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North Bergen trailer park tenants being forced to move by next June
By
NORTH BERGEN — Residents of the Manhattan Mobile Home Park are in a quandary.They are being forced to move because the 5-acre property is being sold, but the only thing mobile in the mobile park home are the people, they say.
The homes, they say, have been there so long they’ll fall apart if anyone tries to move them.
“We could never move this trailer, and most of the others can’t be moved either,” Laurie Culkin said, standing outside the trailer she shares with her ex-husband.
They have until June to vacate the park, which once contained 150 families but is now down to 60.
The park, at 4828 Tonnelle Ave., across from a Hudson Bergen Light Rail station, is expected to be developed into a 216-unit condominium complex. An appraisal performed several years ago pegged the property’s value at $1.9 million in its current use and $5.5 million if offered as a residential development, such as condos or townhouses.
“Nobody wants to be put out of their homes — it’s not right,” Culkin said. “It’s not fair that because this is a mobile home park they can do that.”
When the owner of the property died about six years ago, his family decided to sell the land.
"My plan is to stay until everyone starts to go." Gary Carlton Manhattan Mobile Home Park resident
The residents were given the first chance to purchase the property, but they could not come up with the funds, township spokesman Phil Swibinski said.
North Bergen offered residents the services of the township attorney and allowed them to meet in Township Hall with the hope of helping them broker an amicable settlement with the owners, but “that does not appear to have happened,” Swibinski said. “At the end of the day, the owners have a right to do as they please. ... We don’t like to lose any residents, but in the case of the trailer park, it is really out of our control.”
Guadalupe Paz, 85, has lived in the park for 30 years. She pays $398 per month rent and has a total income of $725 per month.
“She is struggling to find a place she can afford and we have been helping her,” said Paz’s sister-in-law, Isabel Alonso, adding that Paz has been hospitalized five times in recent years. “She is sick, but the sheriff’s officers don’t care if you are 100 years old when they come to evict you.”
North Bergen has encouraged residents to apply for Housing Authority apartments, Swibinski said. Five have applied, one has been placed so far, and another is in the process, he said.
Gary Carlson, 66, lives in a 1956 Spartan trailer he says was built in an airplane factory. He said he is one of the few residents whose home can take flight with him, but he has no immediate plans to hit the road.
“My plan is to stay until everyone starts to go,” Carlson said.
Park residents have been in and out of court in their attempts to stay put and Carlson hopes an appeal will allow residents to stay.
The attorney for the property owners could not be reached for comment, nor could the lawyer residents said is handling the appeal.