Blue Island shutting down embattled mobile home park, residents don't know what's next

BLUE ISLAND, Ill. (WLS) -- Dozens of residents in south suburban Blue Island could soon be without homes.

The city said it's shutting down an embattled mobile home park after years of unpaid water bills and code violations.

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Thursday is the deadline the city of Blue Island has given to the owners of Forest View Mobile Home Park to come up with a plan to shut the property down.

Officials have said the city has spent two years trying to get management to clean up its act. Its residents are now caught in the middle, unsure where they will go.

The park is currently made up of empty lots, broken up streets and abandoned and stripped-down trailers. It's a community in dire need of maintenance. But, for residents, it's home.

"I live with my dad and my stepmom. My dad has lived here for over 25 years," Joseph Cervantes said.

Cervantes' story is not unique. A representative for Forest View's management said 66 trailers are currently inhabited, many with long-time residents and families.

All received a letter on Friday. Addressed to the community's owners, it serves as notice that their business license has been revoked, effective immediately.

Lee Scheidel has been there 27 years.

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"The letter says we are a blight, and that it's dangerous to live here. Well, I don't care. This is my home," Scheidel said.

Blue Island Mayor Fred Bilotto is now urging Forest View's owners to pay tenants reasonable rehousing costs in the amount of $5,000.

"Despite collecting rents from the mobile park tenants, the owners have failed to maintain their property in a safe way. The result is a significant nuisance to the City, and a health and safety risk to both the residents of the park and the City at large," a statement from the mayor said.

"Where are you going to go for $5,000? Nowhere," Scheidel said.

But can the mobile park's owners be compelled to even pay that? That remains unclear.

Angelica Lule is disabled. Like many of her neighbors, she doesn't speak English and is confused about what recourse she and others may have.

"I spent all my money buying this home," Lule said in Spanish. "Now they want to throw me out from one minute to the next. Where am I going to go? What am I going to do?"

Calls to Forest View's attorneys have gone unanswered.

City officials said they knew the letter was coming even before it was sent out, insisting they are trying to do right by the remaining residents.