{"id":2439,"date":"2022-08-29T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=2439"},"modified":"2024-04-25T23:18:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T03:18:41","slug":"deed-with-eminent-domain-history-returned-to-heirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/deed-with-eminent-domain-history-returned-to-heirs\/","title":{"rendered":"Deed With Eminent Domain History Returned to Heirs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A First for Property-Based Reparations?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bruce family finally got their deed back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 2022, Dean Logan, the register of deeds in L.A. County, handed members of the Bruce family the deed to two parcels of California Manhattan Beach property. The Bruces are all descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce, a Black couple from whom the land was seized a century ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Once Upon a Time\u2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The land was the site of Bruce\u2019s Beach Lodge. The Bruces were entrepreneurs. Their seaside resort was unusual \u2014 a rare beachfront oasis open for Black guests during the early 20th century. The successes of the Bruce family would come to a sudden halt in the late 1920s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records show numerous eminent domain takings at the time, carried out by police to force Black people off the beachfront. And that\u2019s how the California city of Manhattan Beach took the Bruce family\u2019s ocean resort and held onto it for two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Manhattan Beach transferred the parcels to California. The state held the beachfront parcels for another five decades, then passed the land to Los Angeles County in 1995. L.A. County held the former Bruce property as a public beach with a lifeguard post. The parcels came to the county with deed restrictions<\/a>. The land would always have to belong to the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2021, State Sen. Steven Bradford introduced California\u2019s Senate Bill 796, designed as a legislative tool to override the deed restrictions. The idea was to tear down the obstacles to getting the deed into the hands of the Bruce descendants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan drew support. By late 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom had signed it into law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, the ball was in L.A. County\u2019s court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve Set the Precedent\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The county assessed the value of the parcels and identified the Bruce family descendants. In a process that would take more than a year to complete, the L.A. County supervisors unanimously voted to convey the parcels to the Bruce family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key figure in the decision was activist Kavon Ward, who created a project called Justice for Bruce\u2019s Beach. Activism kept pressing the work that culminated in the county supervisors\u2019 June 2022 vote to relinquish the land to the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u261b<\/em> U.S. real estate laws and policies are gradually shifting to level the playing field. Read more about what\u2019s unfolding as\u2026 <\/strong><\/em>A Quest for Racial Fairness Gains Ground<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the agreement between the county and the family, the county can lease the land from the Bruces for a total of $826,000 over the coming 24 months. After that, the Bruces have the option to sell the land to L.A. County for $20 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case might be a first in a trend for California \u2014 and, perhaps, other places where eminent domain was wielded as a tool of discrimination. As county supervisor Janice Hahn stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This work is no longer unprecedented; we\u2019ve set the precedent in the pursuit of justice regaining stolen land for the first time, but it will not be the last.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The return of Bruce Beach restores land that was rightfully owned and unjustly seized by a government. Their recovered ownership rights will help the Bruce family rebuild the generational wealth and savings that property creates<\/a>. That said, land recovery does not make up for all opportunities a family misses over the generations. But at least the descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce can move forward, and realize some of their dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Derrick Bruce and his son Michael both aim to publish their writings. Anthony Bruce will pursue his vocation teaching English as a second language. And the family has a goal of \u201cpaying it forward\u201d and making other lives better too.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Redfin CEO Outlines Racial History in Eminent Domain Land Seizures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In an email<\/a> to real estate agents from Glenn Kelman, CEO of the brokerage Redfin, we can read about the role of eminent domain in a broader history. We learn:<\/p>\n\n\n\n