Every so often, I review some of my previous posts. Tonight I found two posts buried deep within the blog that I feel deserve to be a little more accessible to visitors. Both posts deal with the Tatum-Kaplan predatory contracts and I have now placed links to them in the side bar. As you read these posts please remember that these are only 5-6 pages of the 60 plus total pages presented to current and prospective residents.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
A Challenge to Sacramento...
I have listed below two State of California Committees that play an important part in mobile home and mobile home park legislation. Some if not all of these committee members have at one time or another received complaints regarding the Tatum Kaplan organization. If these committee members are aware of what is taking place in Tatum-Kaplan owned mobilehome parks, then why has nothing been done. Why do our state representatives continue to sit on their hands, year after year and do nothing to help us as the Tatum-Kaplan Gang continues to take from us all our properties and funds and then kick us to the curb when there is nothing left???!!!
I am issuing a challenge to each and every one of these committee members. It's a simple challenge and will not require much time to complete. Take a few minutes and drive through one of the Tatum-Kaplan mobilehome parks near you. Look around the park ask yourself why are these residents required to pay space rents as high as $1500.00 per month? Ask yourself why someone would sign a long term agreement that is filled with confusing legalese and does nothing less than take advantage of unsuspecting residents up to the very end of the contract. Ask yourself why there are so many empty spaces and vacant homes? Then, when you return to your committees and have some representative from a lobbying firm sitting before you that spouts about the "extremely sophisticated property owners" they represent remember the drive you took through the Tatum-Kaplan mobilehome park.
Too many residents have lost their piece of the "American Dream" to the Tatum-Kaplan greed based business. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS! Our elected officials from the local level on up seemingly do not want to support us and appear to just look the other way when we point out the questionable business practices of our park owners. If our elected officials don't start taking some meaningful actions against these predatory landlords, it may very well be time for mobile home park residents to start looking the other way at the ballot box. It is our strong feeling that the Tatum-Kaplan organization needs to be investigated state wide. Enough is enough!!!
Senate Select Committee on Manufactured Homes and Communities
Members:
Senator Lou Correa (Chair)
Senator Elaine Alquist
Senator Ellen Corbett
Senator Tom Harman
Senator Alex Padilla
Senator Mark Wyland
California State Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development
I am issuing a challenge to each and every one of these committee members. It's a simple challenge and will not require much time to complete. Take a few minutes and drive through one of the Tatum-Kaplan mobilehome parks near you. Look around the park ask yourself why are these residents required to pay space rents as high as $1500.00 per month? Ask yourself why someone would sign a long term agreement that is filled with confusing legalese and does nothing less than take advantage of unsuspecting residents up to the very end of the contract. Ask yourself why there are so many empty spaces and vacant homes? Then, when you return to your committees and have some representative from a lobbying firm sitting before you that spouts about the "extremely sophisticated property owners" they represent remember the drive you took through the Tatum-Kaplan mobilehome park.
Too many residents have lost their piece of the "American Dream" to the Tatum-Kaplan greed based business. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS! Our elected officials from the local level on up seemingly do not want to support us and appear to just look the other way when we point out the questionable business practices of our park owners. If our elected officials don't start taking some meaningful actions against these predatory landlords, it may very well be time for mobile home park residents to start looking the other way at the ballot box. It is our strong feeling that the Tatum-Kaplan organization needs to be investigated state wide. Enough is enough!!!
Senate Select Committee on Manufactured Homes and Communities
Members:
Senator Lou Correa (Chair)
Senator Elaine Alquist
Senator Ellen Corbett
Senator Tom Harman
Senator Alex Padilla
Senator Mark Wyland
California State Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development
- Norma J. Torres - Chair Dem-61 (916) 319-2061
- Juan Arambula - Vice Chair Ind-31 (916) 319-2031
- Steven Bradford Dem-51 (916) 319-2051
- Mike Eng Dem-49 (916) 319-2049
- Danny D. Gilmore Rep-30 (916) 319-2030
- Steve Knight Rep-36 (916) 319-2036
- Lori Saldaña Dem-76 (916) 319-2076
- Tom Torlakson Dem-11 (916) 319-2011
- Van Tran Rep-68 (916) 319-2068
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
REQUEST...ONE WAY YOU CAN HELP
In the last 2 months, approximately 37% of the visitors to this blog got here by entering "Tatum and Kaplan" or a name variation i.e. "Jeffrey Kaplan," "Thomas Tatum" in their chosen search engine. If we add "Mobile Community Management" variations to the count the percentage increases to over 50%. We are now placed extremely well in three major search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing. (Top three depending on what is entered.) You should keep in mind that these are nation-wide searches for Tatum-Kaplan related information. This indicates to us that a lot of people are doing some type of research on our park owners.
