Except for a giant window thrust into one side, this man-made intervention, a 270-square-foot one-room dwelling, could be just another one of the mossy weathered boulders dotting Costa da Morte. Instead, the guesthouse blurs boundaries between architecture and landscape. "It's a piece of nature built with our own hands," architect and engineer García-Abril says. "A space within a stone that blends with the surroundings. A contemplative space, a little poem."
Those of us here in the "trailer park" own our homes but not the land. Since our homes are, in actual fact, not trailers and not even mobile, we should own the land, we have tried to own the land, but the park owners are too fond of the monthly space rent we pay them.
Their lawyers are very clever. They're always coming up with new ways to weasel more money out of us. You would think that because they are the largest owner of manufactured home parks in the U.S., worth multi-millions, they would have no need to do this, but I suppose in their minds, doing otherwise would be un-American. What do they care if they take granny's house, her equity and her life savings? Granny needs to pull herself up by her walker straps.
That's why we and our 400 neighbors have been fighting a lawsuit against Equity Lifestyle Properties for over a decade. Fortunately, we have the city of San Rafael fighting with us. Goodness knows where we'd all be now without them.
Goodness does not always overcome evil, but if we don't fight for it, it never will. If we don't stand up for our rights, we forfeit our rights. When that also means losing everything we've got, believe me, we stand up.
The following article chronicles one of our battles from two years ago. The people in the video are my neighbors, one of them lives right next door.
Mobile Home Owners Victimized by Eviction Threats
January 17, 2011
In Marin County, dozens of mobile home owners
are reeling from eviction letters.
Their homes had minor violations in a routine state inspection, but they
say their landlord is using those violations as an excuse to get them out and
charge new tenants higher rent.
For residents, it has become a little like Hell on Earth in a place that
once offered a promise of paradise.
"I think that it's harassment," one resident said.
"Well, it's absurd," said another.
In San Rafael's Contempo Marin, dozens of mobile home owners have received
eviction warnings from their landlord because a routine state inspection found
minor violations on their properties.
"And they receive letters that say in seven days, if you don't fix
everything that was on your inspection, that we'll evict you," explained
homeowner Keith Meloney.
The violations could be for stairways, for decks, for weeds, or for
rubbish. Wanda McBade got an eviction warning for putting up Christmas lights
without a proper electrical permit.
"I've been signed off, luckily. I met with the inspector and he couldn't
believe that they had sent me this letter," she said.
Three years ago, Equity Lifestyle Properties, which owns the land, won a
judgment ending rent control for any vacated properties and for all of them by
2018. That move devastated housing values in the area, leaving owners upside
down, underwater, and helpless. Some have just given their homes away and moved
out.
"If they remove a resident from a home, then the rent control for that home
site ends and the new person who's placed in that home will pay three times the
rent," Meloney said.
On-site management would not comment, but by telephone, a company spokesman
told ABC7 News that "to preserve our legal rights, we need to induce residents
to fix the problems."
However, it may not be that simple. Equity Lifestyle Properties has decided
to put some of the homes up for sale. One is on the market for $5,000, but of
course it needs a little bit work. The steps leading down to the driveway are
gone. It leads to a question: Is there a double standard here?
It is a question that management did not want to answer.
"But, we do have a vicious park owner that's wanting to get his way, no
matter what," homeowner John Sherry said.
Meantime, repairs continue at Contemp Marin at a frantic pace despite a
deadline of January 20 that appears to be landlord-manufactured. The state's
deadline is still more than one month away.
"Everyone in this park has been a victim," McBade said.
Up until a few years ago, this XVIII century stone farmhouse lay in ruins. Then a local architect brought it back to life, converting it into one of Mallorca's most beautiful country hotels. When you first see the building, you are struck by the luminosity of the pale stone facade, framed by green lawns, olive trees and blue skies. The interior of Son Gener is also a celebration of light and form. Minimalist, nothing in excess, just carefully selected furnishings and flowers, paintings and sculptures, that seem to create a backdrop for the structure of the building. Volumunous bed chambers open onto views of the sea. It's very quiet - sometimes silent. As you lie, totally relaxed on your private terrace, occasionally you'll hear a goat's bell jingling in the fields. Or perhaps it's Pan himself. I wouldn't be surprised.
If I could choose to live in any kind of house, it would certainly be one of stone. That's probably because I grew up watching my father build stone fireplaces, patios, planters, terraces, sidewalks, stoops and steps. Where are you now, Dad, now that I need a good mason? Up there in that great stone quarry in the sky, I imagine, terracing the clouds.
