Remember Marie Riggins?

Once a proud Inglewood Homeowner, but now she is homeless

RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS- Marie Riggins following an interview with South Bay Black Journal in Inglewood on Thanksgiving Eve. (KENNETH MILLER|PHOTO)

By Kenneth Miller|Publisher

As I exited the 405 Freeway north on Manchester, an elderly woman wearing a lavender sweater cap, matching her winter fleece coat gingerly advanced across the street towards our meeting destination.

This would be our first in person meeting since I wrote about her heartbreaking saga while I was Publisher for Inglewood Today in May 2021.

“82-year old losing her Inglewood home for $38,000” the headline read on the front page of the now defunct weekly community newspaper, the article chronicled how Riggins was being forced out of her home because of debt owed to the Home Owners Association (HOA).

The story subsequently went viral, with Riggins plight being featured on local television news stations, inspiring advocacy from an Inglewood resident whose mother was a neighbor established a GoFundMe campaign in hopes to raise enough money to resolve the delinquency.

There are always two sides to every story, but somewhere in the atmosphere lies the truth.

Riggins was every bit as feisty as a saber tooth lion then and when I greeted her for the first time in person at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving Eve, she was as adamant in her conviction as a defense lawyer in Perry Mason.

APPETITE FOR HOPE- Eight-seven-year old Marie Riggins lost her treasured Carlton Square home more than five years ago and now she is living from hotel to hotel as her donations have dwindled. (KENNETH MILLER|PHOTO)

The meeting was arranged because she sought me out after all these years because the traction of her predicament didn’t resonate as a prominent news story as it did back then, and that $121,000 or more from the GoFundMe account which she controlled has essentially evaporated.

Her long fingernails curled inward toward the palm of her wrinkled 87-year old hands, as she began shifting through papers from a folder she caressed under her right arm.

Riggins, eventually lost the home she purchased with her late husband and at the time of our meeting was residing at the Best Western Hotel across the street from Roscoe’s.

I offered her a menu, but she kindly declined suggesting that she wasn’t hungry and I wanted to meet with her instead of the latter.

Nonetheless, this was an elderly senior citizen with whom I had a level of attachment since introducing her sordid tale that began with sympathy for her, anger towards the HOA and at times entangled SoFi Stadium, billionaire sports owners, a prominent member of congress, the City of Inglewood Mayor among others, although none of them had anything to do with the situation.

Riggins accepted my overture to order something from the menu, I went with the famous waffle, eggs and an inedible chicken patty sausage, she took her meal to go, obsessed with explaining her situation and who was the to blame.

She admitted she has exhausted all of her donated funds, is barely making her fixed social security income work to her advantage and says all she has left is a white 1990 Lexus with 104,000 miles on it.

“I took it to Carfax and they only wanted to give me $1500, but the guy there told me it’s at least worth $2000,” she explained, her voice animated with frustration.

I offered to look at the car, although I have no need for it, I figured perhaps the donation would help her out.

However, when she rode with meet to see the car which was parked down the street at the Days Inn. There it sat isolated in one of the hotel stalls, covered with dust, plastic covering the driver’s side window, and old leaves resting on the floor beneath the front seat. A turn of the key and there was nothing.

She defended the demand for at least $1500, so I told her if she had all of the necessary paper work and if the car started, I would buy it.

As Thanksgiving arrived I had second thoughts and tried urging her to wait until the day after, but she insisted she needed the money to pay for the hotel or she would be evicted.

So, I relented and went on Thanksgiving Day to purchase the vehicle. She had informed me that AAA had towed the car to the Best Western from Days Inn and started it. Riggins said there was some minor glitch but it runs smooth.

I rushed over, only to discover the car was in the same shape as the day before.

When I tried to offer her something to help her out for the car that had not been registered since 2014, she began accusing me of taking advantaging of an 87-year old woman.

“I thought you were better than that,” she scolded me.

I left knowing that I probably would not see Marie Riggins again, and also felt a bit sad that I could not help her.

Somehow, I feel that I am not alone in being blamed by Marie Riggins. She is not totally delusional, but nor is she the brightest bulb in the lamp.

Is Marie Riggins a victim of her own circumstances? Or does she manifest choices that prevent her moving forward beyond that fateful day in May 2021?