Newsom vetoes a bill to study reparations for the displaced families of Chavez Ravine

Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a federal bill that would have created a task force to study compensation for families displaced from Chavez Ravine in the 1950s.

Sponsored by Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), the Chavez Ravine Accountability Act would have created a statewide task force to study the long-term damage to residents, business owners and landowners displaced between 1950 and 1961 and advise the city of Los Angeles and county regarding compensation for their children.

It would also require the city to erect a permanent monument to the Chavez Ravine community.

“I support the author’s intention to examine and correct the injustices that occurred in the community of Chavez Ravine decades ago. However, a task force should be established to investigate the events that occurred at the local level,” Newsom wrote in his veto statement On Friday.

“In fact, the determination of recommendations for compensation for those displaced is a matter best handled by stakeholders close to the Chavez Ravine community.”

In the mid-20th century, Chavez Ravine was home to a large community of families, most of whom were Mexican American, who were prohibited from living and buying property elsewhere in the city due to discriminatory housing restrictions.

With an eye toward redeveloping the area for a new housing project, the city began to pursue residential properties in the early 1950s through prominent sites and submarkets. In 1957, Los Angeles abandoned the planned housing project and sold it to Brooklyn Dodger owner Walter O’Malley to build what is now Dodger Stadium. Approximately 1,800 families were eventually evacuated.

“I learned that when you develop policy ideas, some will say it goes too far, and others will say it doesn’t go that far,” Carrillo. said the bill this summer. “But in the end, we’re moving the needle on justice, and we’re trying to do good for as many people as possible.”