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CLEAR Temp: 48 °F Wind: SSW at 5 mph Wednesday, February 5, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend January 31, 2003 Mobile-park residents lose last hope of keeping homes By MYLES MURPHY for the Mail Tribune ASHLAND — Following a year of uncertainty — with scattered moments of hope — the residents of Ashland’s Pines Annex Mobile Home Park must leave their homes. "It’s a total lost cause at this point," property owner Gregg 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 beginning the process of evicting the residents. "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, residents of the park — 10 mobile homes on a small lot known as the "Lower Pines" across East Main Street from the Ashland Shopping Center — were given $100 monthly rent increases, followed a month late by a year’s notice of eviction. The intervening year has seen the creation and subsequent withdrawal of an ordinance to bolster trailer-park residents’ rights in the city, as well as a park cleanup 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 Corp. — a nonprofit that 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, trying to buy the 1651 Ashland St. property for a low-income housing project. The City Council awarded a $168,750 grant to RVCDC in May to be used for the development. Present trailer-park residents were to have first crack at the new dwellings. Although Adams has pledged to help residents move, the original hope for new homes has evaporated. "I guess I’ll live in the street," Lower Pines resident Barbara Williams said Thursday morning when informed of the deal’s failure. "They get our hopes up, then drop it." Williams, a crossing guard for the Ashland School District, said she also faces a pay cut along with many other ASD employees because of Measure 28’s failure on Tuesday. 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 said frequent criminal activity at the park hastened his decision to end negotiations and start the evictions. He cited a list of felonies, drug activity, burglaries and other crimes at the park, presenting a printout of incidents obtained from the Ashland Police Department. "Eight out of the 10 trailer sites had something going on over the past few years," Adams said. The criminal activity was so bad that Galpin, Adams’ former partner with the property, removed himself from the deal. "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 end of negotiations 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 how 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" 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." Oregon Action Director Rich Rohde vowed a fight. "If their next step is somehow to try to evict those folks, they’re going to have a huge battle with 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. Oregon Action and other organizations will be fighting this as long as they can." Myles Murphy is a reporter for the Ashland Daily Tidings. 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