Guest Opinion | Wilhelmina Robertson: Please, Please, Please Stop the Shenanigans!

Former Pasadena City Director and Mayor A.I. Stewart’s civic legacy will forever be that he laid the permanent foundation for racially segregated housing in Pasadena.  But “GUESS WHAT???” Stewart did even more to suppress people of color throughout California.  The Final History of the California Legislature in 1945 confirms this fact. 

• Stewart also authored the infamous “Community Redevelopment Law” (also known as the California Redevelopment Act) codifying California’s first “BLIGHT” law.  Side Note: He listed his occupation as City Director in the report.    

This one law single-handedly provided a legally funded way for Stewart to greatly expand his reach and:

• Slow down or end the expansion of residents of color (especially black Americans) in Pasadena and communities throughout California

• Make money off of ‘seized’ real estate properties

You ask me how I can make such bold statements.   Thanks for asking. 

This law introduced the word “BLIGHT.”  The term went on to become a pseudo-metric that civic leaders used to formally identify neighborhoods that “depreciate or stagnate PROPERTY VALUES.” Local governments were able to exercise the power of “eminent domain” in these neighborhoods and seize private property and transfer it to another private party (sounds like a real estate shenanigan to me).  The definition of “blight” was vague leaving it open to manipulation by anyone seeking to abuse the power of eminent domain for private gain.

The horrible ripple effect of Stewart’s legislation for residents of color remains today (I could give hundreds of more examples):   

• Pasadena

In the 50s, the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce aided the federal government in classifying the north and southwest sections of Pasadena as “blighted” despite the beautiful houses and thriving multi-cultural communities that lived in them. The blight designation paved the way for 210-freeway construction to plow through vibrant black-owned businesses on North Lincoln Avenue and beautiful homes in north and southwestern Pasadena owned by people of color. By the late 60s an estimated 299 families were displaced by urban redevelopment projects in Pasadena, 91% of which were families of color. 

• San Francisco (two co-authors of the Law represented districts in San Francisco)

In the 50s, the city’s planning department identified the “Fillmore District,” the business and social center for the city’s new and expanding Black population as a “blighted” area.  In 1962, they built the Geary Expressway to stop the black population’s northward expansion. By 2000 nearly 2,000 black Americans were displaced by the demolition of their homes along Geary Street and to the north. 

• Most states have passed eminent domain reform because of hundreds of documented political and private misuses and abuses. 

I truly believe in giving honor where honor is due.  Former Mayor A.I. Stewart is not due honor. He ls the “blight” mayor “who had a severely detrimental effect on Pasadena and California.” Please remove former Pasadena Mayor A.I. Stewart’s picture from its place of honor in City Council Chambers.

Wilhelmina Robertson is a Pasadena Human relations Commissioner