Residents will be evicted from Palo Alto mobile home park

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- People who live in Palo Alto's last mobile home park will be evicted. That difficult news came at Tuesday night's city council meeting, along with the promise of an updated appraisal for their units at the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park.

Council approved the application to close the park. The question now is will new appraisals get them enough money to stay in Palo Alto?

ABC7 News spoke to Umbelina Martinez, a single mother of four. She said, "And I hope that the girls will have the school that I didn't have."

Martinez moved to Palo Alto after losing her Mantica home to a bad mortgage. She said, "It took me a long time to pay my trailer, to complete it and fix it and all."

She is the victim of the housing bubble that burst and she's getting beaten again by the real estate boom in the Bay Area.

A representative for the owner of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park, Margret Nanda, says the owner plans to sell the property. Nanda told the council the owner "will sell its property when it deems appropriate, to whom it chooses, and for an amount it deems acceptable."

Residents will be compensated for relocation.

"You'll have a chance to have an update on your appraisal, you'll have a chance for a peer review," council member Liz Kniss said.

Blanca Fonsca said she thinks that is fair and is eager for an updated appraisal. The $23,000 she was quoted more than a year ago just doesn't add up in this market.

"There's no way I can buy a two-bedroom mobile home for $125,000," Fonsca said.

And how do you put a price on finding a comparable school district?

Umbelina's daughter Elissa Guzman said, "I really don't want to leave my school because we just got a new 3D printer and it's really cool."

The new appraisals may take several weeks and residents will have a 30 day window to appeal updated figures.