News

Trailer park could be shut down as 'public nuisance'

A 26-year-old mother of a newborn lives in a trailer with no running water.

By Bill Moss, Published: April 3, 2015

'We're solving issues,' owner says

A lanky 73-year-old, Newell's bad hearing requires a reporter to shout questions. He depicts himself as a devoted landlord trying hard to overcome challenges caused by things out of his control — freezing weather and employee "sabotage" among them.
"We've got water to everybody in the park," he said one day last week, although the Lightning reporter had just minutes before interviewed tenants who were still dry. "We had problems back when we had the 80-year freeze. Everything should be fine there. We're solving issues as they come up. We're cooperating as much as we can. We've been dealing with lots of sabotage, not from the tenants but from employees."
Officials from more than a dozen government departments and nonprofit agencies are working on problems at Alpine Woods Resort."We just spent a tremendous amount of money to put in water," he added. "It's been very stressful on everybody. But everybody's been so kind. You should have seen all the church people come out here and help. We had a 55-gallon drum of water on the back of the truck. We took it around and knocked on doors and gave them water."
Connet confirmed that Newell spent a lot of money for installation of water for the trailer park. The apartments closest at the Alpine Woods entrance were already on city water and Newell had an unpaid water bill of $40,000, Connet said. Once he paid, the city installed the new tap to supply the trailers.
Pushing city water into Newell's private system did not mean water reached the kitchen taps of his tenants.
"I think there are some blockages and breaks in those lines," Health Director Steve Smith said. "Not all of those dwellings are getting water directly to their mobile homes."
Residents confirmed that.
Ralph Stahr, a 39-year-old tenant, was out working on his trailer, one of the neater ones in the park. He pays $460 a month in rent.
"We've been fixing it up since we've been living here," he said.
Does he have water? "Yeah, since I fixed my own pipes," he said. "Me and my fiancée spent close to $400 buying water for a month and a half. He didn't say nothing about deducting it off our rent. Last Sunday I went around trying to help other people get their water on, too, but all I could do was cut the water off until they get their pipes fixed. They didn't have the money to buy the pipes."
Warren told a WLOS-TV reporter that his workers had been working 12-hour shifts for 33 days straight. Stahr scoffed at that.
"Before he started making them work this past week all I've seen them do is ride around," Stahr said. "He got rid of his other two. All they did was ride around. They said they worked but they didn't. ... They've been working on the water the past couple of days."