Owner of desert slum is ousted

A federal judge Thursday removed Harvey Duro, owner of the notorious desert slum known as Duroville, from any further involvement with the trailer park and ordered him not to interfere with the future management of the facility.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson had earlier issued a list of 21 standards that had to be met for the park to continue operations in the face of government demands that it be closed. The park is on the Torres Martinez Indian Reservation in Thermal where Duro is a member.

“It’s clear that these conditions have not been met despite numerous efforts to accommodate the defense,” Larson said at a hearing Thursday. “The court is now at the end of the line.”

He said Duro had repeatedly failed to honor the terms of legal settlements and had not made a good-faith effort to bring the park up to building and safety codes even after he was given an outside management team to help him.

Larson said he would appoint another receiver to run the park in January or allow the current management team to stay. In any case, he told Duro to stay out of their way.

Duro seemed stunned by the decision.

“I don’t know what to make of it,” he said after the hearing. “If this continues like this, I’d like to see it shut down. I don’t know why the judge is prolonging it.”

Larson, who made a surprise inspection of the park last month, once again wrestled with the implications of shutting Duroville and rendering nearly 5,000 farmworkers homeless. He chided lawyers from the U.S. attorneys office who have been unable to offer any housing alternatives.

-- David Kelly