So now, we are requesting that if you are a resident of a Tatum-Kaplan owned mobile home park, get out your digital cameras and snap a few pictures. You've seen some of the examples we have posted on the blog from Upland Cascade Mobilehome Park and Brookside Mobile Country Club. Send us your examples with a brief comment and we will try to post them here. Don't worry, we will not divulge your identity or e-mail address. It's an easy way for you to help expose these jerks. Since we created this blog, we have had visits from numerous government agencies, banks, law firms, insurance companies, newspapers, etc., but we doubt that any of them have driven through a Tatum Kaplan owned park to see what it really looks like. Your pictures can help take them on a virtual tour of all the Tatum Kaplan parks.
To help us create a Tatum-Kaplan Mobile Home Park Gallery, send your pictures here.
Thanks and best of luck to all of our visitors and a special thanks to Jeffrey A. Kaplan, Thomas T. Tatum and Mobile Community Management for helping us make this blog the success it is today.
So now, we are requesting that if you are a resident of a Tatum-Kaplan owned mobile home park, get out your digital cameras and snap a few pictures. You've seen some of the examples we have posted on the blog from Upland Cascade Mobilehome Park and Brookside Mobile Country Club. Send us your examples with a brief comment and we will try to post them here. Don't worry, we will not divulge your identity or e-mail address. It's an easy way for you to help expose these jerks. Since we created this blog, we have had visits from numerous government agencies, banks, law firms, insurance companies, newspapers, etc., but we doubt that any of them have driven through a Tatum Kaplan owned park to see what it really looks like. Your pictures can help take them on a virtual tour of all the Tatum Kaplan parks.
To help us create a Tatum-Kaplan Mobile Home Park Gallery, send your pictures here.
Thanks and best of luck to all of our visitors and a special thanks to Jeffrey A. Kaplan, Thomas T. Tatum and Mobile Community Management for helping us make this blog the success it is today.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
An Example of MCM's Concern...
The following picture was taken a few days before the meeting Upland Cascade Mobile Home Park residents had with Mobile Community Management. The former resident was evicted around January. This lot was mentioned during the meeting and pointed out to Ms. Costaglio.
The next picture is the same lot nearly one month after the meeting. (Click on the pictures for a larger view.)
A picture is worth a thousand words...unfortunately I cannot post them here.
The next picture is the same lot nearly one month after the meeting. (Click on the pictures for a larger view.)
A picture is worth a thousand words...unfortunately I cannot post them here.
Community Meeting with Mobile Community Management
It has been nearly a month since we had our meeting with our park management company..MCM. In this post I will briefly tell you what was discussed as per information I received from attendees.
First of all approximately 50 residents attended the meeting with MCM being represented by David Starnes, State Facilities Manager and Natalie Costaglio, Senior Regional Manager. It was announced by Ms. Costaglio that Sue Brown and Dorothy Gunn could not attend because they were "very ill."
The meeting began with Ms. Costaglio stating that MCM has always wanted to have a good working relationship with its residents. This brought about a "since when!" response from one of our residents. Many of the residents felt that the only reason management was here now was because of a possible failure to maintain lawsuit. My feeling is that they were here fishing for information regarding what they might be facing should a lawsuit take place. So right off, MCM's sincerity was in question.
Ms. Costaglio then stated that MCM was not aware of any problems in the park because residents have not brought them to their attention. Residents then responded that when resident concern forms were turned in they were never acted upon by management and many felt that the forms probably went no further than the local office.
Some of the other topics discussed during the meeting are as follows:
One resident was concerned that management is not doing its job and so property values are declining.
Problems with dogs running loose were discussed.
