Mobile home park resident reeling from ‘the spin’

Dick Matherly

I am a homeowner in El Nido Mobile Home Park. I am still hurting from

the Costa Mesa City Council decision on Monday night. I admire

Councilwoman Libby Cowan’s “guts” -- as Councilman Mike Scheafer puts

it -- to stand up to Joe Brown. I have been doing it every Monday

night at council and Planning Commission meetings. Cowan would have

shown more “guts” if she would not have been so quick to reject the

interim ordinance, which was the only protection we have against

Brown.

I have great pride in my honesty and integrity. Guess I could

never be a politician or a reporter. Some of it I got from my mom

when I was young ,but the rest I learned in the service of my country

-- from the age of 15 in World War II to 37 in Vietnam.

Now that I am 75, I still have it. Not so sure that is good in

this age, but it’s in me. So, when I speak on Monday nights, I do not

slander Brown. I speak from my heart, and anything I say, I can back

up. On the other hand, since Brown’s attorney and representatives

have started speaking, I have never heard so much “spin” and “hype”

in all my life.

But when I rebut it, I’m a trouble maker. Monday night, when Mayor

Gary Monahan started the public comment portion of the meeting, he

began by saying that neither Brown, nor anyone else, was trying to

take away our dignity and integrity. I had intended to make my

presentation about the conversion ordinance but I had to correct

Monahan, since taking our dignity is what the mobile home park

manager has been trying to do since Christmas.

I got one sentence out when the mayor admonished me as if I were a

little kid but, as people commented later, he let everyone else say

whatever they wanted. The council members and your reporter never

question anything Brown or his attorney say. Instead they act like

we, who have been living in this misery, are the bad people, even

though Brown has misstated various facts that are generally known.

Though Brown’s attorney always say they are moving people with

their homes to other parks, only one lady and her trailer have been

moved to Riverside. The attorney also commented at a City Council

study session that “these people live in rusty, dilapidated trailers

that will fall apart if moved.”

Brown is quoted by your reporter that everyone is being relocated

and 50% of the people have been relocated. In truth, five people have

relocated to the cemetery. One died from cancer. One homeowner of 28

years said she would rather die than move, and she did, a couple of

weeks later. The rest of the people that left took the money and went

somewhere else.

Where are these other parks that Brown’s people are talking about?

We do know that the Town & Country Park in Santa Ana had nine open

spaces. Brown allegedly rented them and moved nine of his modules in

those spaces. He’ll give us $3,000 in moving expenses, and we can

move in one of his modules for an even larger amount. When we take

the check for the $3,000, we give him our pink slip, and they sell

our homes. Not a bad day’s profit. Of course, I tell this all the

time, but I am always ignored. Everything I ever talk about, I can

back up, but to the City Council and your reporter, I don’t exist. It

is frustrating because they sure listen to Brown’s group.

The mayor kept saying Monday night that we residents are being

relocated. He either doesn’t know or doesn’t care. I heard utterances

from council members, hoping these allegations were not true.

Would it be that much effort to check it out, or are you all

afraid to face the truth?

* DICK MATHERLY is a Costa Mesa resident.