Thursday, April 29, 2004 | 10:52 a.m.
The Las Vegas City Council lambasted the owners of the Sky-Vue Mobile Park during a special meeting Wednesday, then approved a motion that allows the city attorney to take them to court to shut the park down and possibly impose civil penalties.
"Would you live in that park?" demanded Mayor Oscar Goodman of Sandi DiMarco, who co-owns the park with her husband, David DiMarco. Her lawyer, Garry Hayes, attempted to step in, but after she said that she might, Goodman wasn't buying her answer.
"I'll put you under oath," he warned.
He placed her under oath, and asked her again if she'd live in the Sky-Vue park.
In response, she again said she might.
The meeting's eventual outcome appeared easy to predict, as council members asked pointed questions about the state of the park and why the owners had allowed it to get to its current condition -- health and safety officials from multiple jurisdictions found problems ranging from leaking sewer pipes to faulty wiring.
In addition, the park at 15 West Owens Avenue is without a business license and has been hit with fines for the past two weeks. The owners had received a series of temporary licenses from the city since they bought Sky-Vue in 2002 based on promises by the DiMarcos that they would install fire hydrants.
Because of the conditions, the city of Las Vegas ordered residents to evacuate the park starting Monday, giving them 72 hours to leave and setting up what officials termed a "triage center," which offered relocation assistance and other services.
Hayes contested the order and received a temporary stay, allowing residents to remain in place pending a court hearing this morning. If the court grants a temporary restraining order against the city, another hearing will take place May 5 to bar the city from enforcing its directive to evacuate the park.
The city's order to evacuate the park was an administrative decision based on a staff determination that the Sky-Vue poses an immediate threat to residents' health, and did not require council action. Wednesday's action authorized the city attorney to go to court to close the park or take any other action available, which could include suing the DiMarcos for damages -- for example, to recover the nearly $40,000 the city already has spent to relocate residents.
"We will argue every possible action available to the city," City Attorney Brad Jerbic said after the meeting.
During the meeting, council members questioned the DiMarcos' commitment to fixing the park.
"Not until someone was caught was anyone willing to mitigate the situation," said Councilman Larry Brown.
Hayes had told council members his clients were working hard to repair the problems, and claimed that the DiMarcos spent $54,000 on repairs during the past couple of weeks.
The first official notice ordering immediate repairs to hazardous conditions at the park came from the state Division of Manufactured Housing and was dated Feb. 3, almost three months ago.
Sandi DiMarco claimed that repairs were almost 80 percent done. Glenn Savage, director of the Clark County Health District's Environmental Health section, said that number "is turned upside down. Probably 80 percent of the violations still exist."
Other inspectors told stories of repairs being made with substandard materials, and not performed by licensed plumbers or electricians as ordered. At the end of the meeting, during the public comment period, plumbing contractor Wendell Gentry said he was hired to work on the site, and in three days "wasn't able to scratch the surface of what needed to be done."
He said he still was owed money for his work, which ended on the third day when Sandi DiMarco called his office to tell him he was no longer needed.
Hayes also referred to several meetings with city staff members, including one in which Councilman Lawrence Weekly was present, where Hayes said the DiMarcos were given the impression that the city was satisfied with the progress being made on repairs.
Weekly angrily said that simply was not true.
"No, we did not walk out of that room singing 'Kumbaya,' " Weekly said. "(Sandi DiMarco) is as wrong as the day is long."
He admitted he did not know how things got to the point where Sky-Vue was unliveable, but "I want to move forward and I want to hold the DiMarcos accountable."
At that, one man in the audience began yelling at Weekly, saying that the situation was the city's fault because it pushed the social services for the homeless to the stretch of West Owens that includes the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities.
The man, who was escorted out of the meeting after his outburst, said Sandi DiMarco was doing everything possible to fix the park and the city was unfairly blaming her for the problems.
At least 40 park residents showed up to support the DiMarcos, applauding at times when Sandi or David DiMarco spoke.
Some of the residents own their trailers, while others rent. Deputy City Manager Betsy Fretwell said it has been difficult to get an accurate account of how many people are in each category because the DiMarcos have not provided a breakdown to the city.
One resident, Mary Etcher, was simply concerned about having to move. She said she owns her mobile home, which she has lived in since June. She showed pictures of her 1972 Granville mobile home, with neatly trimmed shrubs in the front, and said that she takes care of her own place.
Her mobile home was identified Wednesday morning by the state Division of Manufactured Housing as one that could be moved. Deputy City Manager Betsy Fretwell said that another park operator offered to pay the cost of moving mobile homes if they were able to pass an inspection.
David DiMarco said after the meeting he was not surprised by the city's action.
"It was obvious when they started they had made their decision," he said.
Sandi DiMarco said she's been working so hard to fix the problems that she spent Valentine's Day and Easter at the park. She blamed much of the trouble on media attention, and praised the residents who have volunteered to help fix problems.
Councilman Gary Reese said the park owners should have been keeping up with repairs all along, and noted that they must be collecting thousands of dollars a month in rents, which range from $275 to about $500 per month. He also questioned why some residents received electric bills of $200 per month, a question that lingered and was not answered. The park owners get one bill from the electric company, and then bill residents by reading their meter. By state law, the park owners are not allowed to make any profit from the electric payments.
Brown also noted the rent collection and said that "what's troubling is you have an ownership who made a lot of money over two years ... and if they were responsible, they could have fixed this problem."
David DiMarco disputed the figures, saying that the park has $9,000 in fixed expenses and an $8,500-a-month loan payment. The park is losing money, he said.
"We're hanging in there for the tenants," he said. "It would be easier to just walk away."
DiMarco said when he bought the park in 2002, he didn't know the sellers were under orders to install fire hydrants.
However, Goodman produced an escrow note signed by David DiMarco, which said that the hydrant was required.
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