YMRA: Empowering Communities

There was a good turnout at the YMRA (Yucaipa Mobilehome

Residents Association) monthly meeting, which was held on Saturday, July

13 at the Yucaipa Woman’s Club. The group had announced via their

monthly newsletter, their website, Social media and the Yucaipa-Calimesa

News Mirror, that the guest speaker would be Yucaipa’s Mayor Pro Tem,

Chris Venable. Venable is the councilman for Council District 2, which

contains 6 mobilehome parks within its boundaries. Those six parks are:

Wildwood Canyon, Hillcrest, Las Casitas, Aladdin, Yucaipa Village and

Knollwood. Just as the entire city is trying to get to know and understand all

of the City Council members, staff and administrators and develop open

communication and rebuild trust in the face of recent conflicts, mobilehome

residents are also questioning those same relationships with their

representatives. Consequently, members and other attendees were looking

forward to meeting Venable and hearing what he had to say.

Another meeting was scheduled by the city and unfortunately was to

take place at the same time Venable was scheduled to appear before the

YMRA group. Admirably, Venable took his commitment to speak to the

residents’ group seriously and with the support and cooperation of the city

and specifically Jennifer Crawford, who wears many hats in her role as

Assistant City Manager and Rent Control Administrator, he was able to

attend the YMRA meeting that he had previously committed to. His show of

integrity was much appreciated by those in attendance.

Venable told the group a little about himself, his reasons for running

for City Council and his vision for Yucaipa. He also answered some

questions from the audience before promising to come back again when he

was not so pressed for time. He was open about his limited experience and

knowledge regarding mobilehome P park living, mobilehome law and the

rent stabilization ordinance. Jennifer Crawford, who was accompanying

him, apologetically jumped in several times to share her expertise after

many years of working with those subjects. Several people took advantage

of the opportunity to ask questions of Crawford and some exchanges were

somewhat intense. Tony Slaick, former chairman of the YMRA presented

several challenges to statements made by Crawford, which gave everyone

some insight into the complexities involved in mobilehome issues.

After the audience expressed appreciation for the efforts to expand

communication and share information and a jovial wave from Venable, he

and Crawford departed and the meeting continued.

Dr. Hansen Wang, chairman of the Healthy Yucaipa Committee,

spoke briefly about his interest in advocating for the more vulnerable,

underrepresented populations all across Yucaipa, including but not limited

to those in mobilehome parks. He emphasized the need for more

availability and accessibility of information to the public at large but

especially to those dealing with specific challenges involving

communication, language, literacy, etc.

The final speaker was Rodolfo Liceaga. He introduced his company,

Akabobo Investments. The focus of this business is the purchase of

houses and mobile homes with several intentions including, refurbishing

and reselling, demolishing and removing, etc.

The August meeting will be on the second Saturday of the month,

August 10, at the Yucaipa Woman’s Club, 35215 Ave. A. No speaker has

been scheduled. The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss a variety of

issues raised by residents and to review and approve potential

amendments to YMRA by-laws.

This article written by Jo Sutt, and submitted to News Mirror. 

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