Our thanks to Susannah Bryan for her
continued reporting on the man made
disaster in Davie Florida.

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Palma Nova mobile home park holdouts get final warnings

By Susannah Bryan

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

March 4, 2009

The last holdouts at Palma Nova mobile home park in Davie got a final warning Tuesday.

Legal notices began arriving, giving the park's remaining 50 or so residents five business days to respond and explain why they should not be evicted.

The park, once home to 3,000 residents, was slated to close Saturday.

Palma Nova lost most of its tenants after eviction notices arrived in August giving them until Feb. 28 to move.

Legal Aid Service of Broward County will represent the remaining residents, said Janet Riley, an attorney for the agency.

Marcos Maldonado said he would have moved out Tuesday but he had to work.

He said he is waiting to close on a house in Plantation.

Park owner Austin Forman has not revealed what plans he has for the 20-acre park across from Broward College on Davie Road. He could not be reached for comment.

Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Some mobile home park residents defy deadline

More than 50 families don't vacate Palma Nova

By Susannah Bryan

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

March 1, 2009

DAVIE

A mother of six tosses a broken computer into the pile of belongings that will not be making the move.

Down the street, a young man worries about whether he will be forced to leave his pit bull behind.

A man drives by in a red pickup with a tall, white refrigerator in the back.

Saturday was eviction day at Palma Nova mobile home park, a fixture in east Davie for decades. Only some people weren't moving.

Park owner Austin Forman wanted all residents — more than 900 families — gone by Feb. 28. The eviction notices arrived in August, giving residents six months to move out.

But on Saturday, more than 50 families were still in the park, either because they had not found a new home or they simply refused to leave. That will force Forman's attorneys to seek a court order to evict the remaining residents.

Resident Sonja Borrero, for one, says she's not moving out until someone puts an eviction notice on her door.

Borrero, a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed by Legal Aid against the town and Forman, said she knows a hearing has been set for March 11.

"But we might already be evicted by then," Borrero said Saturday from her living room, empty boxes piled high nearby. Borrero had been fretting over what to do with her two cats, Leah and Gizzy, but an acquaintance has agreed to take them in until she finds a place to stay.

Aldo Rafael Pedroza, 20, doesn't have a plan yet for Kilo, his 2-year-old tawny-colored pit bull. He thinks a friend might take in Boobie, a young Shih Tzu terrier mix.

"We have to be out of here today," Pedroza said, an edge in his voice. "We'll get by. We'll do what we have to do to survive."

Pedroza has spent half his life in Palma Nova, moving here with his father when he was 10. He talks of the memories he'll take with him. Then his eyes dart back to his dog, playing in the yard.

"I didn't want to take him to the shelter," he said, the edge still there. "They'll put him to sleep."

Pedroza knows some families have moved out and left their pets behind. He doesn't want to do that to Kilo.

Rescue groups are working to help the cats and occasional dog left to fend for themselves, according to Lisa Mendheim, a spokeswoman with Broward County's Animal Care and Regulation Division. Mendheim declined to name the rescue groups.

Jan Dove, a retired schoolteacher, wouldn't dream of leaving her pets behind.

If all goes well, she will move to a mobile home in Park City Estates in west Davie and she'll be taking her four pets with her.

Her pets — Toby the basset hound, Princess the cat, Dutchie the rabbit and a cockatiel named Doody — sense a change is coming, she said.

"They know something's going on," she said, noting they have taken to following her into every room.

It's a big change for Dove, too.

"I've been here almost 40 years," said Dove, who bought her single-wide for $12,000 in 1972.

In Palma Nova, she rented the land under her home. In Park City Estates, she will own the home and the land.

When asked whether she'll be glad to get out of here, her lips curl up into a smile.

"What do you think?" she said.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sebryan@SunSentinel.com or 954-385-7929.

Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Davie mobile home park resident's plight tugs at heartstrings

By Susannah Bryan

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

February 28, 2009

DAVIE

One of the town's largest mobile home parks is set to close today, forcing hundreds from their homes.

Sonja Borrero is just one of them. But her plight, chronicled in the Sun Sentinel on Thursday, touched the hearts of more than two dozen strangers. Through e-mails and calls to the paper, they offered Borrero money and a place to stay.

Surprised by the offers, Borrero, 45, responded with her own generosity.

"There's a lot of people here who need help, not just me," said the out-of-work hair stylist. "If people want to help, maybe they can help all of us."

