And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Tribal tenants lose bid to block
rent increases
http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/swin_19990329.html
by The Associated Press
LA CONNER, Skagit County - About 60 tenants who
live on leased land on the Swinomish Indian
Reservation near this picturesque waterfront town
have lost a court move to block rent increases.
A six-year tug-of-war on Pull & Be Damned Road
near Skagit Bay ended last week when U.S. District
Judge Thomas Zilly ruled in Seattle that rent
adjustments by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
were made fairly.
Since 1993, many tenants balked at rent increases that
in some cases more than doubled their payments to the
tribe and reduced the value of houses they had built or
placed on leased land.
"The upshot of this decision is anybody who's thinking
of leasing Indian trust land, I think needs to be pretty
cautious," said Stephen Aghjayan, vice president of the
West Shore Tenants Association.
Last July, Zilly denied a preliminary injunction that
would have blocked rent increases and evictions.
One tenant has been evicted, and two are in the
process of being evicted - one for failure to pay the
rent increases. Nine homes have been abandoned, and
three tenants moved their houses off leased land,
Aghjayan said.
As recently as the late 1980s, many tenants were
paying as little as $1,200 a year for waterfront
property. By 1991 the rate was up to about $2,500 a
year, and in 1993 it was set at $6,000.
The figure was reduced to about $4,800 after tenants
appealed to the BIA.
The rent goes into many pockets.
About 100 Indians own six properties overlooking the
bay. Various families and individuals hold interest in
the land. Sometimes as many as 60 different people
receive rent from a parcel that was part of the original
19th century allotment to the tribe from the federal
government. Title later was assigned to tribal
members.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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