Walden Pond Cleanup Starts
Condemned trailers are being razed at the troubled property.
Donna Griffin sat on the steps of a trailer at Walden Pond Mobile Home Park on Tuesday as a demolition crew worked on razing condemned trailers on the property.
“It’s awesome,” said Griffin, who resides at the park. “About time.”
A contractor has started tearing down dilapidated trailers at the park, and New Port Richey taxpayers are on the hook for the work.
Walden Pond Mobile Home Park has been a problem for the city for a while. This past Summer, the mobile home park's owners told residents the park was closing and residents needed to leave the property, but they failed to follow legal guidelines for eviction. Since then, some residents have left. Some haves stayed behind.
Also left behind were vacant trailers. Stripping has been an issue. Some trailers have collapsed.
New Port Richey leaders decided to have the city pay a contractor to get rid of more than 50 condemned trailers and clean up afterward.
The effort is estimated to cost $69,500, said Sherman Applegate, director of public works for New Port Richey. The work could take two or three weeks, and the final cost will depend on the time the cleanup takes. The city contractors started demolishing trailers Tuesday.
The city intends to bill park owner Walden Pond, LLC, for the cost of the demolition and cleanup. It could pursue a lien.
Walden Pond also owes the city for unpaid water utility bills and clean up of a mound of trash in September.
Residents are being permitted to live in trailers that are not condemned for now.
Lara Curtis, another resident at the park, also thinks its “awesome” to see the demolition move forward. One collapsed trailer is right next to the one she inhabits. The demolition of condemned trailers is currently happening on the opposite side of the park from where Curtis and Griffin live, but it will eventually move to their side.
Vermin have been breeding in the park, Curtis said. She said rats and snakes have been spotted. Some vacant trailers have been used for drug use, she said. She also said someone has stolen some of her family’s property, including three bikes.
She also said cleaning up the park benefits the neighborhood surrounding the park.
“It’s not just good for those of us still here,” she said.
Curtis has property elsewhere in New Port Richey that she wants to relocate to eventually.
Keep track of what's happening at Walden Pond with this record of continuing coverage:
City Moving Forward With Walden Pond Clean Up
Walden Pond Owners Given Chance to Clean Up Property
City Could Raze Crumbling Trailers at Walden Pond
Collapsing Trailers Raise Safety Concerns at Walden Pond
Dumpster Removal at Walden Pond Raises Concerns
Pasco Seeks to Connect Walden Pond Tenants with Aid
Residents Continue to Occupy Walden Pond After Closing Deadline
Pasco Exploring Ways to Help Walden Pond Tenants
Tenants Oppose Removal from Walden Pond
Spencer
9:10 am on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
There's something kind of beautiful about some of these photos, the waste and destruction and the colorful clean-up-- all this taking place among the gracious palm trees and water of Florida.
Worried About the Big Picture
2:38 pm on Saturday, November 17, 2012
There was a time not too long ago when the owners of Walden Pond slaved over maintaining and making Walden an asset to its surroundings rather than the troublesome spot it has always been and continues to be without costly maintenance. Admittedly, many of the residents added to and were cause for its demise and ironically most of those were the loudest to cry out Victim. Like many of us, the owners were hit with the downfall of the economy and the storm was the last straw. Rather than immediately seek to fight the owner and feed a fire that started as soon as she labeled the owners as "bad guys", public servants such as Liz Nichols should have diplomatically sought to push the residents and owner to work together, rather than against each other and this entire situation could have taken a much different turn.
Whether or not the process was adhered to correctly, residents since July, are still on the property as if its their right to be and no official stepped in to tell them they shouldn't be?
To now take further action to NOT allow the owners who are ready and willing to rectify the situation is to what? .... continue to point the finger and fight war ... rather than take the practical solution of going ahead and letting the owners (who were in the process of obtaining permits) put an end to the situation, the council sees fit to use publc funds and continue the battle? Don't we have enough problems?