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Vista Mobile Home Park
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There is a small resident-owned mobile home park in Vista that lies atop a breezy hill overlooking the Vista City lights, the rolling hills of Bonsall, and if one could look through the elevation of highway 76, the ocean in Oceanside, California. It contains very old mobile homes - many are single wides from the 1960s. You can drive through there, but very slowly because the streets are narrow and curvy, and only if you can find it - hardly anyone even notices it sitting on the hilltop. If it is noticed, it’s taken for granted. Some of the people who live there were there from the park’s inception - in the 1960s - when it was a rental park and had RV camping. These people are now in their 80s.
Therein lies the problem. People in their 80s who might not fully realize that they are now sitting on, or should it be said, taking up, property that’s prime for predatory deals, flipping, and in the line of development. People in this park have always self-managed and have always trusted that things will remain the same. Time has stopped here.
And this is how an aggressive, predatory, lawyer property manager became their property manager: An association board with many sickly and elderly people; board members who ran the park like the old, wild west but now they don’t even have the internet and have no idea what the Davis-Stirling Act is; and younger people - in their 60s - who move in - not to stay - but to profit.
An aggressive and dishonest lawyer slithered his way into this park as property manager due to the park's years of board malfunction and dysfunction: very elderly and sickly owners take positions on the board because no one else would - or could - and have no ability or initiative to keep up with state laws and requirements.
With the increase in these park resident’s ages and illnesses, comes the increase in value of their single wide trailers that they bought 50 years ago for a few thousand dollars. This park is now sitting in the line of development and is worth many millions. It’s being systematically taken away from the rightful owners who are elderly, sickly, and low income.
What is the weapon, trick, device, technique being used to take away homes from their rightful owners?
The Courts. It's called Legal Abuse. An attorney property manager cancels elections and takes away the rights from the owners and when the owners stand up for their rights, the property manager sues them for defamation - for questioning his job performance, and theft - for getting their park funds back out of his control.
The lawyer park manager drains park funds by suing park owners with frivolous lawsuits.
Residents are too sickly and poor to defend themselves. The agencies that are supposed to help victims don’t help victims because they’re not really there to help and plus, the lawyer lies, blames everything on the residents, spins stories that they’re "bad or crazy," and files the frivolous lawsuits against owners to distract and cause chaos and confusion. The park goes into bankruptcy. The predators come in to buy the park for pennies on the dollar.
The property manager has willfully prevented elections. He knows that he will be kicked out if legal elections were ever held.
The lawyer property manager cancels park elections, chooses who he wants to be on the board - two very elderly and easily confused individuals and someone who scares the park owners and has many pending felonies, and hires another attorney without a lawful board and with the use of park funds. This is really his attorney - not the park's attorney. This tiny park, barely containing 19 people, now has two attorneys after its owners and if anyone dare speak out, the two attorneys, with the help of their chosen board members, spread slander and gossip about them, sends out untrue and publicly embarrassing letters about them, and either threatens to sue them or sues them.
The lawyer property manager is fired and refuses to leave.
The more savvy residents organize a special meeting and recall the property manager’s “board.” The vacancies are filled by park owners who aren't under the control of the lawyer. The property manager is terminated - unanimously. The process for holding elections begin. The property manager refuses to leave, slanders, threatens many of the people involved, and starts suing anyone who opposes him.
The owners move their association money out of the property manager’s control and into their safe guardianship. The property manager quickly files a civil-theft lawsuit and a Temporary Restraining Order to get the park’s money back. He tells the judge that he's the park’s property manager. He fails to tell the judge that he denied elections - against the law - and was terminated. Plus, the people who would oppose the TRO are not informed of the TRO until after the order is issued. The lawyer is able to get his side of the story to be the only side of the story.
By stonewalling, refusing elections and to leave, the lawyer property manager and his lawyer cohort forces the matter into the courts and the owners don’t have money or expertise to fight in the courts.
Two ruthless lawyers against the elderly, sickly, and poor.
The playing field is tilted. Now, the owners must pay the lawyer property manager their monthly dues and some of this money is used to fund his activities against them. If they don’t pay the property manager, it’s anticipated that he will evict them from their own property.
The property manager has taken the park owners’ proof of ownership and when anyone stands up to him, their records magically disappear and they are made to prove that they are the rightful owner. There is a criminal complaint with the Vista Sheriff Department - there is proof - and yet the Sheriff has NOT taken action and will NOT return phone calls from the park owners.
The California Bar was contacted and they seem to be parroting whatever the lawyer property manager tells them rather than investigating. The lawyer blames the park owners and calls them crazy.
The very GSMOL (Golden State Manufactured Home Owners League) won't help them. But isn't that what they're there for?
The Attorney General has been contacted. The same. The lawyer and his lawyer spins the real story and calls them crazy.
If the string of events continues it will be a travesty of justice. The cost to gain access to justice is too much for the low income park owners to afford, the police seem to force anything not involving blood into civil court, and the nonprofits that are supposed to help the low income and the elderly with legal help are not responsive except as lead generators for clients with the big pocketbooks. The agencies that are watchdogs and are supposed to protect the underdog are there in name and paid staff only.
The pernicious threat to the low income and the elderly is: Do as you are told and give up all your rights and property otherwise you will lose all your rights and property in a frivolous court case that will be filed against you - but you will have to prove it as frivolous - and you don’t have the money and expertise to do this.
If you should happen across this park, drive through it. You will see no one out, not a soul. The streets are empty, no dog walkers, no park benches, no grassy areas to sit and contemplate. You won’t see neighbors smiling and talking to one another across their yards. The clubhouse is worn and shuttered - trapped in a remodel of the 1980s. No chattering, no coffee cups clinking, no music playing. The lawyer and his lawyer have scared and embarrassed those who tried - they've pit neighbor against neighbor - and now everyone hides. The carefree days of the 1960s - mobile home and RV living on a breezy hill overlooking the California Dream are long gone. Now, the lights fade as only fear, confusion, and ultimate submission awaits this little park on a hill in Vista.
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