Borrero had planned to move in with her 22-year-old daughter. Instead, last week Borrero held a funeral for the young woman who died Feb. 16 after a seizure.

"I feel like I have a black cloud hanging over me," said Borrero, who had a heart attack in October and surgery in December. "It's a big nightmare."

On Friday, Borrero was one of about 100 people remaining at Palma Nova. The 940-unit park lost the majority of its 3,000 tenants after eviction notices arrived in August telling them to move out by Feb. 28.

A hearing on Friday requested by Legal Aid Service of Broward County failed to halt the eviction. Park owner Austin Forman has not revealed his plans for the 20-acre parcel.

Meanwhile, people from all over South Florida offered to help Borrero, whose 1971 mobile home was too old to move.

"We would open our home to her until she is back on her feet," said Jennifer Bueller, 38, who lives with her husband and three young children in Boca Raton. "She's the one we read about that most touched us."

Fran Michielli, 58, offered Borrero a room in her Coconut Creek mobile home.

"That was such a sad story," said Michielli, who moved here two months ago from upstate New York. "It really touched me."

Joe Villani, 53, called from Montreal offering to send money. He spends part of the year at his condo in Lauderdale Lakes.

"I felt bad for her," he said.

Gary Streich, a Tamarac resident and member of the Benevolence Ministry at Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale, offered help from the church.

"When I saw this it tugged at my heartstrings," he said Friday.

Some at Palma Nova, including Borrero, say they don't plan to leave until a judge orders them out.

"They're just going to have to evict me," said Borrero, who was weighing her options.

Others have made arrangements to stay with friends or family.

Rosa Fraas, a security guard at Port Everglades and mother of three young sons, has arranged to move in with a friend in Hollywood. Another friend had agreed to take in her four chickens. "By Saturday I won't be here," said Fraas, 42. "I'm going crazy here packing up stuff."

Jan Dove, 69, had an offer to move in with friends in west Davie.

When will she leave?

"I don't have any idea," said Dove, whose mobile home is too old to move. "When I absolutely have to."

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sebryan @SunSentinel.com or 954-385-7929.

Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Palma Nova timeline

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Rumors swirled for years about the closing of Palma Nova, one of the largest mobile home parks in Davie.

Last August, the eviction notices arrived.

July 2, 2008

Residents come to Town Hall to ask council members whether rumors their park will close are true. Councilman Bryan Caletka tells them the town expects the park to close, but not for another 20 years or so. Mayor Tom Truex says the mobile home park will likely make way for redevelopment way before that.

Aug. 26

Eviction notices begin arriving. The letters, dated Aug. 25, tell residents they must move out by Feb. 28. Those who stop paying lot rent will be evicted, the letter warns.

Sept. 3

More than 300 park residents show up at Town Hall to plead for help from their elected officials. They want park owner Austin Forman to stop charging rent and extend the eviction deadline by a year. Truex promises to meet with Forman.

Sept. 17

Truex reports back to residents that Forman declined their request to extend the eviction deadline. They'll have to keep paying rent too. Residents begin making arrangements to move out.

Nov. 24

A lawsuit filed by Legal Aid Service of Broward County seeks to halt the evictions. The lawsuit accuses the town and Forman of violating state law by not ensuring the residents had other affordable housing options.

Dec. 17

The Town Council agrees to set aside $150,000 to help the remaining residents. The 56 families that qualified received up to $3,000 to help with moving expenses.

– Susannah Bryan

Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

As Palma Nova mobile home park in Davie closes, it's a ghost town for last residents

Life at the Palma Nova community in Davie winds down in sorrow and squalor

By Susannah Bryan

South Florida Sun Sentinel

February 26, 2009

DAVIE

Vultures circle overhead, searching for prey. On the ground, bulldozers crush home after home, creating a mountain of metal that eventually will make its way to the junkyard.

Six months ago, this was a bustling community, filled with 940 mobile homes and more than 3,000 people. Today, it is more like a ghost town. Fewer than 100 stragglers remain.

On Saturday, the Palma Nova mobile home park, a fixture in east Davie for decades, will close in one of the largest evictions ever in Broward County.

The notices arrived by mail in August, giving Palma Nova residents six months to leave. Although about 200 angry residents marched to Town Hall, Davie officials told them there wasn't much they could do.

