COUNTY COMMISSIONERS’ MEETING – FEBRUARY 3, 2004


Good morning. My name is Joan Mahon. I am a concerned citizen of Manatee County,

and a volunteer in representation of 100 residents of the Trail Mobile Home Park, many

of whom are right now, at this very moment, working in our seasonal packing, picking,

landscaping and construction industries.

Many of the residents own their trailers homes. All of their savings are invested in these

units while the Maglione Trust exploited the situation renting spaces with poor electrical

connections, non-functioning sewage systems and total abandonment of the park.

The residents need a fair and lawful compensation for their HOMES, especially since this

property is being sold for close to $1 million and will be part of the

new 14th St. Community Redevelopment Area that will be availing itself of

tax increment financing planned by the County.

Not one of the residents I am working with wants to ‘milk the County.’ They simply need

money to move; County Staff knows it is necessary to have money to move. The residents

have been asking for merely $1,400 for their titled trailers to have enough money to pay

deposits and move on elsewhere on their own.

Being “perfectly capable of going out and finding another place to live” is an unfortunate

quote in the recent press. HUD reports it takes a $26,000 salary to afford a $600 rent.

Most of the Trail residents in the Trail are making less than $10,000-$12,000 a year.

As for the sewage clean-up which finally took place in January of 2004, I am sure the

County will find a way to place a lien on the property for this costly public works expense.

And it can probably do so for any other expenses incurred in compensating or relocating

residents still living at the Trail, not through choice but through need.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you once again on this matter. And our thanks,

also, to County Staff for their efforts in locating housing options for some of the families.


jdm
February 3, 2004