Cleveland eviction riot of 1933 bears similarities to current woes

[OhioChick]

Sunday March 08, 2009, 4:14 AM

Time probably has cleared the fog of tear-gassed memories along Lardet Avenue of the day more than 75 years ago when several thousand Clevelanders raised their voices and fists in protest of the foreclosures, unemployment and economic ruin sweeping the nation -- problems not unlike today.

The families of Boledovich, Zamiska and Ordorensky who once lived on this short, tree-lined street just north of the former Woodland Hills Park, now Luke Easter Park, have since been replaced by the Johnsons, Robinsons and Washingtons.
TV satellite dishes now scan the skies from rooftops of Lardet's 1920s-vintage "Cleveland doubles," wood houses with twin front porches and classical columns.

But contemporary reminders of Lardet's historic moment have appeared in the plywood-covered windows and doors of two vacant houses on the street.

One, with a sign advertising it as a "handyman's special," stands diagonally across the street from 11413 Lardet -- epicenter of a day during the Great Depression when financial frustrations exploded in rioting.

The house at 11413 recently sold for $5,000, or about $3,300 less than what John and Sophie Sparenga paid for it in 1928. Five years later, Sparenga had lost his job as a laborer and fallen behind on $7,200 worth of mortgage payments, interest and penalties.

The bank foreclosed, and come sunrise on a sweltering July 18, 1933, Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputies arrived and evicted the Sparengas and their four children.



A cloud of tear gas rises near the Lardet Avenue home where more than 4,000 Clevelanders tried to prevent a family's eviction and battled police, who used tear gas, clubs and fire hoses in repeated attempts to disperse the crowd.



Thousands of people jammed Lardet Avenue in 1933 to protest an eviction when an unemployed homeowner fell behind on his mortgage payments. A day and night of rioting ensued when police arrived to help enforce the eviction.



Much More: http://www.cleveland.com/recession/index.ssf/2009/03/cleveland_eviction_riot_of_193.html

[originalpckelly]

1. Brining them down with protests won't work...

bringing them down with thought will. We need to change the way people act, and to do that we must produce in them a lasting conviction that they must not be subjugated to being near permanent second-class citizens.

[babylonsister]

2. I'm not sure this is a good idea. Let's see if this stimulus works. We

need to instead of going off half-cocked.

[Hannah Bell]

3. white people! rioting! in the US! who'd a thunk it?

i take a certain hope in the idea of 4000 people showing up to protest a foreclosure.

[leftstreet]

4. Interesting article

Thanks for posting

[ihavenobias]

5. Kick n/t