Since then, the community has been in turmoil. Enrollment at nearby Davie Elementary has plummeted to 850 from 1,000. Some mobile homes have burned, neighbors are scavenging through abandoned trailers and dozens of pets have been left behind.

Most residents have already moved to other mobile home parks. Some landed in apartments and homes. Those who remain still are not sure where they will go.

Mobile home parks have been closing throughout the region in recent years to make way for more expensive homes or commercial development. Florida lost 27,769 mobile homes from 1998 to 2008 because of park closures, according to state records. Broward County lost 1,977 mobile homes, Palm Beach County lost 301 and Miami-Dade County lost 2,860.

Painful times

Sonja Borrero, whose 1971 single-wide is too old to move, helped organize the Town Hall protest.

It seems a lifetime ago.

Since then, she has had a heart attack, undergone triple bypass surgery, lost a favorite cat to leukemia and feared for her own life when nearby mobile homes went up in flames. She thinks they were torched by distraught owners or bored kids.

But the most painful blow hit last week, when Jenna, her 22-year-old daughter, died during a seizure.

"I've been crying for three days," Borrero said outside her mobile home, one of the few left on her street. "It's just all this at once. I don't have anywhere to go."

Borrero, 45, had planned to move in with Jenna. Now she is planning her funeral.

Susan Anderson, 62, moved to nearby Everglades Lakes Mobile Home Park soon after getting the eviction notice.

She still comes back now and then to look through the belongings some families have left behind. Last week, she rescued a few parched potted plants.

Joining her was Brenda Ortman, who lives in a duplex next to Palma Nova, formerly Silver Oaks mobile home park.

"It's like going shopping," said Ortman, who has collected lamps, ceiling fans and kitchen cabinets made of oak. "You wouldn't believe the stuff people have left behind."

In transition

Residents forced to leave their mobile homes behind collect what they consider a pittance from the state to help defray the cost of moving: $1,375 for a single-wide and $2,750 for a double-wide. Those who move their mobile homes collect $3,000 to $6,000, depending on the home's size.

In November, Legal Aid Service of Broward County filed a lawsuit accusing the town and park owner Austin Forman of violating state law by not ensuring the residents had other affordable housing options. The lawsuit aims to win more than $15,000 in damages apiece for about 500 families who were living at the park when the suit was filed.

Forman has not said what plans he has for the property, located on the east side of Davie Road across from Broward College. No site plan has been filed with the town.

Forman could not be reached for comment despite three calls to his office and cell phone. Paul Figg, one of Forman's attorneys, declined to comment.

Mayor Tom Truex declined to discuss specifics, but noted the land is zoned for mixed-use development.

Today, the park looks more like a hurricane zone than a parcel destined for future growth.

"It's like any place in transition," Truex said. "A lot of [the homes] have been abandoned."

Hope amid squalor

Jan Dove, who has lived in Palma Nova since 1972, compares it to a war zone.

A baby's shoe sits forgotten in the middle of the street. Abandoned cats search for food. Davie police patrol on bikes and a cruiser sits near the entrance to the park. Not far from the bulldozers are other traces of lives left behind: a sunny-yellow candle, an ocean-blue brush, an oatmeal-colored couch.

In the past few months, Dove, 69, has watched family after family leave the park and their friends behind.

"I've been working and working trying to figure out where to go," said Dove, who owns a bird, dog and cat.

She holds out hope, but her anxiety grows with each day. "It's terrible to be stuck in limbo."

Rosa Fraas, 42, moved in two years ago and lives with her mom, three sons and four chickens. She hopes to move into an apartment in Hallandale Beach by Saturday.

She will find out this week whether the apartment complex has accepted her application.

At 50, Eriberto Roman finds himself in the position of having to move in with his 24-year-old daughter in Pompano Beach.

Roman moved to Palma Nova a year ago after losing his job. His ex-wife took him in, along with Luis, his 6-year-old son from another marriage.

His ex-wife, her pit bull and four chihuahuas are moving in with their 27-year-old son, who has an apartment in Hollywood. "We've helped them enough, so I guess they can help us now," Roman said.

Still, he worries about Luis and how he'll take yet another move. Last year, Luis' mom sent him to live with Roman after she lost her home in Pennsylvania to foreclosure.

Roman is in no hurry to pick up and move out.

"We're waiting for the last day."

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sebryan@SunSentinel.com or 954-385-7929.

Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel