https://mobilehomes.senate.ca.gov/sites/mobilehomes.senate.ca.gov/files/2020_mrl_final_version.pdf
Over the next three Rights Bytes, Stephanie Reid shares with us "The Other FAQ", other questions that she received when she was on staff with the Select Committee.
There were many questions I received over the years that never made it to the official FAQs list, but they are just as interesting.
· When I guided mobilehome owners to call their own city or county services, they would often ask, “But how do I know whether I live in the City or the County?” The quick, easy answer was: “If you call 9-1-1 and a police car arrives, you live in the City. If a sheriff’s car arrives, then you live in the County.”
· Many MH residents were very frustrated at not finding legal help at the highest levels. They were downright angry when I told them I couldn’t help them beyond explaining the law to them. They would ask, “If you can’t give legal advice or defend my rights before the park manager, then what the heck is the Select Committee for?” (Sometimes they didn’t say “heck”.) I was in a corner, but the only thing I could do was come out with the truth. I told them to join GSMOL or contact a local tenants’ rights group. This is was the hardest subject to discuss because I had to defend my job, and there was no way I could help other than give them phone numbers. My answers were no help at all.
· One MH resident was so mad at me that he was going to make sure I was fired. He emailed me, “Two months ago, I sent you a list of laws that need to be added to the MRL. You have done nothing. I demand to see your office budget and salary.” This resident never called me but preferred to email instead. If he wanted to document our conversation, well then that worked in my favor too. I told him that I did not “make” the laws, but as staff I advised the Senators on necessary additions or amendments to the MRL. And that a two-month turnaround from bill proposal to enactment was not possible. (There are extremely rare occasions when this happens, but it usually is because of a disaster, or other life-threatening problem that needs a codified resolution.) I had responded to each of his proposed “laws”, noting that each was either already in statute, or were already part of Title 25, or were not solvable by legislative action but by arbitrator or in civil court. This got him madder. When he demanded to see my budget and salary, I consulted with Senate Rules Committee staff. They advised me on how the Open Records Act worked: that the requestor would have to identify exactly which budget time periods they were requesting. Rules asked me to forward the email conversation to them and they would follow up. I never heard from the resident again.
· It was painfully obvious to me the huge gap that MHP residents fell into when it came to legal assistance. Numerous times I was asked, “Can you call the park managers and tell them to stop harassing me?” The unfortunate answer was always “No.” These were honest, sincere residents who needed – as I called it – a legal bodyguard. I would spend as much time on the phone with these callers as they wanted. Sometimes I would see their problem from a different perspective, which sometimes helped, sometimes not. On occasion I would risk my job and say “Now, you didn’t hear this from me……”, or “I can’t tell you what to do, but I could tell you what I would do.” The closer I got to retirement, the easier it was for me to help them this way.
· The Senate Townhalls were always useful, but unfortunately I could not pick the cities where the Townhalls were held. That was up to the Senators who wanted them in their districts. Residents often asked, “When will there be a mobilehome conference near me? They are always so far away.” I had the interest and the energy to have those Townhalls all over the state, but as it turned out, they happened to always be in Southern California. MHP residents in the rest of the state definitely felt left out. I would tell the residents that they have to ask their representatives for a Townhall. A few times I would get calls from legislative staff from other parts of the state, but either they held the Townhall on their own, or it never happened at all. There were times during the “election cycle” when I would get calls from staff, but other than that there just wasn’t the interest, I guess.
· This is how I blew up my office budget once. I had become so energized by the response and educational value of the printed MRLs and FAQs that I was going to make sure that everyone had a copy. For two years in a row I overspent my postage allotment, and finally the Senate slashed it to the bone. I knew at some point I would get in trouble for the overspending, but at least I was able to get the book into a lot of hands. I was especially hellbent on getting the books to park operators. They would kindly call me, “I am a park manager and I have 300 homes in my park. Can you send me 300 MRL books?” I was encouraged by these requests, but I had to say “no” after my postage budget was pulled. I don’t regret for a minute mailing out these books, but it was right at the time when many agencies were not printing their valuable consumer books any longer and instead posting them right to the internet. This direct-to-internet publishing affected me too because I had a great office library of valuable printed materials from other agencies and eventually I could not get hardcopy updates anymore.
· Some MHP problems were not solvable by enforcement of the law or regulation because they were simply a matter of two residents who disagreed. I got this call every now and then: “The man next door smokes on his porch and the smoke floats into my home. I have told him to stop but he won’t. Where is the law that says his smoke can’t come into my home?” Here was my answer: If your park is a “no-smoking” park, then tell the manager that your neighbor is violating the park rule. If your park does not have a no-smoking policy, then you will have to work the problem out with your neighbor.”
--Stephanie Reid
No comments:
Post a Comment