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<H2 property="dc:title">Meet the Mayor Who’s Using Eminent Domain to Fight
Foreclosure </H2>
<DIV class=article-teaser>
<P>The fearless Gayle McLaughlin of Richmond, California, has taken on Chevron
and big banks on behalf of taxpayers and underwater homeowners. </P></DIV>
<DIV class="views-field-value byline"><A
href="http://www.thenation.com/authors/laura-flanders"><SPAN
property="dc:creator">Laura Flanders</SPAN></A> </DIV>
<DIV class=article-info-string><SPAN class=article-date>November 20,
2013</SPAN> <SPAN class=border>|</SPAN> <SPAN
class=article-appeared><A
href="http://www.thenation.com/issue/december-9-2013">This article appeared in
the December 9, 2013 edition of The Nation.</A> </SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV class="field-item odd"><A class="thickbox initThickbox-processed"
title="Gayle McLaughlin (Credit: Francis Reynolds)"
href="http://www.thenation.com/sites/default/files/gayle_mclaughlin_otu.jpg"
rel=gallery-177296><IMG class="imagecache imagecache-main_node_view_image"
title="Gayle McLaughlin (Credit: Francis Reynolds)"
alt="Gayle McLaughlin (Credit: Francis Reynolds)"
src="http://www.thenation.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/main_node_view_image/gayle_mclaughlin_otu.jpg"
width=615 height=354></A> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
<P>Gayle McLaughlin is serving her second term as mayor of Richmond, California,
the first Green Party official to represent a city of more than 100,000. Last
year, after a fire at a local Chevron refinery sent 15,000 residents to the
hospital, the city sued the company for damages. Now McLaughlin’s advancing a
plan to use the city’s eminent domain power to acquire troubled loans so as to
stop a new wave of foreclosures. This interview has been edited and condensed.
—Laura Flanders</P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 34px"><STRONG>LAURA FLANDERS: You’re just back from
Ecuador, where you toured communities that, like Richmond, are in a struggle
with Chevron. Isn’t it enough to take on your city’s biggest taxpayer? Why take
on the big banks too?</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>GAYLE McLAUGHLIN:</STRONG> Chevron does pay a lot of taxes. We don’t
think it’s nearly enough. We have a right to have safety for our community.
That’s why we put forth our lawsuit—to make sure they put our community before
their profits. And that’s why we’ve come up with our new program [to help
underwater homeowners].</P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 34px"><STRONG>LF:</STRONG> <STRONG>An article in today’s
New York Times is headlined “Settlement Report Finds Banks Giving Timely
Mortgage Relief.” What’s the problem? </STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>GM:</STRONG> Much of the so-called “relief” has come in the form of
short sales, which means more families losing their housing and neighborhoods
destabilized. We’re working to keep more families in their homes! The settlement
did lead to some more homeowners getting modifications with principal reduction,
but the problem has been that the numbers are just too small compared with the
scale of the problem. We need a broader market fix that resets mortgages to
current home values.</P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 34px"><STRONG>LF:</STRONG> <STRONG>So what’s your
plan?</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>GM:</STRONG> The Richmond CARES program is focused on preventing
foreclosures, keeping people in their homes and stabilizing neighborhoods.</P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 34px"><STRONG>LF: You tried to explain it in person to the
CEO of Wells Fargo. What happened?</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>GM.</STRONG> I went with a whole coalition of community organizations
to Wells Fargo’s head office. We were making it clear that the banks should
negotiate with Richmond. They shouldn’t be taking us to court. The idea was to
talk with him and invite him to come see our neighborhoods. They locked their
doors and wouldn’t meet.</P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 34px"><STRONG>LF:</STRONG> <STRONG>In addition to a
lawsuit from Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank, the real estate lobby is working
against you, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency has threatened sanctions
against “any local or state action” that uses eminent domain to restructure
mortgage loan contracts. Are you concerned?</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>GM:</STRONG> We have researched this very thoroughly. First, we have
offered to buy the mortgages from the bond owners at fair market value. We’ll
have them appraised by a third party. We want to negotiate, but secondly, we
have the right to use eminent domain for a public purpose. It’s been used for
all the wrong reasons, such as moving people out of their homes for big
stores.</P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 34px"><STRONG>LF: What difference does it make that you
have groups like the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment at your
back?</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>GM:</STRONG> It makes all the difference in the world. We need
homeowners involved in designing the program. That’s how we built the movement
in Richmond and how we’re extending it to other cities. With all the
misinformation put out there by Wall Street, it becomes imperative that we have
people sharing the truth and overcoming the false messages put out by the
opposition.</P>
<P
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<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 34px"><STRONG>LF: Is it good that you’re
Green?</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>GM:</STRONG> It’s the independent thinking that makes the difference.
One party is moving us into a brick wall at 100 mph. The other is moving us
there at 50 mph. We’re still going in the wrong direction, in my view.</P>
<P style="MARGIN-TOP: 34px"><STRONG>LF:</STRONG> <STRONG>Anything
else?</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>GM:</STRONG> In Richmond we’re solvent, we’ve reduced crime and we
have a new General Plan based on sustainability and equity. I’m termed out, and
next year we’re going to have a battle on our hands. They’re going to throw a
mountain of money against the progressive candidates.</P>
<P><EM>In August, Madeline Ostrander <A
href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/175605/protest-comes-refinery-town">blogged
about the protests</A> in Richmond, California, against the Chevron oil
refinery.</EM></P></DIV>
<DIV class="views-field-value byline"><A
href="http://www.thenation.com/authors/laura-flanders"><SPAN
property="dc:creator">Laura Flanders</SPAN></A> </DIV>
<DIV class=article-info-string><SPAN class=article-date>November 20,
2013</SPAN> <SPAN class=border>|</SPAN> <SPAN
class=article-appeared><A
href="http://www.thenation.com/issue/december-9-2013">This article appeared in
the December 9, 2013 edition of The Nation.</A>
</SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>