Family to sell Bruce's Beach property back to L.A. County for nearly $20 million

LA Times via msn ^ | 02 Jan 2023 | Rebecca Ellis

[blueplum]

Six months ago, Los Angeles County leaders signed off on an unprecedented transaction: They would return two parcels of beachfront property in Manhattan Beach to the Bruce family, the first example of the government giving back land to a Black family after acknowledging it had been stolen

On Tuesday, the county announced a surprise twist in the historic deal: The family would sell the Bruce's Beach property back to the county for nearly $20 million....

... the land was not zoned for development, and the family was wary of the years-long permitting fight they would need to wage if they wanted to start building.... Since the property was transferred last summer, the county had been leasing it from the Bruces for $413,000 a year....

[blueplum]

In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce bought a property in the strand area for $1,225 ...The couple sued for $120,000, which included $35,000 for each lot and $50,000 in damages.[11] In 1929 they received a $14,500 settlement. [wiki]

The alternate history: "While it is agreed what happened to the Bruces and other Black families in Manhattan Beach in 1924 was wrong, there are some problems with the petitioners’ two demands.

"First, the Bruce family did not own any of what is now Bruce’s Beach Park. The Bruces owned two lots adjacent to the park, on The Strand, where the Los Angeles County Lifeguard building now sits. "Secondly, 30 lots were acquired by the city through eminent domain on the pretense of building a park. Twenty five of those lots were owned by white families. The total paid for the 30 lots was $66,040.63. Even though the Bruce family owned only two out of the 30 lots, the Bruce family received $14,500, or 22 percent of the amount awarded by the court. "Of the five black families who were forced to sell their property, four of them purchased another parcel in Manhattan Beach. They were not “driven out of town,” as some have stated. The Bruce family was the only Black family to leave the city as a result of the eminent domain....Do the petitioners believe everyone, including the 25 white families who had their property taken should have their land restored to them and be paid reparations?"

[griswold3]

.

[Eagles6]

Facts be raciss!

[Lockbox]

the land was not zoned for development

Just another method of stealing back the land! The property taxes also must have been high which put pressure on the family. Can’t develop and can’t make it generate enough money for the taxes. Great move LA, give something which the court ruled against you, get the PR and then let the bureaucrats chew up the owner......

[liberalh8ter]

I have some cousins who live in California. Their ancestors are buried in what is now a public park. There's a plaque that lists all of them who are buried there but that's the thing, they're still buried there. Spoiler: they're Caucasian so I'm sure there will be no reparations for them despite my cousin being very affected by the idea that people are walking, playing, picnicking and running around on top of her ancestors. To be honest, she would never expect to be compensated except maybe to locate their remains and relocate them.

[Iron Munro]

Nothing to see here - just some more stealth reparations...

[napscoordinator]

Couldn’t happen to a better city. Stealing land is not cool even eminent domain. Glad everything worked out for the family. The city deserves this with how liberal the city is.

[gr8eman]

Yeah...commies and property rights don’t jibe. Always comes down to a coin flip or howitzers!

[LouAvul]

I've no dog in this fight, but once we start down that rabbit hole, there's no end to the (historical, human suffering) bills we'll owe.

Bottom line, I never owned a slave and never shot an Indian and deeply resent having to pay the costs of my ancestor's actions.

Leave the Confederate statues alone. Repeal all race based preference packages (affirmative action, et al). Ad infinitum.

[Tommy Revolts]

Just another grift like Black Lives Matter and others.

[ridesthemiles]

Wait until the tax bill for Capital Gains is calculated !!!!!!

[Dan_Frisbie]

I love this.
California has been very “proactive” in its support of reparations for blacks all along. They support this knowing that there are very few cases such as this in California.
What this does is set a precedence for all the Natives that had their land taken by settlers. California is about to spend a lot of money…and they should.
Those panty-waisted soy boys have been telling the rest of the country how screwed up we are due to our past, knowing full well that we share ancestors. Now these liberal idiots are about to lose nearly everything that they worked so hard for simply because they believe that the rest of us should lose ours.
Justice.

[blueplum]

” set a precedence for all the Natives that had their land taken by settlers.”

which will pale in comparison with compensating all the Japanese interred in camps during WW2 who also lost their lands and businesses. Talk about opening pandora’s box!