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Trailer park evictions loom By Myles Murphy Ashland Daily Tidings After a year of fear and uncertainty - with scattered moments of hope - the residents of Ashland's Lower Pines Mobile Home Park must leave their homes. "It's a total lost cause at this point," property owner Greg Adams of Adams Group LLC said. "It's just gotten to the point something has to be done." For Adams, that means ending negotiations on a deal to sell the land for an affordable housing project and begin the process of evicting the residents. Elizabeth Robinson reacts to the news that she and the other tenants at Ashland's Lower Pines Mobile Home Park will be kicked out. Ashland Daily Tidings/CHRIS MILLER "Everybody made a good-faith effort, but it's not going to work out," Adams said. "But I'll help anybody who needs help, depending on their situation." In November 2001, the residents of the park - 10 mobile homes on a small lot across East Main Street from the Ashland Shopping Center - were given $100 a month rent increases, followed by a year's notice of eviction a month later. The intervening year has seen multiple news stories, the creation - and subsequent withdrawal - of a trailer park protection ordinance, a park "clean-up" day, and protests by park residents and local affordable housing advocates. A light appeared at the end of the tunnel when the Rogue Valley Community Development Corporation - a non-profit which works to build affordable housing units in the Rogue Valley - stepped in. RVCDC started negotiating with owners Adams and Chris Galpin of Galpin LLC in April 2002 about buying the land to build a low income housing project. The plan was to create about 17 affordable housing units on the site. The units were intended for rent by residents who make up to about $17,000 a year - 60 percent of the area mean income. Present trailer park residents were to have first crack at the new dwellings, along with assistance with moving in. That promise has evaporated. "I guess I'll live in the street," Lower Pines resident Barbara Williams said this morning when informed of the decision. "They get our hopes up than drop it." Williams, a crossing guard for the Ashland School District, is also facing a pay cut along with many other ASD employees due to the failure of Measure 28 on Tuesday. "Nobody told us anything," Williams said. Park residents suspected something was up when their December 2002 rent checks were returned, along with a note from the owner's representative, Carlisle Stout III, that he would not take their money. Since then, residents have been unable to make contact with any owner or representative. "Right now I have a four-foot puddle of sewage in my yard and I have no one to call to get rid of it," resident Sandra Burke said. "Everybody's on edge in here not knowing what we can do." Adams had no details about a timeline for evictions, but said it will likely be on a case-by-case basis. "There are some good people in there who need help," Adams said, adding that he planned to begin talking with residents today about the situation. "But there are others � There's one person squatting there, for example. They'll be out immediately." Adams also said frequent criminal activity at the park hastened his decision to halt negotiations and start the eviction process. He cited a laundry list of felonies, drug activity, burglaries and other crimes at the park - and even had a printout from the Ashland Police Department documenting his concerns. "Eight out of the 10 trailer sites had something going on over the past few years," Adams said. "That's pretty gross." The criminal activity was so bad, according to former partner Chris Galpin, that Galpin chose to remove himself completely from the deal and the situation. "I am 100 percent totally out of it," Galpin said. "It would be a different story if not for the drugs, crime and criminals." The dropping of the affordable housing deal was news to RVCDC Executive Director Ron Demele. "That's contradictory to what he told me last week," Demele said. "He said we have to get this resolved by March 1." Now it appears resolved, but not in the way Demele hoped. "We spent about $35,000 of our own money working on it, and put a lot of time into it trying to accommodate them (Adams LLC)" Demele said. "But we're dedicated to creating affordable housing in the city, and there are other sites we will be working on." Park resident Elizabeth Robinson was less charitable in her opinion of the situation. "We've been going through this crap for two years now," Robinson said. "People like (Adams) won't allow low income housing to stay in Ashland; no wonder Ashland's hurting with the schools and everything." Oregon Action Director Rich Rohde had a similar reaction. "If their next step is somehow to try to evict those folks, they're going to have a huge battle with community on an acceptable level of business ethics and their lack of care for people in the community," Rohde said. "People in this community rallied behind people in Lower Pines and they will rally again." "Weighing profits against vulnerable people is not going to be easy," Rohde added "Their record of business in the community is going to be closely examined. Oregon Action and other organizations will be fighting this as long as they can." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -