The residents of the El Portal Trailer Park received letters from the National Park saying they have to leave by early 2022.
After the mountains surrounding his mother's home were covered in a thick coat of white, he thanked the Park Service.
Mobile homes that residents own are not being paid for. The first letters of their new rules were signed by the Supremo of the park, Cicely Muldoon.
He said his mother has lived in the trailer park for 38 years and worked in the park for 34 years.
It is sad. Imagine losing your home after 40 years. The playground was built by his father, who died a couple years ago, and other parents.
An old playground is near the edge of a trailer park. The kids of employees used to be abundant in the trailer park, but now only older residents remain.
He learned to swim in a swimming hole near his family home while growing up in a small community for workers in the park. There is a five-minute drive from the west entrance of the park along Highway 140 to Tranquil El Portal, which is mostly populated by oak and pine trees.
Not many of the homes in El Portal are on land that is owned by Yosemite.
The mother of the man spent at least $5,000 on a new metal roof for her double-wide mobile home that is guaranteed for 10 years. She wouldn't have done it if she knew she'd be forced out two years later.
There are a number of mobile homes remaining in the community. There have been many tears shed there since the December letter told residents to leave.
Scott Gediman said unauthorized tenants have 60 days to leave. It's not clear how many people live there. There are about 12 residents, according to Gediman. A homeowner said there are at least 20 residents who are working for Yosemite.
There are mobile homes in the El Portal Trailer Park. The residents of the park are being told to leave in 90 days or less.
Gilbert Domingues will soon be displaced. He lived and worked in the valley for most of his life. Julia is the face of Native Americans in the park for many park visitors because of her long service at the museum.
Domingues said that he looked at it like he was a Native American and the government could take his land.
He is not sure where he will go.
Domingues said that there was not much he could do except pack up and go. The government has won again.
Gilbert Domingues is a resident of the El Portal Trailer Park and has to find a new home on December 28, 2021. The residents of the park are being told to leave in 90 days or less.
Why do residents of El Portal Trailer Park have to leave?
The trailer park residents received another letter from the park's superintendent in October, this time cautioning that the overhead electrical system was found to be in "very poor condition" in September and that the park had contracted Pacific Gas to assess the condition.
The National Park Service would accelerate the relocation of residents if repairs are not feasible in the long-term plan for the site, according to a letter from Muldoon.
The site will become a public and administrative-use campground for recreational vehicles in the next few years, according to the letter. The letter was the first time the residents were told of the date.
Tenants are not being asked to leave housing at this time, according to the October letter. The letter is only a notice about the electrical distribution system.
The park management has confirmed that the current infrastructure is not viable and that they will be going. The trailer court is being closed because of the safety risks and authorized tenants must leave within 90 days.
Some residents were told that the reason they were forced to leave so quickly was because the land was going to be used as a staging area for construction equipment.
There are deer around the El Portal Trailer Park. The residents of the park are being told to leave in 90 days or less.
Gediman confirmed it when asked for the story. The site being used as a construction area is ironic to some who remember residents being punished with community service for disturbing dirt in their yards and park rangers trying to protect elderberry longhorn beetles. The area is an archaeological site with ancient mortar holes on boulders created by Native Americans while grinding food.
A new wastewater treatment facility in El Portal, work on Glacier Point, and Tioga roads, and campground rehabilitation are some of the major projects that might benefit from the trailer park being used as a construction staging area.
Gediman said that El Portal is the administrative site. The area was designed to meet the needs of the park. With our budgets coming up and a need for staging area and temporary camping for the construction workers, this is the use that we need in order to operate the park.
The El Portal Trailer Park was not included in the redid of power lines from the valley to the park.
The company looked at the power lines as a courtesy, not as a contractor, according to Denny. There would never be a time when the company would have the authority to recommend a tenant be evicted for any reason.
A worker who inspected the lines told the residents there weren't any safety issues that needed to be evicted. If the infrastructure is really bad, why haven't they been maintaining it? "What do you think?" Harbin asked. We have been paying them for years. Why aren't they doing their job?
