One resident has started a GoFundMe account and several are speaking with a local credit union. Others are appealing to the St. Anthony Village Board, and visiting the offices of CPG President Traci Tomas with letters, cards and drawings from school children, urging Ms. Tomas to please not destroy their community.
Tomas has the capacity to extend the day of the sale, but told the residents when they visited she would not do that.
“I’m here because what is happening at Lowry Grove is happening all over the place, not only at mobile home parks, but also apartments. They are displacing poor people, people of color, people like me,” said Pablo Tapia, a community organizer who has organized a resident-owned cooperative in the manufactured home community where he lives.
Current managing partner Phil Johnson said the infrastructure is 70 years old and would have to be upgraded in the 96 home site community. “The park no longer meets the standards of modern manufactured home communities,” he said in a letter to the residents.
Tomas said a third party administrator will provide the update information, help residents find new housing and lawfully compensate each one $2,000 to $10,000, depending upon the age and state of their home.
Lowry Grove residents said they will continue organizing to save the community. Tomas is planning a residential apartment complex. ##
(Photo credit:theuptake–signage against the closing of Lowry Park MHC)
