Photos: Fighting for control of Scottsdale Estates
Juan Martinez, 75, a 30-year resident of Scottsdale Estates in Carson, waits in October for the chair of the homeowners association to discuss the upkeep of his town home. For more than a year, many of the 3,000 residents who live in the community have been locked in a ferocious dispute over who controls the governing board and the $1.7 million in annual homeowners dues it collects. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Scottsdale Estates resident Mario Torres stands at the edge of the community’s former swimming pool. When it was built in 1964, Scottsdale Estates was one of Southern California’s first gated communities, 600 town homes set on 44 acres with a pool, parks, ball fields and a playground. But by the 1980s, Scottsdale was known for its gangs and drugs. Today, the pool has been filled in, some of the parks are off limits, and it has the highest crime rate in Carson. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Marcos Caal, a Scottsdale Estates resident, walks past materials covered by blue tarp in the community’s former pool patio area. Residents appararently were not given any say in the decision to fill up the pool. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Woody Rowell, a longtime resident of Scottsdale Estates, led a coup against the community’s governing board in March, only to be dealt several legal setbacks. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
