We are so happy to have you come see what we are doing on this website. Although as you can see, it isn’t completely done. YET. But we’re working hard to get it all built correctly. A good website takes time. So please be patient with the progress and check back often to see the progress of the website built FOR YOU, the residents of these communities.
(A lot of the following Is useful to anyone who lives in a Manufactured Home Community. Some of the specific references are about the owner of our community, Forest View, and three other properties in our immediate area, Forest Hills Village, Greenview Estates, and Four Seasons. On October 31st we had a meeting in Loves Park with over 200 residents from all four communities, three of our local state representatives.)
Let me start by saying this because so many people got in touch with me after the meeting and asked this question… How long will it take before we see a change? Honestly, there is no fast or easy change. This is going to take a lot of hard work and effort from all of us.
Those of you who were able to make it to the meeting, you answered those hard questions I asked when I told you to raise your hands. None of us should have to live in a community where we don’t enjoy living in our homes anymore. But that’s what it has become like for us with Kingsley being our owners. I know that the reporters and chief of staffs who were sitting off to the side on the bleachers, and the three Legislators sitting next to me were all completely stunned when they saw all the hands in the air. I could see it in their faces. It’s so hard to believe that this can happen in these communities, and yet nobody sees it from the outside, looking in. Well, after Saturday’s meeting, everybody’s looking in.
Let me say here that I would like each of your other three communities to find someone to designate as a lead contact for me. You will have to figure this out amongst yourselves, who that will be once you have that person established, CONTACT me here or private message me through the Nextdoor app or through Facebook messenger, so we can coordinate.
THINGS TO DO AS RESIDENTS
LET’S START OFF WITH THE BASICS.
Document all communications with your community management.The harassment we have been dealing with must be documented. Let me say first that I am not telling anyone what to do. But I will tell you what I advised my residents in my community. First, if anyone gets annoying phone calls from management and you want them to stop, you can write a “Cease and Desist letter.” Our Forest View manager, used to call my husband frequently, even though she knew perfectly well. I was home every day because I’m disabled and she had my cell phone number. So I went online and found a template for such a letter. I copied and pasted it into an email and then changed the wording to suit our issue. I emailed it to them explaining that from now on ALL Communication between us will be email, US Postal Service, or a notice taped to the inside of our storm door. These email chains became our evidence. You must provide them with a valid email address if you are going to do this.
Now, if some of you have neighbors who do not use Internet,(and believe me there are lots of people) and their only means of communication is the phone, You could explain to them that they can have the phone conversation. But have them write down who they spoke to, the time, the date, and any relevant facts of the conversation in a notebook that they can keep near the phone. If they are asking a specific question, and they receive a specific answer, have them try to write that answer word for word, even if they have to ask that person on the phone, “Can you slow down? I’m writing this down for my records.”
Violations on the portal. If you use the portal (and I advise that you do) as soon as you get a violation, open it up and do a screenshot of every part of it. Make sure that you save those somewhere. Those are evidence, especially if it’s some ridiculous violation that goes above and beyond what the rules of the community are. (Like three blades of grass sticking up from a crack in the driveway) We have seen instances where the contents of a portal violation notice have changed from time to time, with no record. Violations on the portal can also differ from ones in written form on the door.
If you get notices taped to your door, save them. Get yourself one of those little paper folders that school kids use that has a pocket on each side and save them.
This documentation is absolutely priceless when it comes to proving harassment against Kingsley. When Forest View had their community meeting, we gave Representative Vella, a huge stack of paperwork consisting of prints of screenshots, copies of fine notices, and emails that might’ve been sent to the resident. It all went to him so that he could forward it to the Attorney General.
Thank you so much for coming here and joining us. I promise a lot more practical, helpful, and encouraging content as we move forward to make our lives as residents of Manufactured Home Communities better.