Reading Mark Alpert’s letter, the attorney for Sandalwood Estates landowner (Guest Commentary July 15, 2010) made me angry.  But then I had to consider where the letter came from.  

If you don’t know Sandalwood Estates history you can read about it at:  www.petalumasandalwood.com/sandalwood.html

A fact of life is that we all age, and one day the large family home becomes too much for the aging body.  Living on a pension, downsizing to a senior mobilehome park is often an excellent choice but there are issues that we need to consider.   Living in a mobilehome park can leave you vulnerable to unscrupulous landowners because you own your home, but lease the land beneath your home.

Here is what a San Francisco attorney Joseph Smith told an Argus Courier reporter in 2002 about Sandalwood Estates:  "The park owners either need to be criminally indicted or have a civil lawsuit brought against them for elder abuse and unfair business practices."  "A lot of tenants will die, or move out of the park and the Bay Area," he said.  Several have had strokes during the arbitration process.  "Someone has to intervene.  I can't do it alone."

Yes, they should have been criminally indicted.

The pressure is always alive at Sandalwood Estates because Bill Feeney, the landowner, has taken homeowners to arbitration yearly.  He has sued the City of Petaluma numerous times and in 2009 he had two lawsuits against the city and one against Sonoma County – all intended to break the seniors and elderly at Sandalwood and to get rid of rent control laws. 

To show the character of the park landowner and management, I want to tell you what happened to me and my dog at Sandalwood Estates.  

My dog, Nika, was an exceptionally gentle and quiet dog.  In her memory a friend wrote: “Nika was the Audrey Hepburn of dogs - beautiful, gentle, shy, and well liked.”    Weighing only about 40 pounds, she was a small Afghan Hound and my friend’s words described Nika very well.

When my husband and I divorced in 2001, it made good sense to share Nika’s custody because I was working full-time, he had the house with the yard and I was moving into a senior mobile home park without a yard.  A prearranged agreement with Sandalwood owners was accepted before I signed the lease.  Nika was to live with me at least three days a week. 

I moved into Sandalwood on April 1, 2001 and Feeney and Smith, applied for Sandalwood Estates LLC license on April 19, 2001.  No one ever told me of this approaching transaction until we all learned of it in July 2001.  After our first meeting with our new landowners, I knew we were in trouble at Sandalwood Estates and that is when I purchased the Domain name PetalumaSandalwood.com 

I normally speak up when I see abuse – specially abuse of the least able to defend themselves.  Vocal communication is difficult for me therefore, the Internet is my platform.

Sandalwood landowners did not like my web site and they wanted me to take it down.  I refused. 

In December 2005 I received an anonymous e-mail message from someone ranting about my web site.  It was a very angry person calling me all sorts of names - a liar - trailer trash, etc.  I had never received this sort of messages and I have had web sites on the Internet since 1995.  The following evening it was an anonymous phone call.  Someone said they were going to have my head chopped off.   The death threat phone call was not traced but we traced the e-mail to our park management.  I sent a copy of that message to Bill Feeney and both Feeney and management, Kathy Fiebiger, apologized in separate letters.

It was three weeks later that I received the notice from park management giving me ten days to get rid of my dog.  Nika had been living with me three days a week for the past five years without any complaints or any problems at all from anyone.

Of course, I panicked.  I was afraid to lose my home but I could never get rid of Nika.  I cried a lot and took my web site down - for one day - then I got angry and called an attorney.

It was a three-month battle.  Each letter of pleadings was answered with the typical Feeney arrogance that we have become accustomed at Sandalwood.  Nika had lung cancer and she was at the end of her life, but they did not care.  They wanted her out of the park now or they were ready to begin eviction procedures.  I lived on the edge.  My nights were filled with nightmares.  It was a very long three months.

Finally, it was all over.  They gave up and I had won that battle, but four weeks later Nika lost her battle to cancer and died May 26, 2006. I was prepared for her death but not the inhumanity surrounding her life and death. 

Visit Nika at: www.afghanhound.com

Feeney and management did not like to lose.  I became known as the trouble-maker because I fought back and I heard they are warning others to stay away from me.  I, however, was never sorry to have fought back, even at my cost of $5,000.   I would do it again today.

Now, can you read between the lines of Mark Alpert’s letter asking the city to get rid of laws protecting homeowners living in mobilehome park?   Can you imagine having no laws and no one to speak up?  Some seniors or elderly would probably have ended up homeless. 

The best advice I can give anyone contemplating to move into a senior mobilehome park is to have a competent attorney go over all the documentation before signing anything.   Learn your rights and be cautious if the park owner press for "long term lease."  I love my home and neighbors, but I am stuck here because the landowner has made it very difficult to sell our homes.  Ask any Real Estates agent who has done any business in Sandalwood Estates.

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.  (Plato)  We need rent control laws in Petaluma because we cannot leave the most vulnerable among us as decoy to the most ruthless.

Thank you, Petaluma City Council, for fighting the injustices against seniors and elderly of Petaluma.    These people should have been criminally indicted!

Contact: Marcelle Guy

Born Feral

Notice:  This website, PetalumaSandalwood.com, has no affiliation with Sandalwood Estates, LLC.  This is a personal website and the information published and opinions expressed are those of  the webmaster and provided by Elle on the Web for your personal use.  Content subject to change without notice.  ©Marcelle Guy

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