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Philadelphia ordered to pay 14m for bombing city { April 14 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/04/14/philadelphia_ordered_to_pay_141m/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/04/14/philadelphia_ordered_to_pay_141m/
Philadelphia ordered to pay $14.1m
Homeowners win lawsuit over siege
By Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff | April 14, 2005
PHILADELPHIA -- The 24 homes in a blighted working-class section of the city appear as if they could be inhabited by people too unfortunate to leave. In fact, the homes are mostly owned by senior citizens stubborn and prickly enough to stay.
The remaining residents on a block of West Philadelphia -- who saw their homes destroyed 20 years ago when the city bombed the headquarters of MOVE, an anarchist organization -- finally prevailed in their battle against City Hall, and in doing so sent Mayor John F. Street a resounding defeat.
Previous mayors had pledged to rebuild the homes -- and then repair them when the construction was substandard -- but instead Street decided in 2000 to offer the homeowners $150,000 each for their residences. At least 37 of them accepted Street's take-it-or-leave-it offer, but a hearty two dozen sued, saying they did not want to be displaced by the city a second time.
On Monday, a federal jury awarded the holdouts -- the last of 61 who were rendered homeless by the May 1985 bombing -- $12.8 million or $530,000 a piece. The jury also levied punitive damages of $1.25 million.
''It was good they were stubborn in the end," said Adrian J. Moody, the lawyer for the residents. ''This is really about folks protecting their rights."
Betty Mapp, a plaintiff and a longtime resident, said the homeowners were not going to give in.
''I am not the sit down kind of person," said Mapp, 64. ''I told them to stick it. I said: 'You are not going to get my house. I will fight for it first.' "
Deborah Bolling, the spokeswoman for Street, said the city hasn't decided whether it will appeal the ruling.
The jury found Street broke the promise of his predecessors and that he acted with ''malicious or reckless disregard" and levied punitive damages of $1.25 million. Street testified that he decided he would tear down the new homes on Osage Avenue rather than rebuild them yet again and that he came up with the $150,000 offer to the homeowners.
In a statement, Street said he was disappointed. ''The efforts of this administration were an honest try to resolve this matter fairly after we determined we could not repair the houses to a livable level."
After the bombing, which killed five children and six adults, former mayor W. Wilson Goode rebuilt the homes, but they had many problems. Leaky roofs, bad electricity, and structural problems are existing issues, said plaintiff Teresa Campbell. The city spent millions on the homes, but studies they commissioned warned it would take millions more to get the homes, which had 10-year warranties, repaired.
Shortly before he left office in 1999, Mayor Ed Rendell said the city would honor its obligations to the Osage Street residents. But Street stopped work on the homes in 2000, called the neighborhood blighted, and offered residents the money to leave or be evicted, so that the homes could be razed.
''I think the ones who left were afraid and scared at what the city was saying," Mapp said. ''Some were young and had never owned a home and didn't know nothing about nothing, but most of the elders who lived here most their lives, they fought."
Fight they did.
The residents, known by neighbors as ''The 24," sued Street for breach of contract. Osage Avenue residents placed flower pots and white-plastic chairs on their porches to give the brick row houses a down-home feel, but the homes left by residents who took the mayor's offer were boarded up, leaving the block pockmarked.
''Osage was a good neighborhood before MOVE and a good neighborhood after MOVE," said Mapp, who lives with her husband, Thomas.
Many of the residents yesterday packed in cars to go to the funeral of one of their own, a plaintiff who died. Clifford Bond, a neighbor, said he'd watched the group carpool every morning to attend the trial.
The homeowners, who are the only residents on the 6200 block of Osage Avenue, said they were not sure whether they will leave or stay.
''Many of the folks are elderly, they have medical problems, and they like their neighbors," Moody said. ''People really want to stay. Whether or not they will is another question."
© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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