For years, Sylvia Jones, 88, and her two adult sons and a granddaughter lived in Jones’ house at 1460 Mescal St. in Seaside. On June 17, Jones relocated to an assisted living facility in Pacific Grove and left her belongings behind.
Jones moved not by her own choice, but as a conservatee of the Public Guardian, an office that steps in when there is reason to believe a person is unable to adequately care for and make decisions for themselves. The Public Guardian has decision-making authority and control of the assets of about 650 Monterey County conservatees.
“It was a somewhat chaotic scene because the conservatee’s family was not happy about what was happening and were somewhat combative with the Public Guardian,” according to court papers signed by Supervising Deputy Public Guardian Lizette Vasquez.
The Public Guardian was back in court on Oct. 1 to make the case to sell Jones’ home. Over objections from family members, Judge Julie Culver granted the County’s petition. The home was padlocked and the windows boarded up. It was listed for sale on Oct. 24 for $649,000 and is under contract as of Nov. 7.
The Public Guardian’s office declined to be interviewed for this story, but public court documents show officials believe Jones’ two sons and granddaughter were living in the home rent-free and using Jones’ money to pay for their own expenses.
On Oct. 30, a group of about 20 friends and neighbors organized through Building Healthy Communities are protesting out front, arguing that Jones is capable of making decisions for herself. On the garage door they’ve taped up a sign that reads, “Public Guardian stole this house.”
Lisa Lewis, a friend and Jones’ ex-daughter-in-law, is clutching an American flag. When a crew came by to remove Jones’ belongings, a neighbor alerted Lewis. She showed up and fished out objects with sentimental value from the trash, including this flag that she says was sent home with the body of Jones’ first husband, who was killed in the Vietnam War.
Lewis says Jones remains lucid and comprehends what is happening. She visits her elder regularly and in a recent video, recorded a conversation in which she told Jones about the sale of her home.
“They didn’t have the right to do that without talking to me,” Jones tells the camera. “That’s dirty. I’m gonna raise me some hell.”
While conserved, Jones herself is not in a position to raise hell, but Lewis is unrelenting. In an Oct. 24 letter to the court urging a judge to slow the process down, she wrote, “To the Public Guardian, Sylvia is just a case number, but for us, she is our family member who deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”
At the protest, Regina Mason says the community could have readily stepped in to provide care if needed. She sees a systems failure that perpetuates a longstanding difficulty for Black families to build intergenerational wealth, and says a sale like this exacerbates gentrification of Seaside.
“What is happening here is an atrocity,” Mason says. “We could have helped resolve this, instead of coming in with guns blazing. This could have been a non-issue.”
The next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 19.