What the Holiday Looks Like at Seminole Estates Mobile Home Park

Rather than write an old-fashioned blog about the closing of the Seminole Estates Mobile Home Park, I thought I'd use the technology and make a video about it. Christmas time seems to bring out my creative spirit.   Feels weird to say "Hope you enjoy!" because the subject matter is a mass eviction, with what I view as unfair stipulations, followed by destruction of a once easy-going and serene community. But I do hope you get it and react and comment.

Warning: I am an iMovie novice determined to get better.

 

Thanks for watching.

Lifestylist® Suzanne Felber Visits What's Left of Seminole Estates

That's Suzanne.

This past Saturday when I went down to Seminole Estates Mobile Home Park, I invited a special guest to join me there.  Suzanne Felber, aka The Lifestylist, was in South Florida and she swung by for a quick drive-through of the once-idyllic manufactured housing community.

Though Suzanne's company, Lifestylist Design, is engaged in various areas of home design and living well, Suzanne often works creatively and strategically with factory-built home manufacturers. She and I met when I was researching a story on the history of manufactured housing. Suzanne is passionate about this dynamic and increasingly stylish, energy efficient, and value-driven industry and compassionate about the eviction situation.

The "Fuck You" House as I have come to call it seems to have been abandoned.

We drove and stopped, drove and stopped, and Suzanne and I got in and out of the car, taking a bunch of photos of Saturday's ruins and remains. The landscape changes everyday. I was so glad that I remembered where the "Fuck You" house was and could point it out to Suzanne who agreed that this type of decor makes for good editorial. I can't wait to see what she decides to post and/or tweet.

FRANKIETHALUCKYDOG: FIRST RAP ABOUT THE EVICTION AT SEMINOLE ESTATES

Finally... a rap video about the eviction at Seminole Estates! Written, produced, directed and filmed by FrankieThaLuckyDog, "Tha Estatescalade" shows the recent state of the once calm and immaculately maintained community. The song includes voice overs from his 68-year-old grandma and 91-year-old great-grandma who have lived in the park for 30 years.

SEMINOLE ESTATES MOBILE HOME COMMUNITY RECAP

On Friday September 14th, the residents of Seminole Estates Mobile Home Community were served eviction notices. Rumors had been flying for a while, but those in charge or operations intermittently assured the residents that the community would be run as a mobile home park until 2024. New homes rolled into the park through spring 2012.

Within 24 hours of the eviction, park amenities were fenced and locked. The residents protested over the weekend; the news cameras showed up. The residents protested the following weekend; news crews did not show. But I did, and I have been following the story ever since.

I actually stopped at the park before the second protest. I went into the office run by United Community Management. I stepped up to the window and said that I was interested in writing about the eviction. The manager, Susan Martorano, wrote down a name on the back of her business card. "Here's who you need to contact," she said.

In the parking lot I introduced myself to Ray. He had been in the office asking about handing over the title to his home. We started talking  and then Ms. Martorano came out.
SM:   "Please don't harass my residents."
ME:   "Ray, am I harassing you?"
RAY:  "No" (he winked at me)
SM:   "You have to speak to Gary Bitner about it."
ME:   "Got it, but that's not the story I want."

As Susan took the last drags of her cigarette, I said goodbye to Ray, wished him good luck, and then got in the car. Then I devised my own plan of how to get into the park. I read every on-line article and perused all the comments. I clicked deeper and deeper and finally found Kathy. She had commented on an article which led me to her Facebook page, where I messaged her, and became her friend. I met Kathy at the first protest...and that's where my blogging began.

Kathy Maynard with 2 of her 11 birds. Photo: Ginny Dixon

I have been writing about the eviction on Miss Blogworthy and will now blog about it here along with all sorts of stuff related to the world of mobile, manufactured, and modular living.

September 23: "Eviction at Seminole Estates: The New Homeless"

Donna and Troy at the second protest.

October 1: "Immobilized at the Mobile Home Park: Newly Evicted in Shock."

Joan sits in an office addition that is no longer standing.

October 15: "Update on Seminole Estates: One Month Later"

It is actually here with Madame Michelle that I first practiced my rusty French.

October 22: "Eviction at Seminole Estates: Dismantling a Community"

Diane's strength and passion is inspiring.

November 4: "Seminole Estates: Evacuation Begins"

Raw emotion in an abandoned house.

November 26: "Another Saturday at Seminole: Shooting with Cheryl Maeder and Practicing French"

Skirtless at Seminole.

I did contact Gary Bitner. Bitner handles P.R. for the Seminole Tribe of Florida (STOF). As of Thanksgiving, Bitner reports that nearly 200 residents of the Seminole Estates applied for the $3,000 grant being paid by the Seminole Tribe of Florida to year round residents with household income under $40,000. Twenty residents have been paid with the remainder of applications in process, to be paid once mobile homes are relocated or abandoned. 

For residents who stay beyond December 31st, rents will go up by $100 every two months. Bitner calls this an "effort to motivate residents to move out in advance of the closing of the park on June 30th." I don't see this as an incentive.  I see it as more of a punishment. There are no amenities. The community is trashed. Plus, many of the people who are not motivated to leave simply can't afford to. They are financially strapped, family-less, or sickly. The increase just adds insult to injury.  

I asked if there were plans to evict the residents of the Seminole Park across the road. Several residents at the Estates told me that their neighbors got their notices too. I know that misery loves company, but this news is unfounded. Bitner says he knows nothing of any plans to evict the residents of that mobile home park which is also on land that is a part of the Hollywood Seminole Reservation held in trust by the U.S. Department of the Interior. I drove by last week and residents were setting up Christmas as normal.  

Scenes from Seminole Park across the road.