(Even
though I am the original author of this concept, I simply present
the following as my personal opinion, and it is presented here
for your information only. It is not intended to render any
specific and/or legal advice, nor to disparage, slander, and/or
libel any person and/or organization.)
The
very concept for the Huntington Beach Mobile Home Informational
Forums were actually developed quite a number of years ago now.
This was when another Huntington Beach Mobile/Manufactured Home
Owner & Advocate, Gaynor Creger, and I, approached (at the
time) Mayor Grace Winchell and Mayor Pro-Tem Linda Moulton-Patterson,
with the thought of developing effective solutions of real benefit
to our City's mobile home owners. I actually came up with this
basic premise myself, but defiantly needed assistance to help
me see this through. Therefore, it was Gaynor Creger that I
personally asked for help. For other mobile home owners representatives
at the time, would certainly not be the ones to help see this
to fruition. Their personal agendas bordered more on vendettas
than effective solutions.
Without
going into a lot unnecessary detail, it should suffice to say
that the political structure of this City Council, at that time,
was most receptive to the idea. Even so, we did need to develop
the total concept first, before even submitting it in its final
format to the rest of the Council. In other words, all the footwork
and research had to be completed first, to avoid the typical
tendency of a City trying to "committee" something to death.
Therefore, it was just us mobile home owner's representatives
who met with these select Council members every three (3) to
four (4) weeks for over a year. Remember, bureaucracy moves
slow. Plus, a solid foundation had to be in place first, for
we knew other select representatives and "nay-sayers" would
try to throw rocks at just about anything they were not personally
part of. The Informational Forum concept was actually born and
evolved here at these meetings, only the final Council vote
made it official.
Cities
are very particular entities, therefore, trying to develop so-called
solutions to every possible mobile home issue that can possibly
be perceived as "bias" or "one-sided" got us nowhere. It became
quite clear very early on, that the "City" was simply not going
to put themselves in a position of having to choose so-called
"sides". Yet, that’s what logically led, in the final analysis,
to the Informational Forums. They were intended to be just that
-- information! The key factors were, no matter what the subject
matter selected for a particular Forum was, equal representation
from all interests parties needed to be allowed. Therefore,
on any particular issue, representation was required, not only
from us residents point of view, but the park owners as well.
However, a major plus in our favor was that we did have some
"say-so" in who these other representatives should be.
We
did understand though, this could possibly make a few residents
angry, because some homeowners organizations were touting that
all park owners were somehow the enemy -- so they should be
excluded from any type solutions. Yet, I do think we all need
to realize that for any long-term resolutions, we need to objectively
sit down together in developing win/win correspondence. Therefore,
if others could not handle that objective, at least we could.
Another very important element was, we were certainly not trying
to or claiming ourselves as the so-called experts in every possible
category or even promoting just our own solutions. If you ever
wondered why today many of our problems still persist in these
mobile/manufactured home parks/communities -- well, that’s the
answer. Our accepted proposal was to have only the true and
proven professionals, in their particular perspectives, on-hand
to present these Informational Forums, while Gaynor and myself
purposely took a back seat on this. Our aim was for needed creditability,
for if the agendas of the past of other so-called homeowners
associations had been working, there certainly would be no need
for solutions today.
Therefore,
the total Informational Forum concept was in place. The individual
interest categories, meant to educate and inform, and by those
in the know, while representing all sides and interests on the
issues.
Huntington
Beach agreed to three (3) separate Forums: "The California Mobilehome
Residency Law"; "Resident Park Purchase Plans - Pros & Cons";
and "City Services to the Mobile Home Owner." Each of the separate
Forums were 2-hours in length, video taped, and presented in
the Council Chambers to a packed house. However,
now each individual city and/or county wanting to pick up this
highly successful premise, could naturally develop their own
subject classifications. The concept and foundation has been
laid for you and is now paving the way for other cities to follow.
Over
time, this very concept was expanded upon and was the very heart
and foundation of our founding of the Mobile Home Review (Advisory)
Board concept. The real credit and special attention should
go to the Huntington Beach official representatives for helping
us and assisting on both concepts at that time. They were former
Mayor Grace Winchell, former Mayor Pro-Tem Linda Moulton-Patterson.
Today,
I am still available to act as a Consultant, to help you and/or
your city address any concerns in helping to "fine-tune" this
particular concept for the benefit of all.
John
Sisker
Disclosure...
