Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles is known for being one of the biggest and oldest MLB baseball parks in the country, having hosted 10 World Series and served as a grand entertainment venue for music icons like the Beatles and Elton John.
But before its construction in 1962, the area was home to thousands of residents, many of whom were of Mexican, Chinese and Italian descent. Nearly 1,800 of those families were displaced to build the stadium. State legislators are now considering a bill seeking reparations for the families.
Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo of Los Angeles on Friday introduced the Chavez Ravine Accountability Act — “offering a path toward historical accountability, reparative measures, and a permanent memorial,” according to her office.
Known today as Chavez Ravine, the 315 acres of land between the San Gabriel Mountains and downtown Los Angeles were once home to three predominantly Mexican American neighborhoods: Palo Verde, La Loma and Bishop.
In 1950, the land was earmarked “as a prime location for redevelopment,” prompting city officials to send letters demanding Chavez Ravine residents and property owners sell their homes to make way for a public housing project, according to the bill. At the time, the city promised displaced families they would be able to return to the community and live “in the newly redeveloped housing project.”
That promise was never fulfilled.
Public housing plans for the Chavez Ravine area were abandoned in 1958 in favor of building the baseball stadium.
Previous efforts to block its construction led more than 650,000 registered voters in Los Angeles to participate in a 1957 plebiscite deciding the stadium’s fate, according to the Library of Congress.
With 62.3% voter turnout, it became the largest non-presidential election in Los Angeles at the time, and voters ultimately…
Read the full article here
