CLEVELAND — Tenants living at the Euclid Beach Mobile Home Community in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood spoke out loudly during a Feb. 13 news conference demanding they be allowed to stay in their homes.
The embattled mobile home park, purchased by the Western Reserve Land Conservancy in 2021, will be converted into a park along Lake Erie, which will later be managed by the Cleveland Metroparks.
The conservancy made the announcement on Feb. 9, after making it clear massive infrastructure repairs to the sewer and water systems and more are simply not economically feasible to keep the property a mobile home park. Residents said they were told they must find new homes by Sept. 2024.
Euclid Beach Mobile Home Community tenant Brochelle Baker left in tears over the prospect of having to move out of her home.
But residents like Brochelle Baker, who is with the United Residents of Euclid Beach told News 5 they are demanding a compromised plan that would allow them to stay on the property and at the same time create a park at that location.
“We believe that the engagement process for the neighborhood plan was biased and dishonest form the very beginning, this process never included us,” Baker said. “We have repeatedly told Western Reserve Land Conservancy that we are in favor of a reduced footprint that would allow us to remain in our community.”
Mary Johnson, also a Euclid Beach Mobile Home Community resident, told News 5 the Western Reserve Land Conservancy should look further into repairing park systems.
“What WRLC is telling us is that we’re not worth investing in, they prefer to put us out, scatter us about and bulldoze the place we love," Johnson said. “We are not numbers, we are not a vacant lot, we have lives and memories here. We have invested in our homes and would like to continue to do so.”
Both Mike Russell with the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, and Josiah Quarles with the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, spoke in support of the mobile homeowners. Both agencies pledged resources in representing the mobile home community in its quest to reach a compromise and save the property in its current form. Quarles told News 5 homeowners were not allowed to give adequate input.
“Individuals have even been excluded directly, once invited have been uninvited because their opinion was not welcome," Quarles said “We believe that communities should have self-determination, that they should be able to shape the future of their own communities.”
Matt Zone, Senior Vice President of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, said homeowners have been kept up-to-date with the developing situation. Zone said considerable resources would be made available to mobile homeowners to make the transition to another home.
“Not only will they be compensated for fair market value of what their units are worth, but we’re going to help them with moving expenses and the costs associated with that," Zone said. “One of our housing partners, EDEN Housing, has embedded a social worker in the park starting on Sept. 1 of last year. Many people don’t know that, and that social worker has been meeting with tenants.”
Zone said the conservancy paid $6 million for the property and estimated another $6 million would be needed to make severe infrastructure improvements, which would cause rent to skyrocket if the property continued as a mobile home community.
“We’re at $100,000 in rent payment delinquency, and on top of that we have invested $200,000 into the park," Zone said. “What would happen if we allowed it stay as a mobile home park and made all those improvements, who do you pass that $12 million dollar cost onto? For the tenants it would be unattainable," Zone said.
Zone said tenants will be issued all the resources they need and be given the dignity and respect they deserve in relocating their homes. Once that happens Zone said Northeast Ohio will be left with another lakeshore gem, by conjoining 4 park areas, similar to Edgewater Park.
“Once we help people transition off-site, we’re going to turn this asset over to the Cleveland Metroparks, they’ve agreed to manage a consolidate new park on that site," Zone said. "It’s going to be close to 160 acres, it will be the same size as Edgewater Park."
Still, Euclid Beach Mobile Home Community residents are hoping for a compromise plan and will voice their opinions during the E. 185th Street Neighborhood Association Meeting with Council Member Michael D. Polensek on Tuesday, Feb. 14, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Lithuanian Club, at 877 E. 185th St. Cleveland. And a second meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at the UREB (United Residents of Euclid Beach) with Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Collinwood Recreation Center.
“We believe that there are other pathways forward and we are fighting to stay in our homes," Baker said. “We the United Residents of Euclid Beach will not stand down and be displaced from our homes and community without a fight."