, is inhabited mostly by poor farmworker families. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Larson was scheduled to hold a hearing on the park Monday but he delayed it until Feb. 11. A decision to close the park is possible. In a letter filed Thursday, county Board of Supervisors Chairman Roy Wilson urged Larson to put the park into receivership. Under such an arrangement, the court would appoint someone to administer the park and that receiver would use rent money to pay for the most pressing safety improvements. Harvey Duro would remain as owner. The county then wants a phased closure of the park to begin, while new homes are found for residents. Up to 6,000 people live in the park, depending on the harvest. The county has been working to find potential housing for displaced residents, said Leticia De Lara, legislative assistant for Wilson. Wilson's letter reflects the position of the entire board of supervisors, which discussed the Duros situation in closed session last week, De Lara said. The nonprofit California Rural Legal Assistance group also favors receivership. But in a legal brief filed Friday, it asked that the park be closed only if the receiver determines that loans and rental income are not enough to pay for repairs, or that environmental problems -- such as contaminated water and soil -- are too severe to make the park inhabitable. Arturo Rodriguez, an attorney for the legal group who is representing four park residents as interveners in the case, said receivership is necessary because owner Duro has repeatedly reneged on promises to make repairs at the park. He said he has little confidence that Duro will make the necessary repairs in the future. Duro filed documents Jan. 18 outlining a plan to put the park in compliance with state law. The plan is inadequate, according to a federal Bureau of Indian Affairs letter. The land is technically owned by the federal government but it is within the reservation of the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. Duro's Palm Desert attorney, J. Scott Zundel, declined to comment on the receivership proposals, except to criticize the county's "horrible track record" of overseeing mobile-home parks in its own jurisdiction. He said the county should concentrate on improving those parks before getting involved with trailers on tribal land. County spokesman Ray Smith said the county has spent more than $50 million since 2001 to provide about 2,000 affordable-housing units in the Coachella Valley. "The only thing Mr. Duro has invested in is misery," Smith said.
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