From the Times Dispatch:
Life at Rudd’s Trailer Park is no picnic, but many people in the cluster of more than 100 mobile homes off Jefferson Davis Highway don’t understand why city building inspectors have taken such a strong interest in their neighborhood.
This year, Richmond has identified almost 740 code violations in the park and condemned at least eight mobile homes. Officials say Rudd’s is the first step in a larger enforcement push to clean up the city’s nine mobile home parks, all of which are in South Richmond.
The city government insists that building regulations apply to mobile home parks just like any other property, and the issues need to be addressed to ensure safe and sanitary living conditions.
City Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell, who said her 8th District is home to most of the city’s mobile home parks, suggested last week that a high volume of calls generating from Rudd’s was diverting police resources from other areas.
“We want those landlords to come into compliance like anybody else,” Trammell said during a briefing on mobile home parks at a meeting of the council’s Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.
“There is no trailer park, and there is no trailer park owner, that is going to get away from us this time around,” said John Walsh, the city’s code enforcement operations manager.
At Rudd’s Trailer Park, people say they’re dumbfounded by what they view as a bureaucratic crackdown on an impoverished, largely Hispanic community.
Ronnie Soffee, the park’s owner and manager, said he’s trying to comply with the city’s requests, but officials came in like “storm troopers.”
“This used to be the United States,” Soffee said. “It wasn’t against the law to be poor.”
“The only reason they’re trying to shut this place down is because they don’t like the look of it,” said Danny Newman, a longtime resident who flies a pirate flag from his mobile home. “Everybody in this trailer park gets along and looks out for each other.”
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