CATCHING UP WITH ... De Anza Bayside Village

Amy R. Spurgeon

NEWPORT BEACH -- People travel along East Coast Highway every day to get

from Mariners’ Mile to Corona del Mar or Laguna Beach. While stopped at a

traffic light at Bayside Drive, they may chat on a cellular phone, change

the radio station or even admire the beautiful surroundings.

But many are unaware of the ongoing rent battle many seniors at the De

Anza Bayside Village mobile home park face on a daily basis. Many of the

fixed-income residents run to their filing cabinets to assess their net

worth when the possibility of any rent increase draws near.

In 1994, residents of the seniors-only mobile home park drew local

attention when they refused to pay rent increases ranging from 6% to 47%.

“You have to make yourself heard today and that’s what we are trying to

do,” 80-year-old resident Ruth Walley said then.

Residents in 1994 received a letter from the park’s landlord, De Anza

Assets Inc., which threatened to evict if payments were not made.

“If full payment is not received no later than the seventh day of this

month, you will be served with a three-day notice to pay rent or quit and

a 60-day notice of termination of tenancy,” the letter said.The issue

ultimately ended up in the hands of a judge in the form of a lawsuit

against De Anza. The judge ruled in favor of the mobile home park owners

and allowed rent to be raised a certain amount.

There continued to be legal wranglings between De Anza and a number of

tenants until 1997.

Bayside Village seemed content until a letter signaling rent increases

landed on the doorsteps of about 50 tenants in September. De Anza has

five lease versions among its 277 residents. Following the 1994 lawsuit

settlement, some tenants chose to keep their original leases that

protected them from certain rent increases. Tenants subject to the new

rent hikes are those who did not sign the new leases.

Rent for these 50 tenants will be $1,200 per month -- a difference of

$200. However, De Anza has a program at the park which allows financially

strapped seniors to be excused from rent increases. De Anza has already

allowed several residents off the hook for the Jan. 1 changes.

“All they can see are bucks, bucks, bucks,” said 28-year resident Helen

Ostrom. “A lot of people here just live on their Social Security.”Another

resident, Philip Niesen, said the rent increases are retaliation against

those residents who did not sign a new lease.

Other residents fear the rent hikes are a way to push the seniors out.

They claim if there are less than 180 residents living in the park, the

property owners have the right to bulldoze the place.

De Anza president Michael Gelfand said those accusations are completely

false.

“We are not trying to change the use of the property,” Gelfand said.

However, he said the company will be approaching the city in the next

year to redevelop about five acres of the park’s storage space for some

type of community use. Tenants currently using that space may have to

make other arrangements, he said.

Gelfand said one major change that will take place next year will be the

“seniors-only” status of the park.

“In about a year, that restriction will disappear,” Gelfand said. The

change will allow for a variety of tenants to move in.

Gelfand said he does not intend to sell the hot piece of property that

abuts Upper Newport Bay and doesn’t expect to change the land’s use from

mobile homes to a more visitor-serving use, such as a hotel.

“Our business is mobile home parks,” Gelfand said. “Mobile home parks are

stable.”