Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : CITIES : Mobile Home Park Tenants in the Driver’s Seat
A group of elderly tenants of a mobile home park finally put an end to escalating rents that were taxing their modest fixed incomes.
The group bought the Cherokee Mobile Home Park in Anaheim.
The 173 residents, who had worked for almost two years for the big day, became the first group in Orange County to buy their own mobile home park.
The price tag for the 17-acre park at 235 S. Beach Blvd. was $5.6 million. Most of the residents contributed $3,400 each toward the purchase price. The state granted them another $636,000, with the rest being financed through a private banking institution.
“We’ve shed a lot of tears, but today we shed tears of joy,” said Sophie Ertl, president of the park’s mobile home owners association, before Anaheim Mayor Don Roth and other city officials cut a long red ribbon to start the celebration.
Anita Landecker, director of the Los Angeles Community Design Center that helped with the sale, said resident ownership of mobile home parks may start a trend, because it allows those with fixed incomes to control their rents.
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