Disir
Platinum Member
- Sep 30, 2011
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y and night, the stench of raw sewage wafted through the aging trailer park in Pomona.
The odor billowed from scores of uncapped pipes that empty the waste tanks underneath the trailers.
"Any time anybody flushes their sewage out of their tanks, you smell it," said Dave Smith, 62, who has lived in the park for three years. "If ever you smelled it, you don't forget it."
The trailer park sits on the Los Angeles County fairgrounds and is managed by the county Fair Assn., a nonprofit organization that operates the annual fair and several year-round businesses on land owned by taxpayers.
Residents said the open sewer pipes were symptomatic of the association's neglect and mismanagement of the 160-space trailer park, which sits near old horse barns at the fairgrounds, known as the Fairplex. The trailer park was established decades ago primarily to house people who worked at the Fairplex's thoroughbred racetrack, which is now closed. Tenants with no ties to the fairground also eventually made the park their home.
The current residents complained of bathrooms in disrepair, a laundry room that has been shuttered, overhead power lines peeling insulation, and roads and walkways marked by potholes and cracked pavement.
At the same time, the Fair Assn. has imposed regular rent increases and had for years improperly collected from residents a "transient occupancy" tax, the same levied on hotel guests. The tax amounted to 10% of the monthly rent for trailer spaces, which now typically go for about $500. It was unclear how long the tax had been collected, but some residents say they have been paying it for up to 10 years or more.
Rents rose as problems lingered at trailer park operated by L.A. County Fair Assn.
These people have nothing. They sure as hell wouldn't be living in a trailer park. It never ceases to amaze me the level people will drop to to screw over folks.
The odor billowed from scores of uncapped pipes that empty the waste tanks underneath the trailers.
"Any time anybody flushes their sewage out of their tanks, you smell it," said Dave Smith, 62, who has lived in the park for three years. "If ever you smelled it, you don't forget it."
The trailer park sits on the Los Angeles County fairgrounds and is managed by the county Fair Assn., a nonprofit organization that operates the annual fair and several year-round businesses on land owned by taxpayers.
Residents said the open sewer pipes were symptomatic of the association's neglect and mismanagement of the 160-space trailer park, which sits near old horse barns at the fairgrounds, known as the Fairplex. The trailer park was established decades ago primarily to house people who worked at the Fairplex's thoroughbred racetrack, which is now closed. Tenants with no ties to the fairground also eventually made the park their home.
The current residents complained of bathrooms in disrepair, a laundry room that has been shuttered, overhead power lines peeling insulation, and roads and walkways marked by potholes and cracked pavement.
At the same time, the Fair Assn. has imposed regular rent increases and had for years improperly collected from residents a "transient occupancy" tax, the same levied on hotel guests. The tax amounted to 10% of the monthly rent for trailer spaces, which now typically go for about $500. It was unclear how long the tax had been collected, but some residents say they have been paying it for up to 10 years or more.
Rents rose as problems lingered at trailer park operated by L.A. County Fair Assn.
These people have nothing. They sure as hell wouldn't be living in a trailer park. It never ceases to amaze me the level people will drop to to screw over folks.
