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Neighbors worry about safety in trailer park

Story by Liz Zamora (Contact)

4:26 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, 2008

"We've had people camp out in these empty trailers, homeless people," said Mary Ann Cupp.

Cupp has lived here at White Lakes Mobile Home Park for more than four years. She says vandals have taken over many of the empty trailers. Her neighbor, Robert Bridegroom, also has seen kids hanging out at one empty trailer in particular. It's has been damaged beyond repair.

"A lot of the kids like to come in here and do drugs and so forth inside the trailers," Bridegroom said.

Don Hanrahan owns the park. He says it's not that easy to move out the trailers since they belong to someone else and it's tough to keep out vandals and the homeless.

Mary Ann remembers when she lived here back in the early sixties. It was a beautiful area. But she says over time, the park has gone downhill and there are potholes in the roads. She says it's the inexpensive rent, $200 a month that keeps her from moving out.

"And the condition we live, I don't see where our $200 dollars is going," she said.

Hanrahan says he uses the money to pay trash, water and gas, but tries to keep the rent low because he knows many of his tenants are on a fixed income.

But Bridegroom says there are some things that are being ignored, like mowing. "The grass hasn't been mowed all summer, they just started trying to mow it the other day," he said.

Hanrahan also told me he also pays someone to mow the lots and keep the bushes trimmed. One other thing that he mentioned was he considers himself a good landlord and says his rent prices are competitive, but many times just doesn't feel appreciated by his tenants.

We'll be following this story to see if they get their concerns addressed.