Silent for Months, Mesa Royale Residents Speak Up Today About The Mesa City Council

Things went 'under the radar' for a while about Mesa Royale Mobile Home Park that first got attention almost a year ago in an article written by Arizona Republic news reporter Maria Polletta on June 15, 2015 and featured in a post on this blog.
Update to this story: this is the original parcel of land targeted by the Mesa City Council to get developed for the ASU Downtown Mesa campus that's now under consideration right now for approval in a different location next to City Hall.

If the back-handed land deal had gone according to plans, the residents of the trailer park would have gotten kicked out of their homes and the property cleared and bulldozed by now [six months later] to make way for the 2500-student ASU satellite campus.
It didn't work out that way - find out why tonight at 5 o'clock' and who "the insiders inside City Hall politics" are.

Accompanying the image shown in the left of Mesa Royale residents attending a Mesa City Council Meeting back in June of last year Maria Polletta's article begins with "Mobile Home Park Mesa Royale is turning out to be "a not-so royal mess" for the City of Mesa, after ignoring a point in a decade-old 2004 Housing Master Plan. . . "
An even more detailed story by Salvador Reza appeared a month later
Update on Mesa Families Victory Fighting Gentrification

8/25/2015

“Lucha, Lucha, Lucha, No dejes de luchar” resounded through the light rails along the valley at the same time confetti catapulted into the air celebrating the ribbon cutting ceremony for the expansion of the light rail into downtown Mesa. On the other side of the tracks Mesa Royale residents were jubilant when they were informed that the City of Mesa would postpone hearings before the City of Mesa Board of Adjustment which were convoked by residents to expose the reasons 125 families were being forcibly relocated by the City of Mesa with no compensation . . .

Image from Trulia

On January of  2014 the Mesa Royale Trailer Park owner was notified of numerous violations to the City Code and they required him to stop renting spaces.  If any space was vacated he had to inform the city so those trailers would be red tagged. However, that order was never obeyed and transactions continued normally. Trailers were rented, sold and bought, despite the City’s order. It took a year and a half before the residents learned that the City was going to condemn the park and they all had to leave. It happened when a Mesa City inspector told residents not to bother fixing anything since as they were shutting down the park. Some residents have been there over 20 years while others just bought trailers in March or even May. Some  invested 5,000 dollars while others invested half of their life raising a family. Some had grown in the trailers as a child and now went back to live in their own neighborhood once they were married.
After the conversation with the City inspector, the City realized that the residents were irate and wanted answers. The City's  knee jerk reaction was to go to their go to friends, insiders within city politics, to try to calm down the uproar . . ."

Your MesaZona blogger received this announcement earlier today and attended the press conference starting just after 11:00. Two other media representatives were also there:

Clara Colmenero, News Reporter for Univision
ccolmenero@univision.net
602.232.3573

http://www.univision.com/arizona/ktvw

José [Polo] Castillo, News Editor KTAZ TV Phoenix/KHTT TV Tucson
Phoenix Telemundo station KTAZ says its 10:00 p.m. show, Noticiero Telemundo Arizona was the most watched local news in the market in April for the first time in 25 years.
José.castillo1@nbcuni.com
602.648.3951



They are in the process of editing what was filmed and recorded on-location this morning.
Broadcast is scheduled to start at 5 o'clock.

Barrio Defense Committees
Mesa Royale
400 W. Main Street
Mesa, Arizona 85201
Comites del Barrio Press Release
Contact: Sylvia Herrera 602 575-8829
Yolanda Triana 480 835-1067

Press Conference

Date: Monday May 23, 2016Time: 11:00 a.m.Location: Mesa Royale Trailer Park Space #1

Re: Mesa City Council Candidates' Pledge to eradicate residents from Mesa Royale

In a City Council Candidate Q & A  forum,  a great deal of time was spent knocking down Mesa Royale Trailer Homes in order to bring in “safety” and “development.”

Candidates like Jerry Lewis, former state senator who defeated Russell Pearce, justified the eventual eradication of Mesa Royale run by his former friend Gene Ham because it was unsafe. He failed to say he was the Trustee that worked out the deal that got Gene Ham $1.2 million dollars and left 0 dollars for the relocation of the residents that were lied to and swindled out of their money.

One of the Candidates for District #1, Courtney Guinn, openly said the City made a mistake extending the time for the closure because they could have ASU moving into Mesa or student housing to attract more desirable development now that the Light Rail could bring in more business to Downtown.

Yolanda Triana, representative of Mesa Royale countered that, “despite the antagonistic attitude by the candidates and the City, residents will double down and will fight until the City compensates them for their negligence and nepotism toward Gene Ham and Jerry Lewis.”
Residents will announce future actions to hold the City of Mesa accountable for not providing adequate solutions to festering problems that they allowed to continue.