BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
Redwood City Council tonight (Oct. 9) unanimously agreed to pay a couple $190,000 to move out of Docktown.
Docktown was a community of boats in a channel off the Bay and east of Highway 101. Docktown’s population grew to 100. Then council voted in 2016 to evict the boats and their residents, but a few refused to move.
The payment council approved last night was for $190,000 to Dawn and Dan Slanker and $8,000 to cover their attorney’s fees.
Council last week approved a payment to Emilio Diaz for the same amount.
The Slankers and Diaz sued the city, faulting its decision-making and eviction proceedings regarding Docktown.
The city has operated the Docktown marina since 2013.
In 2015, attorney Ted Hannig and a group called Citizens for the Public Trust sued the city for allowing houseboats to remain in the marina, which is state property. The parties settled the lawsuit in January 2016, with the city agreeing to develop a plan for remove the boats, called live-aboards.
The city also paid Hannig and Citizens for the Public Trust $1.5 million as part of the settlement.
The lawsuits brought by the Slankers and Diaz went to mediation.
The city has spent over $20.8 million on removing the Docktown residents, according to a January 2018 report to council.
Still, the city has continued to battle multiple lawsuits from Docktown residents who claim the city didn’t follow the law when evicting them.
The settlements with the Slankers and Diaz requires them to leave in two weeks after they sign the court papers. Attorney Timothy O’Hara will get $8,000 from the city to cover his fees in each case.
Both settlements and a series of other items were approved in one vote as part of the council’s “consent calendar.” As a result, there were no comments from residents or council members about the matter.
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What a kind landlord the City is! Instead of booting you out, they hand you a check. How ridiculous!
Seriously kind is most definitely not what they are!!!
They threatened people to leave and paid 3k to some, making them homeless!!! They compeatly let the marina run down, putting people’s lives at risk. They acted as bullies. They SHOULD pay everyone who lived there at least that amount.. which btw is taxed
Don’t talk about things you know nothing about.
Maybe you’re landlord will evict you for no reason- let’s see what you will think than ♀️
The City was found Liable by the Judge. It was rotten from the start. The Judges found that the City intentionally forced the prior Marina management out, intending to close it all along. So they knew what they were doing long ahead of time. Abiding by the Relocation Law that the Judge found applied would have stopped it from the start. It’s unfortunate that punitive damages don’t apply to public entities because it will just happen again.
The City Council has always had a soft spot for the Docktown moochers. The council has always treated them as spoiled children. Hopefully this is now over.
You don’t know what you’re talking about.
A couple of angry comments over the $190K eviction settlements that resulted in house boat residents getting evicted, but no outrage over the $1.5M settlement involving an attorney and a group of non-residents unhappy because boats are on the marina, am I missing something here? Talk about spoiled children!
Alvin, the nurse is here with your meds.
Precisely
What made the Docktown moochers think they could squat on public property without permission? They should have been told to leave the day they arrived and if they refused to go, arrested for trespassing.