Tuesday, April 27, 2004 | 10:50 a.m.
Anthony Molina admits that the Sky-Vue Mobile Home Park has gone downhill since he moved his then-new single-wide coach into the 100-space park at 15 W. Owens Ave., 40 years ago.
Still, like many of the park's remaining 40 residents who got orders Monday to move out of the park within 72 hours, he said things are not so bad that the city of Las Vegas needed to declare the place an "imminent hazard."
"Just because I am not trying to keep up with the Joneses does not mean I should be thrown out of my home," said Molina, a lifelong Las Vegan and 1956 graduate of Las Vegas High whose family settled in Las Vegas in 1927. "This entire situation has been blown way out of proportion."
Authorities say the residents are not to blame. The owners of the park, however, have failed to make the required repairs to the property, and those failures have left the park as too unhealthy and too dangerous for people to live in, city officials said.
"The conditions here are deplorable -- sewer backups into homes and fire hazards," said city spokesman David Riggleman as he joined city marshals, fire inspectors and building and safety inspectors at the site Monday morning.
"The owners of the property have been given enough time to address these problems. It is unfortunate that we have to take this action at this time."
To help relocate the tenants, a transition center has been set up at the Salvation Army's social services building, 1581 N. Main Street. Apartment Hunters is helping find new homes for Sky-Vue residents.
"Some of the residents are being directed to the Moulin Rouge apartments, for example," James J. Vilt of Nevada Legal Services said.
The owners of the Sky-Vue, the DiMarco family, say they believe the city is acting too hastily. They have handed the matter over to their lawyer to see if they can stop the city from shutting them down and keep their remaining tenants as they make repairs.
Garry Hayes, the DiMarcos' lawyer, said he filed a lawsuit late Monday against the city, the Clark County Health District and State of Nevada Manufactured Housing Division,
"Primarily we are seeking injunctive relief in the form of a temporary restraining order from a judge," Hayes said. "Hopefully we will hear something in 24 hours."
Hayes said Monday's imminent hazard declaration "came as a surprise. We thought we had an agreement with the city last week. We met with the city's staff and showed them our progress."
Sky-Vue Manager Sandi DiMarco, whose family has owned the property for two years, said, "This park has been run down for 20 years and the city expects us to do everything in a matter of a few months. We have repaired the sewer and plumbing problems."
DiMarco produced from a several-inch-thick notebook filled with city, county and state citations, a Clark County Health District report dated April 12 indicating repairs had been completed regarding sewer problems.
Riggleman said that while the owners have called plumbers to the site several times, every time city inspectors have checked the work they have found sewer water backed up.
"They (DiMarcos) have turned a blind eye to the issues," Riggleman said, noting that city inspectors were on site last Thursday and found "no progress has been made in repairing the multiple life-safety hazards."
The Las Vegas City Council will meet Wednesday to determine if the owners have made sufficient repairs in time to comply with authorities' orders, but on Monday authorities said the DiMarcos' efforts were too little, too late and "barring a miracle" the park will be closed down.
Many hard-core residents, including Molina, seem to support the landlord and oppose the city's efforts to shut down the place in their best interest.
"I've been here through six owners and they (the DiMarcos) are OK," said Molina, who paid $32.50 a month for his space in 1964 and now pays $275. "In any case, I do not feel they are getting due process, and that's not right."
Tina Anteau, who moved out of Sky-Vue recently, but regularly visits her father and other friends who are tenants, calls the closure effort "ridiculous."
"Where will some of these people go?" she said. "Some are ill or disabled and others are poor and cannot afford apartments. Yes, the conditions here are deplorable -- in some cases no air-conditioning, no hot water and broken toilets -- but it is a step up from living on the streets."
Jeffrey "Rocket Man" Taylor, a Sky-Vue resident for three years who restores motorcycles in front of his home, said: "It's dirty here, but it's not as bad as the city makes it out to be."
City fire and building safety officials on Monday warned Taylor to remove his bikes from the road in front of his coach or face fines.
Mike Bailey, a maintenance worker for Sky-Vue who, with his pregnant wife, is a guest in the home of a Sky-Vue tenant, said: "They (officials) can do this to us because we're poor.
"I'll put my wife up somewhere, but I won't leave until city marshals come and handcuff me and drag me out of here Thursday."
Other tenants defiantly tore from their windows the city's orange and black signs that read: "Do not occupy. This structure is unsafe." Others posted their own signs. One read: "Already too many homeless. Where do we go?"
But some former tenants say living in a homeless shelters is better than staying at Sky-Vue.
"What the city is doing today is a positive thing," said Jackie Reynolds who moved into Sky-Vue in early March and moved out this month to a nearby women's shelter. The Sky-Vue "is a slum environment," she said.
City employees on Monday handed out packets with paperwork to assist tenants who want to utilize the transition center, where about a dozen social service agencies are offering help.
Twenty-seven Sky-Vue residents received assistance during the first day of the transition center. Each applicant was interviewed to determine level of income, disability and other factors to determine their needs, city officials said.
While many were given assistance looking for permanent homes, others received additional services including job placement assistance, legal services, food, food stamps, medical treatment assistance and, through Nevada Welfare, income support assistance to help fill the gap between what they can afford to pay and what the apartment they want costs per month, officials said.
The city did not yet have statistics on how many Sky-Vue residents, if any, who sought help got permanent housing.
Charles Desiderio, spokesman for the Salvation Army, which is providing city workers and others with space for the transition center, said a number of tenants have "very serious issues," including concerns about what will happen to their property and possessions.
"While Sky-Vue may be a step up from homelessness, it is not the type of housing we would want for the (homeless) clients in our programs who go into transitional housing," Desiderio said. "There is better housing out there."
Chuck Steiner, area manager for Apartment Hunters, a company that finds tenants for apartment complexes, said through noon Monday five Sky-Vue residents had inquired about his service at the transition center.
"Mostly, they have wanted one-bedrooms, with monthly rents of about $369," Steiner said. "We hope to place everybody from Sky-Vue who seeks our help."
Steiner said his service is free to the apartment seekers. He said the properties will pay his company fees for the referrals.
Since early February, Sky-Vue owners have been under orders from city, county and state regulatory agencies to address health and safety concerns.
Earlier this month, the city spent $40,000 helping residents of 42 Sky-Vue homes obtain temporary housing while repairs were supposed to begin. Also, a Municipal Court order was issued this month for the owners to make repairs to, among other things, sewer pipes, faulty wiring and plumbing.
While most of Sky-Vue's tenants rent mobile homes, about 15, including Molina, own their manufactured houses. But a majority of the coaches are in such ramshackle condition that other mobile home parks won't accept them.
Nevada Legal Services' Vilt who has been trying to look out for the interests of Sky-Vue's tenants, said there is at least one case of a resident who bought his trailer on April 1.
"He figured at that time that if he spent $2,500 on it, he would always have a roof over his head," Vilt said. "Now, I doubt that it can be towed out of there. Even if it could, there's probably no other park where he could put it because many have restrictions" regarding sizes, ages and conditions of trailers they will accept.
"The vast majority of these people do not have cars and don't have security deposit money, so trying to move within 72 hours involves more disruption for them than for you or me."
Vilt said he also wonders what authorities will do about other trailer parks that may be in similar condition.
"Driving around that area I saw at least two other places that look similar," he said. "And there are pockets of older trailers around the valley." 7"I'll put my wife up somewhere, but I won't leave until city marshals come and handcuff me and drag me out of here Thursday."
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