Mobile Home Park Management Responds To Complaints
BY KRISTEN SCHWEITZER — MIRROR REPORTER
Stray cats, open sewage holes, high crime and yard trash – not your typical home sweet home welcome, but at Royal Village Mobile Home Park, it’s what residents have become used to.
On August 20, the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, Springfield Township Fire Department, Lucas County Sheriff and others joined the Springfield Township trustees and park management on a walk-through of the mobile home village. There was great concern with what they found.
A 10-page list of crime inside the park over the past two years reveals nearly 200 incidents.
There have been several burglaries and assaults, gross sexual imposition and a rape, according to Jeffrey Summers, deputy sheriff of field operations.
“The sheriffs, if you talk to any one of them who have this to bear, they can tell you they know these people, they know these homes and they’re baffled as to why the park doesn’t regulate it,” said Matthew Fitzgibbons, a 13-year resident of Royal Village, referring to the amount of crime inside the park.
Fitzgibbons has been trying to have changes made inside the park for several years.
He said the operators are “making a profit at the expense of the communities in which these mobile home parks are located” and that the inspection crew needs to look beyond the blowing trash.
“These homes are falling apart – holes in the floors, holes in the roofs. They slap a ‘For Sale’ sign on the roof and they sell it to people. They don’t require them to fix it up. The people don’t have an emotional connection to the home and move out or are thrown out three or four months later,” Fitzgibbons said.
Another resident of the park, Donna Bartlett, said her biggest concern was the lack of police presence and that while she has never witnessed any drug deals, she has heard plenty of rumors that it goes on.
“It’s a trailer park – it’s going to have its problems,” she said.
Bartlett, who has lived in Royal Village for four years, said she would like to see the park cleaned up.
“When the neighborhood looks shabby, it brings in the unwanted element, and that’s anywhere. You need to take pride in your neighborhood. Period,” she said.
Royal Village management was apprehensive about having the media inside the park during the walk-through.
On the morning of the walk-though, Fitzgibbons notified park management that all media were his personal invited guests.
With Fitzgibbons’ invitation and the OK from the sheriff, the media joined the trustees on the walk.
“I felt that the community ought to know what’s going on in there,” Summers said.
Joe Hoag, who lives outside of the park on Morack Drive, took the initiative to lead the trustees and county representatives around the park, pointing out his concerns.
He showed the trustees trailers that were falling apart, reinforcing Fitzgibbons’ words. He also revealed several areas where people were dumping trash behind bushes just outside the park property. Many open sewage drains were also discovered along the walk.
Hoag pointed out a vacant lot and told the trustees how the previous residents carried buckets of water from another location because they didn’t have running water in their mobile home.
A resident of Morack Drive for 12 years, Hoag explained that he is tired of putting up with the noise and destruction of property from the park.
“The noise is unbearable,” he said, explaining he has been woken up at night throughout the years by loud music.
Springfield Township Fire Chief Barry Cousino said the vacant mobile homes are a fire hazard and pointed out additional risks along the way. For example, an electric box with caution tape around it would need a cover put on it, not just the tape.
“Anything that is something that needs to be done, we would ask for a letter coming from your office stating it,” David Hale, regional manager of the park, told Marylin Yoder, township trustee.
That is now what Springfield Township intends to do.
“Our concern is going forward and correcting the violations,” said Andy Glenn, township trustee.
The Springfield board of trustees and the zoning commission are working on a list of changes. The health department will also be making a list, according to Yoder.
“Some of these things we can’t mandate, we can only suggest,” she said.
Yoder said with all the coverage the park has now received, she said she thinks the park management would want to take the suggestions seriously.
She said her primary concerns with the park included the high crime, the “For Sale” signs in front of trailers nowhere near selling condition, titles not being transferred at the time of trailer sales, the lack of caps over sanitary drains and the stray animals roaming.
When asked about the condition of several of the mobile homes and at what point he would call a trailer a total loss, Hale said he didn’t have an answer.
“We sell affordable homes to people if they want to take the time to repair them,” he said.
As far as the stray animals are concerned, Planned Pethood had recently taken 77 cats from Royal Village, spayed and neutered them and placed 38 into its adoption program. Planned Pethood will be providing ongoing assistance to keep the stray animal population down, Yoder said.
The trustees became aware of the problems in Royal Village nearly five years ago when Fitzgibbons first complained to the board.
Fitzgibbons said he originally took his complaints to park management. After nothing was done, he took his case to the Sylvania Municipal Court and entered mediation with the park. After failing to get results again, he took his concerns to the trustees.
“Then, we felt like maybe there was nothing we could do, then about the last two months with more people coming in, I said, something has got to be done,” Yoder said.
After the walk-through, Hale said he would work with residents, issuing violations when necessary.
“Our goal is to work with anybody to resolve the issues,” Hale said.
Crissey, Holland Receive Excellent Ratings From State
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
Springfield Local Schools received an effective rating on its Ohio Department of Education report card for the 2007-08 school year, and two schools – Crissey and Holland – were named excellent schools.
The district earned its effective ranking by showing adequate yearly progress, meeting 27 of the 30 indicators and achieving a performance index score of 98.3 out of a possible 120 points – its highest ever.
“We’re happy about that,” superintendent Kathryn Hott said of the performance index.
The ODE now also measures value-added improvement – how well a student scores compared to previous years.
Although the district was listed as above average in the value-added category, the high school did not meet that goal – which is one reason why the school received a continuous improvement ranking for its third year.
“We scored 98 percent on the performance index and met 11 out of the 12 indicators at the high school,” Hott said.
Scores in subgroups – which might include those with learning disabilities, those with limited English proficiency or the economically disadvantaged – were lower, thus lowering the school’s overall annual progress.
Another challenge is that 28 to 30 percent of high school students are transient, meaning they do not finish out the school year in the district, according to Hott.
“We want every child to succeed, and we’ll do whatever we can do to bring those scores up,” Hott said.
The district will continue to focus on tailoring curriculum and structuring assessments to meet the needs of every child, she said.
“This is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It takes a lot of time, but that’s our focus,” she said. “We can name and identify every child’s needs, from those who are not performing well or those who are extremely gifted.”
In addition to 37.7 percent of students testing at the proficient level, 29.2 percent and 16.2 percent tested at the accelerated and advanced levels, respectively. Those above-average scores affected the performance index, Hott said.
Social studies and science at the middle school level are two areas the district will continue to focus on, said Judy Sander, director of testing.
For more information about the report card, visit www.reportcard.ohio.gov.
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