The NFL Stadium Threatening Lynwood Residents; What's Happening? April 14th Court Date

LYNWOOD, Calif. – For three years, Lynwood residents have been living in the shadow of an invisible football stadium. They have seen the value of their properties decrease, and the area has become a real-estate limbo since plans for an NFL stadium were mapped over their zip code. They don’t know whether to make themselves comfortable, or prepare to evacuate.

Silvia Villegas has decided to “wait it out.” She has lived in her house, on the west side of Atlantic Avenue within the designated stadium zone, for six years. She has seen city projects stagnate. The empty apartment complex at the end of her street was once remodelled to be a women’s center, and then an old-folks home, but was never opened, according to Villegas. Its windows have been boarded up since children started throwing rocks at them. Around the corner from her house, Ham Park is still a fenced-off dirt pile rather than a place for her children to play.

“Nothing gets finished,” said Villegas.

Three years have passed since each of these projects began. The contract for the apartment complex was passed in and out of enthusiastic hands, the shops were torn down to make way for the park, and residents in the stadium area were told to sell their homes early to make the most profit before the NFL arrives. But nothing has come to be.

According to Villegas, her neighbors have been trying to sell their house for a year. But no-one wants to buy property that is ear-marked to be torn down. And the football stadium that threatens five schools and 1000 homes has been weighing on the public mind since its inception behind the closed doors of the council chambers.

Since then, the council members involved were recalled and indicted for misappropriation of public funds, and the new faces at City Hall placed a preliminary injunction on the redevelopment contract. For six months, Residents have been holding their breath for word on whether or not the project will continue.

But on April 14th, they may be given an answer. “That day, the judge will decide whether or not the contract is enforceable,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Aide Castro. The redevelopment contract was amended at a meeting the former council members held in October 2007, after they had been recalled, which may mean that the contract is void. “Our stand is that the contract that was passed by the recalled council is not enforceable,” said Castro. “When you are recalled, you lose your powers.”

Aside from a monthly newsletter from City Hall listing events and menial announcements, Villegas and her neighbors have heard little from the new council, and nothing about the stadium that threatens to uproot them.