The LA Times is reporting that a lawsuit filed against the Alexandria Hotel contends 80 residents were evicted and received no relocation assistance and others were given partial evictions. Plus, ack! One resident complains of no hot water and a broken elevator. The hotel, built at 1906 at 5th and Spring streets has been a residential hotel since the early 1990s, and is an emblematic of the downtown's struggle to gracefully enter a new development age. The Times: "Purchased by Ruben Islas in 2006, the hotel symbolizes a larger problem downtown: how to provide low-income housing and combat homelessness while still providing avenues for redevelopment. Casey Horan, director of Lamp Community, an advocacy group for the disadvantaged, said the developer has been squeezing low-income and disabled residents out of the hotel in order to make room for wealthier clientele in the newly renovated hotel." Ruben Islas has publicly stated he hasn't broken any laws and the tenants are exaggerating the conditions at the hotel. UPDATE: Blogdowntown has more on the perplexing situation. [Photo via Big Orange Landmarks]
· Suit alleges illegal evictions at hotel [LA Times]
· Plebs Get Housing in Downtown [Curbed LA]
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