The history of the community.
The El Portal Trailer Park Village and El Portal Trailer Court have been around since the 1950s.
The homeowners of the trailer park were not allowed to sell their homes after the flood of 1997. The land beneath them was changed to say that the trailer park would continue to be implemented through attrition.
Several residents said they understood that they had to leave when they stopped working for the park.
The resident said that there used to be 58 occupied spaces in the trailer park.
There are mobile homes in the El Portal Trailer Park. The residents of the park are being told to leave in 90 days or less.
In 2000 there were plans to close the trailer park, but that changed in 1999. The January 1, 2000 closing date was delayed because the trailer village was dependent upon available funding. There is no new date for closing. The statement continues to be fact according to a letter from 2003 from the NPS.
Several residents said that they didn't know about the plans for the site until December, when they received the letter of dismissal.
The record of decision to preserve the wild and scenic Merced River is now a guiding document for park management and construction projects. The plan states that parking and camping spaces will be added within the trailer park, while employee housing facilities will not be removed.
There are a lot of contradictions within the document, which addresses removing or relocating some homes in the trailer park and restoring a 150 foot buffer. The plan says to remove development, asphalt and imported fill after a 300-space parking lot is added in that area.
Many residents are unsure of what to expect from the changes. The trailer park has sewage lines.
Gediman said park officials communicated with residents numerous times about plans to close the trailer park through letters and community meetings, and that their intentions have been this way for almost thirty years now.
They are pulling a fast one on us.
There are challenges, including little time, no compensation, and narrow roads.
Most of the people who live in the trailer park are older people who have worked in the area for a long time. They thought that the time they would have had to find a new place to live would have been better spent in the middle of winter.
Most of the homes in the trailer park are not considered mobile anymore. Some have been there since the 1950s and have been renovated with add-ons.
Even if residents have the money and want to, the chances of them being moved are slim because of narrow sections of road past the trailer park. There is a one-lane bridge over the Merced River canyon that has been in place since the Ferguson rockslide.
Cars cross a one-lane bridge in 2006 after a massive rock slide buried part of Highway 140.
The road just past the west entrance to the park narrows to one lane as it squeezes through an opening between boulders.
Muldoon told residents that they could surrender their trailer and belongings to the National Park Service. The property is not considered a donation to the National Park Service.
Some people in the past had to cut up and discard their homes before leaving the trailer park.
The trailer park residents might be eligible for relocation benefits according to a letter sent to them 20 years ago.
There was no mention of compensation in recent letters. Why not? The National Park Service is ending the lease agreement, and we are not addressing anything else.
It is a very hard reality for those trying to find a new home.
They are trying to ignore the rights and benefits of the people who have been displaced.
Most soon-to-be displaced residents will have to either rent a dorm room in the valley or drive 40 minutes from El Portal to get to Mariposa. The rate at which trailer park residents were paying for space was $400 a month.
The office of Rep. Tom McClintock offered to review and endorse letters requesting time extensions.
The office of congressman McClintock is aware of the issue and expects YNP to fairly consider the circumstances in each letter request for a time extension.
There is shock, pain and neglect near the park.
Two employees and trailer park residents of the park asked not to be identified in this story because of fear of losing their jobs at the park.
One person said they were offended by the comments attributed to Gediman in a recent story about the trailer park.
It is the humanity part of it.
The resident has worked on their small house for decades.
How can they do this when Covid is still going on? It is still active. It is still spreading.
Not getting compensated is wrong. Eminent domain happens everywhere, but people get paid.
They said that even a little compensation from Yosemite would be helpful. The resident recently saw similar mobile homes being sold for over $100,000.
Residents wanted their community to look nicer. After some trailers were torn out, there was trash all over the trailer park for five years. After Yosemite failed to clean up the mess after a couple of years, he cleaned it himself.
It is messed up. The trailer park is not fair. It looks like a dump if you go over to the elementary school.
The Park Service owes trailer park residents more time to leave.
It is not right how they went about it.
