GARDEN GROVE : City Demands Home Cleanup

City officials have given a woman living in the city-owned Emerald Isle Mobile Home Park until today to clean her dwelling or the city will do it and charge her for the cost.

Officials, who had obtained a court order, inspected her residence last week after complaints from other park residents that it was dirty.

John Bushman of Garden Grove’s Economic Development Department said that representatives from Vector Control and the county Environmental Health Division accompanied city code-enforcement employees during the inspection.

The seven inspectors found the home filled with debris, and two rats were seen inside, Bushman said.

“It was awful,” he said. “Clothes were thrown everywhere. There were food containers with food scraps; one room was wall to wall with debris. The aroma was not good. It was just a revolting situation.”

Bushman said the city obtained the court order because the woman, who is in her 50s and lives alone, did not allow city inspectors inside when they first came to investigate two weeks ago. The woman was not home in last week’s inspection, he said.

The park is on Clinton Street, between Westminster Boulevard and Trask Street. There are 60 mobile homes in the park that the city purchased about a year ago. Rent is about $500 a month per space, Bushman said.