Healdsburg residents outraged after families at apartment building receive eviction notices
HEALDSBURG, Calif. (KTVU) - Many in Healdsburg say they are outraged by what's happening to the 21 families living in the Prentice Apartment building, and what they say are the racist undertones swirling around the issue.
"I thought it was totally disgusting," said Judy Sanderson, a retired school teacher who says she taught many of the people who live there.
The families, all of them low income and Latino, got a 60-day eviction notice. They must be out by month's end.
The building has been sold. It's slated for renovation, and the rents are expected climb higher than many can afford.
One young man told us he has lived there with his parents for 18 years, and now they must go.
“It's really sad. It's really hard to find a place," he said.
But the evictions aren't all that has people riled up.
It's what the new owner, the Drake Property Group, wrote in a prospectus seeking investors for the building.
It says, "Drake seeks a tenant demographic more appropriate to the refined nature of the Healdsburg community, tenants who value good design and beautiful surroundings."
"Totally racist," said Sanderson. "They are telling me I want something more refined. That's in the character of Healdsburg."
"The tone of the flyer was not acceptable," said Healdsburg city councilman Gary Plass.
Plass says he spoke with the head of Drake's, who declined KTVU’s request for an interview.
"He says he will invite the people who were displaced back." But most likely at a higher rent.
The city says there isn't much it can do. The families must be out in three weeks. Some say they will stay with families they know, while others don't know where they will go.