Mobile Home Residents Hold Vigil To Stop Summer Blackouts

On two separate occasions, for a total of five days this year, residents at the Hernandez Mobile Home Park in Thermal have lost power — most recently over the weekend.

Rolling blackouts happened there at the height of summer last year as well, and residents are fearing a repeat.

Residents on Tuesday held a vigil at the park, demanding for the owners to fix the problems, or else they vowed not to pay their rent.

The owners did not show up to the protest, or return News Channel 3’s voice messages.

There are 91 residents living at the mobile home park, and many of them have pre-existing health problems like diabetes and kidney issues.

According to the community spokesman Eduardo Guevara, 40 of them are teenagers or kids, and one of the women is pregnant.

Residents said the neighborhood has been plagued by utility interruptions such as no running water and electrical problems.

Last year, the owner told News Channel 3 that the tenants were not paying their rent.

In October, tenants at the park filed a civil lawsuit when the owners refused to fix an ongoing electrical problem that caused blackouts.

They claimed that the landlord was putting residents in danger.

The lawsuit is still pending.

“One day without electricity, then two, then three, and then boom — one month,” said Guevara. “{Residents) are fearing the same (as last year) will happen again.”

The vigil started at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the mobile home park at the 88705 62nd Avenue.