Residents ponder what’s next

CHENEY – Caught between the city of Cheney and the owner of their park, the residents of Myers’ Mobile Home Park are now faced with the prospect of packing up their lives and moving their homes, or in some cases, losing everything.

The city and Thomas Myers have been involved in a long and heated dispute over city codes – the city wanted fire hydrants installed and better road access to the park, which once contained 44 homes. Myers chose to close the park a little more than a year ago rather than make the improvements. A court ruling last month requires Myers to clean the park of all garbage, maintain weed control and continue to pay the water bills until another hearing is held on Sept. 26. If Myers doesn’t comply, he could face jail time.

“All of this could have been avoided very easily,” said Myers’ attorney, Dennis Clayton, in June.

Clayton said that the city approved the park in 1995 and then continued to approve permits from the residents from 1996 through 2000. It wasn’t until 2000 that Myers found out that the city forgot to include certain actions by Myers, such as installing fire hydrants in the facility.

Clayton also said that for many years the city would not negotiate with Myers and his attorney, and Clayton was told the city’s position was not negotiable. It wasn’t until this year that the city asked to mediate, after Myers had spent his life savings on legal battles with the city. Clayton said Myers is broke, making it impossible to even get a loan to make the improvements.

A request made through Clayton for an interview with Myers has not yet been granted.

None of the mobile home park residents will be asked to leave before Sept. 26, and Arlene Fisher, city administrator, thinks all of the residents should be moved by then.

“I intended to live here as long as I could,” said Melanee Balmes, a resident of the park.

Balmes, 49, is a part-time social worker for the Department of Social and Health Services in downtown Spokane and is legally blind.

She moved into the park 12 years ago. She had been living in an apartment and needed to have more space. At the time, her elderly mother was living with her. Her mother has since died, and Balmes shares her mobile home with her guide dog, a black Labrador named Corinne, and Sassy, a miniature schnauzer.

As of Aug. 18, her mobile home will no longer be located in Cheney, where she has lived since 1978.

Myers’ Mobile Home Park was ideal for Balmes, who took the bus to Spokane to work and could walk anywhere in Cheney she needed to go.

“I’m going to miss the convenience of living in Cheney,” she said.

She’s moving to Hayford Village, a mobile home park that has a Cheney address but is closer to Medical Lake, just next to the freeway. The bus stops in that area are near heavy traffic areas, and Balmes will have to rely on the paratransit services offered by STA.

Moving a mobile home can be an expensive endeavor – costs can run from $7,500 to $12,000.

Balmes said she has to pack up most of her furniture and put it in storage before her doublewide can be moved.

Although the dispute between Myers and the city has forced the move, Balmes said that she is not ready to pin blame on either side.

“I think both sides were to blame,” she said. “He (Myers) should have gone along with the rules and both sides could have compromised.”

She also thinks the city administrator is doing everything she can to help the residents.

“If she’d been in charge then things would have been different.” Balmes said. “I know she feels really bad about this situation.”

Although some mobile home park residents may be eligible to receive help paying moving costs from the state organization Community Trade and Economic Development, Balmes said she makes just enough money to be ineligible.

“I’m fortunate I have some resources,” she said. “I’m hoping I have enough so I can pay for a wedding next spring.”

She is getting help from some family members in packing up her home, and she is also looking forward to getting married next year. She recently became engaged to Lance Waite.

“In the midst of this thing he popped the question,” she said. “I’ve got the Lord on my side and Lance is wonderful support.”

For Debbie Breen, 39, the future is more uncertain.

Breen, her husband, Jon, and children Chelsie, 16, and Ben, 18, moved into Myers’ park in 1999.

“We were excited to move in there when we did,” she said.

She said she moved into the park with the intent of staying and made sure she obtained the proper permits for electricity and phone service.

For most of the last year and a half, times have been tough financially for the Breen family. Debbie lost her job and she said her husband was working two jobs to make ends meet.

“Mr. Myers’ lack of taking care of the property was troublesome,” she said. She added that he was very nice in working with her, when she was out of work and couldn’t pay the lot rental on time, so she didn’t feel that she could complain. She said Myers built a new driveway and didn’t pave it – a move that Breen said wore out her car’s suspension.

When new sidewalks were put in, they removed the sprinklers that were in the way of the project, but didn’t reinstall them. She said the ground in the area is very dry.

“The dust just blows into the house,” she said.

She didn’t apply for state assistance to move her home when she first heard about the program because her parents were going to help with the expenses. That plan didn’t work out, and in May, Debbie Breen found a new job as a financial management counselor at the Arc of Spokane.

She said she is disappointed that the state looks at gross income only when determining eligibility for financial help and not at the big picture. Had she applied for the funds before she got her new job, she would have qualified.

The Breens are planning to let the bank foreclose on her mobile home and hope to find a place to rent.

It hasn’t been easy. She wants to stay in Cheney, since her children are finishing up high school and she doesn’t want to uproot them.

She also has two cats, and many rental homes either don’t accept pets or ask for a large deposit for them.

Breen also said she has been trying to work with the bank regarding her credit card debt.

“The bank has not been cooperative in any way, shape or form,” she said. “I’m not looking for sympathy, just understanding.”

She said she is upset with both Myers and the city. She said that she had no idea a lot of this was going on since she didn’t really spend time talking to her neighbors. She appreciates that Fisher was working with the residents, but wishes she had known about the assistance sooner.

“I’m sorry he could go to jail, but it’s just his own doing,” Breen said of Myers.