-
TRAILER PARK
SWEETWATER
Sweetwater trailer park residents protest planned apartments
Residents of the Li'l Abner Mobile Home Park held a rally on Saturday with park owners to challenge plans to build an 87-unit apartment building during a moratorium.
BY THEO KARANTSALIS
Special to The Miami Herald
Tenants at a West Miami-Dade mobile home park rallied on Saturday to oppose a plan by owners to put an apartment building inside the park.
As the protest went on, owners of Li'l Abner Mobile Home Park met with other tenants to calm fears that the new construction would cause their displacement.
The point of contention concerns an 87-unit apartment building that owners want to put within the 100-acre site. The mobile home park stretches from Flagler to Northwest Seventh streets, and from 110th to 114th avenues.
The site is owned by Consolidated Real Estate Investment. Manager Raul Rodriguez Jr. said the company's intent is not to uproot existing tenants. It intends to remodel the pool and tennis courts, add new landscaping and sidewalks and ``make it one of the nicest parks in Dade County,'' he said.
However, Regla Gonzalez, 60, president of the mobile home park association, fears that this is part of a plan to eventually re-zone and remove residents.
On Saturday, Gonzalez handed out fliers requesting that the association be notified in advance of any projects, current residents be given ``preference'' at the new building and park owners ``agree in writing'' that they will not be displaced.
Manuel Diner, an attorney for the park, said that a meeting was held to dispel rumors and that there was ``an overwhelming response'' in the parks' favor.
``The rumor about residents being displaced is just that, a rumor,'' said Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroņo. ``The owners of the park have publicly stated the park is not for sale, and I would not support any sale or displacement of anyone from that park.''
On July 6, Gonzalez appeared before Sweetwater commissioners and the mayor and was reassured by the city that a resolution was passed vowing not to change the zoning on the trailer park property.
Another point of contention between the owners and some residents is crime. Last year, Erik Bostock, a 17-year-old high school student, was robbed and killed in a drug deal gone bad next to the area scheduled for renovation. Both sides agree that the empty lot invites drugs and crime and that people often dump garbage there.
Rodriguez said that a new building will help fight crime in the area because the park would provide better lighting and a security guard.
The jurisdictional boundaries of the park present a problem with law enforcement. One section is in Sweetwater, the other in unincorporated Miami-Dade County.
There are 908 mobile homes at the park with 3,200 to 4,500 people, making it the second largest park in the county. Park residents include carpenters, maids and service workers.
Maroņo said that Sweetwater wants to annex the rest of the park so the residents on the county's side can benefit from its police services.
Miami-Dade County commissioners passed a moratorium in October 2007 that blocks the issuance of building permits in unincorporated Miami-Dade.
Ivonne Hislop, 62, an association member, said residents are fighting for their lives. She urged city and county to extend the moratorium, due to expire in November.
``We will be homeless if this place is re-zoned,'' Hislop said.
