Last Monday’s Petaluma City Council meeting went late into the night, and at least 50 mobile home residents – some wearily holding signs reading “Support Petaluma Mobile Homes” – stayed in anticipation.
Mobile home residents from Youngstown, Little Woods Mobile Villa and Capri Mobile Villa remained in the council chambers to watch city leaders close what they consider to be loopholes in the law allowing mobile home park owners to bleed them dry with nonstop arbitration hearings.
Every time mobile home park owners propose a rent increase above a certain threshold, an arbitration hearing is triggered, costing park residents tens of thousands in legal fees. Park owners have explicitly stated their intent to continue using this tactic, saying that onerous restrictions by city and state governments leave them no choice…