Park appearance...park owned homes and empty lots are not being maintained. Management responded that they maintain vacant lots with weeding and chaining. (Chaining???) Also, if someone is evicted or walks away, there is an in depth legal process that may prevent management from cleaning up the lot.
One home was the focus of discussion by a resident who claimed that his neighbor left the home in January and at that time signed the home over to the park. It has sat there for months, unmaintained and an eyesore which is hindering his attempt to sell his own home. He asked management why they could do nothing if the home was signed over to them in January. Management offered no real answer to his questions.
Dried/dead plants and foliage around vacant homes were brought up as being a health and safety hazard. One carelessly thrown cigarette could start a fire that could take a few homes with it. It was asked, "does not MCM have employees go around the park and look at their own properties problems?" Do residents need to tell them of every single space of theirs that needs to be attended to?
Water cut-off and electric outages were discussed.
Poor night lighting.
Poor security that allows squatters to camp out on vacant lots at night.
A rumor was brought up that the park sells their homes by offering much lower rents than a resident can offer a prospective buyer.
An attempt was made to discuss the high rents in the park but Ms. Costaglio dismissed and ignored them because they were not a topic of discussion on her agenda. Although many felt that the high rents were driving many residents out of the park and further decreasing the values of their homes, Ms. Costaglio simply refused to discuss this item.
There were other items discussed, but I have listed here some of the most important that were brought up. If anything else is brought to my attention regarding this meeting I will bring it up in later posts.
Ms. Costaglio then closed the meeting stating that anytime residents want to have a meeting with management they are always willing to do so. This could also include park issues such as the rents.
We'll see.
First of all approximately 50 residents attended the meeting with MCM being represented by David Starnes, State Facilities Manager and Natalie Costaglio, Senior Regional Manager. It was announced by Ms. Costaglio that Sue Brown and Dorothy Gunn could not attend because they were "very ill."
The meeting began with Ms. Costaglio stating that MCM has always wanted to have a good working relationship with its residents. This brought about a "since when!" response from one of our residents. Many of the residents felt that the only reason management was here now was because of a possible failure to maintain lawsuit. My feeling is that they were here fishing for information regarding what they might be facing should a lawsuit take place. So right off, MCM's sincerity was in question.
Ms. Costaglio then stated that MCM was not aware of any problems in the park because residents have not brought them to their attention. Residents then responded that when resident concern forms were turned in they were never acted upon by management and many felt that the forms probably went no further than the local office.
Some of the other topics discussed during the meeting are as follows:
One resident was concerned that management is not doing its job and so property values are declining.
Problems with dogs running loose were discussed.
Park appearance...park owned homes and empty lots are not being maintained. Management responded that they maintain vacant lots with weeding and chaining. (Chaining???) Also, if someone is evicted or walks away, there is an in depth legal process that may prevent management from cleaning up the lot.
One home was the focus of discussion by a resident who claimed that his neighbor left the home in January and at that time signed the home over to the park. It has sat there for months, unmaintained and an eyesore which is hindering his attempt to sell his own home. He asked management why they could do nothing if the home was signed over to them in January. Management offered no real answer to his questions.
Dried/dead plants and foliage around vacant homes were brought up as being a health and safety hazard. One carelessly thrown cigarette could start a fire that could take a few homes with it. It was asked, "does not MCM have employees go around the park and look at their own properties problems?" Do residents need to tell them of every single space of theirs that needs to be attended to?
Water cut-off and electric outages were discussed.
Poor night lighting.
Poor security that allows squatters to camp out on vacant lots at night.
A rumor was brought up that the park sells their homes by offering much lower rents than a resident can offer a prospective buyer.
An attempt was made to discuss the high rents in the park but Ms. Costaglio dismissed and ignored them because they were not a topic of discussion on her agenda. Although many felt that the high rents were driving many residents out of the park and further decreasing the values of their homes, Ms. Costaglio simply refused to discuss this item.
There were other items discussed, but I have listed here some of the most important that were brought up. If anything else is brought to my attention regarding this meeting I will bring it up in later posts.
Ms. Costaglio then closed the meeting stating that anytime residents want to have a meeting with management they are always willing to do so. This could also include park issues such as the rents.
We'll see.
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