THE BATTLE FOR CONTROL
The Indian Long-Term Leasing Act of 1955 increased lease terms on reservation lands from five to 25 years and encouraged develop- ers to invest in reservations. However, devel- opment didn’t really flourish until President Eisenhower signed the 1959 Indian Leasing Act, which permitted certain tribes, including the Agua Caliente, to lease their lands up to 99 years. As Palm Springs’ popularity grew, however, so did the demand for its land. The City of Palm Springs set its sights on the valu- able property next door to its burgeoning shopping and entertainment district: Section 14. City leaders could not acquire tribally owned land outright, so they attempted to re- strict building, zoning and leasing on Section 14 as a means to control the area. The tribe, however, argued that as a sovereign nation, it did not have to accept any city laws or ordi- nances on tribal lands. In the 1940s and early 1950s, the City of
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, families on Section 14 planted orchards, raised cattle and horses, or operated small stores. Tribal members later managed the hot mineral spring and bathhouse.
vidual Agua Caliente tribal members leased their lands on Section 14 to them, which pro- vided these new residents homes and tribal members a source of income. In the exhibit, tribal member Lois Segundo-Workman re- calls the diversity and civic responsibility that resulted from this economic arrangement: “It was a community where it wasn’t just Indi- ans. It was Blacks. It was Mexicans . . . . It was like a family unit there, because they all were in that same situation and they all . . . leaned on each other.” Development was booming in Palm Springs, but Section 14 remained untouched. Some homes lacked modern conveniences, but many residents still enjoyed living in the community. In the exhibit, Agua Caliente tribal member Renona Pennington fondly reminisces that “[Living on Section 14] was probably some of the happiest days. I was safe. I was free. The backyard was desert, the flowers bloomed in the spring and at night in the summer time, we had to sleep outside, and my sister and I would lay in the bed and look up at the stars.”
30 AMERICAN INDIAN SUMMER 2019
Palm Springs proposed three master plans to develop Section 14, but it never imple- mented them. Instead, it argued that tenants had to either bring their homes up to code or face eviction. The tribe had made earlier requests to the City of Palm Springs to pro- vide utilities to Section 14 residents, but the city refused. It claimed that residents did not pay property taxes on reservation land. However, Loren Miller Jr., assistant attorney general for the State of California, conducted an investigation in 1968 and found that tribal members did pay taxes. In 1959, the City of Palm Springs began
evicting residents under the pretense of the new Conservatorship and Guardianship Pro- gram. Under this program, court-appointed conservators managed the finances of indi- vidual Agua Caliente tribal members, includ- ing terminating land leases and serving ten- ants notices of eviction. However, the tenants reported that they either never received evic- tion notices or that their homes were de- stroyed prior to the statutory 30-day period. Miller found during his investigation of the program that “[t]he City, acting upon the [eviction] permit, would burn down or de- stroy the dwelling in question any time it had received the permit without actually checking to see whether the time prescribed in the evic- tion notice had expired.”
PHOTO COURTESY PALM SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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