|
about 18 years ago.
Mobile home parks sprung up on the very edge of a nothing town post WWII. The city grew around the area of these parks, where seniors of small means had lived for decades. What had once been the outskits of town, was now prime real estate.
Along came the City Redevelopment Agency, who wanted to build a shopping center and displace appx 150 residents onto a "temporary location" for a year (to mitigate the displacement and give residents 'time' to find their own permanent place to relocate their units).
Mobile home owners, as they don't own the land, have little protection from Emminent Domain compensation rules.
Being an advocate for seniors, I got involved and it took two years of fighting 'City Hall', involving The Gray Pathers (a national elder advocacy group), County Mental Halth, local press and lots of public support.
The "temporary" site offered by the city was graveyard property where some of the residents had family members buried! Some, being in their 70s, 80s & 90s were very shaken, thinking they were being pushed into an early grave. The existing site was located on a public bus transit line which the residents utilized to do their shopping and reach medical appointments.
The 'graveyard' site had no access at all to public transportation. When I raised this issue to the City, I was told, "Oh, well just get the transit agency to run busses up there." I contacted the transit angency and was told that there was NO way to get buses up the one-lane, steep windy road, and that even if a proper access were built, they wouldn't create a new route for YEARS after review.
I then researched what would face the homeowners once the 'temporary' location was phased out. I contacted The Golden State Mobile Home Owners Association for some input. There were no vacancies within a 150 mile radius that would accept non-new homes. The homes of these residents were old.
Nearly all residents had lived there for several decades. They had a very strong community and relied on one another a great deal. If one fell ill, others would bring food, do shopping and check in on well-being. They comforted one another when spouses died. Only a very few still drove, and would sometimes drive a resident somewhere. It was an amazing thing to learn how they operated as a close community, supporting one another.
The fear of being scattered and disruption to their fragile community and lives took a great toll on the residents (as attested to by County Mental Health). Some gave up and moved in with their children. Some moved to other states near relatives. Some died. Some FOUGHT FOR JUSTICE.
These people built the town when it was nothing. They had done exactly what society had asked of them. They had worked all their lives and paid their taxes.
We fought for two years, attempting to get a permanent park (for the half that remained) on a public transit line, so they could live out the rest of their lives with one anothers' support.
Then, amazingly, two angels in the form of developers (of all things!) arrived. Two men with hearts, souls and smarts. They listened to the needs of these elders and designed a beaitiful gem of a small new park, carving out a bit of property on the edge of the proposed new shopping center. They proposed to the city that the city purchase the land, the developers would build it, the residents could live out their lives until the last one died or moved away. Then they would own the valuable land. As some residents moved away, they would rent out spaces on a temporary basis.
It was a win-win for all concerned. The lovely new park was built, the remaining community was still intact (on a bus line!), and they were never threatened again with relocation. The city got their shopping center. The developers got a prime piece of land at a discount (though knowing them and working with them I know $ wasn't the prime factor. They'd likely make some money, but didn't know when, and it wouldn't be fat. They actually cared about the well-being of the elders and justice.) Yes, all the residents have lived out their lives or finally moved in with kids or care homes and are gone now.
I learned a lot. I started as an angry adversary against the city. Eventually I found myself in a working relationship with City Council and Redevelopment agency towards a just solution. For the first time in my life, I worked with an elder advocacy organization, a county agency, a statewide association, the press, community and others.
When it was over, the RW mayor asked me to run for a city council seat. Because we started at OPPOSITE ends of an issue, I took it as a high compliment. I told him, "Nah, pretty much City Council seems to be cocktial parties" (I'd been to quite a few). But we ran a RADICAL leftie who'd come on board eventually with our issue and she won in our Red town. What's more, she later won re-election.
Shortly after, we worked on a rent control issue for mobile home parks, relating to somethhing you mentioned. That'll have to be another post, as I'm pretty dippy, husband having been hospitalized.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
