First in a series
Re “Outrageous Harassment Charged to East L.A. Apartment Owners”
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Mirsa Lopez, with her son, her daughter and her husband’s wheelchair.
Dateline East Los Angeles – The long-harassed Sebastian Lopez family made a date for yesterday afternoon to meet a reporter at a popular coffee shop to relate their story of almost unbelievable badgering by the corporate owners of their apartment complex since moving in two years ago.
The almost unbelievable part is that such a horrid daily scenario of torment of hundreds of vulnerable families could happen in the midst of a camera-happy civilized community.
Mr. Lopez and others estimate that more than 300 families – many or most Hispanic immigrants fearing deportation or otherwise lightly equipped – have been “illegally evicted” after owners had pocketed their non-returnable deposits.
The stories sound like events that only could happen in crude, remote societies, hundreds of miles from watchful eyes.
Mr. Lopez says he and others have carried their stories to the Los Angeles City Council, to the City Attorney, to former Mayor Villaraigosa, to new Mayor Garcetti – all without a drop of relief or encouragement.
Not in Bangladesh but in the bosom of densely populated East Los Angeles this is occurring, within view of allegedly alert authorities.
The Lopezes are not merely your ordinary four-member family, parents, 9-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son.
Half of them, father and son, Aeylias, are disabled, the father from an accident 13 years ago, the son with a neurological disorder among other diagnoses.
Theirs is a story simultaneously terrible and beautiful.
Not Like the Rest
What distinguishes the non-immigrant Lopezes from their hundreds of immigrant neighbors in the Wyvernwood complex is that strongly spoken Sebastian Lopez is a born fighter who repeatedly has pledged his allegiance to the popular new mantra, Stand Your Ground.
Looking his interviewer in the eye, unwaveringly, Mr. Lopez swore that no matter the degree of harassment by authorities at Wyvernwood, “they are not going to drive us out the way they have others.”
Just before the accompanying photo was taken, softly spoken Mirsa Lopez said, “We told the kids we have right on our side. We have positive people on our side, and we will get through this because our family is together.”
Indeed, says Mr. Lopez, the alleged duplicity of the owners of the Wyvernwood garden apartment complex began shortly before his family moved in.
A manager lured the Lopezes initially by showing them a glowing apartment that was to be their new home, then pulling what worldly-wise Mr. Lopez called “a classic bait-and-switch.”
When the family returned with its belongings, ready to enter and settle, the manager said “Ooops, sorry. That one already has been rented. Your apartment is down the hall.”
Next: The shock of Moving Day.
(To be continued)
