General Discussion & Chat: Mobile Home Park Says Man Must Give Up Cacti Garden, 1 by megacacti

megacacti wrote:
(If anyone would care to chat with me on Yahoo Messenger, my yahoo ID is teracacti)

I have lived in Westwoods Mobile Home Park on Quarry road in Amherst since December of 1998. I have always paid my lot rent on time and have never had a complaint from management or from any resident. I keep my mobile home and my lot looking neat and clean.

In the spring of 1999 I added a garden along the driveway. I added a second by my shed that summer. In 2000 I installed one more garden in the front yard. Many neighbors commented about how nice it looked, and what a vast improvement I had made in the home and the lot.

In 2002 I started a cactus collection. I designed it in a way that was very neat and organized. Again, a lot of neighbors complimented me on this display, and I continue to receive praise from neighbors all over the park to this day. Some have said it is their favorite part of the park and that the walk by here just to see it. A couple have called it "an attraction" and said it makes the park more beautiful.

This brings me to May 24th, 2005. On that day, I received a Notice of Violation from the management of the park (Marilyn Cipolla). She stated that I would have to remove ALL of my cacti and dig up and destroy ALL of my gardens, or face eviction on June 24th. She said it looked "unsightly" in her eyes. She did not give me any option to reduce the number of cacti, she just repeated that "They ALL have to go". This is in spite of the fact that the gardens had been there for as long as six years and the cacti for three summers, all without any type of complaint from management or any resident.

I actually went through the park and was able to gather 65 petitions (everyone I spoke to) from people who liked my cactus display and wanted it to stay. No one can understand what the park's problem is. Some made comments like "this yard is my favorite part of the park" and "I walk my dog by there every day just to see his beautiful collection"

All of local news media in Cleveland did a feature on this story recently, including the local ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX news affiliates. The Lorain Morning journal put it on their front cover.

I have a detailed explanation of my situation on my website, along with links to all of these news stories. Please let me know what you think. My website address is: http://www.cactusweb.us/

I'm including one image that shows my collection. I have a slideshow of images on my website. Some of the newschannel websites also have pictures of my cactus garden.

I've added a second page of photos that show my gardens and cacti.
Here is the address: http://www.cactusweb.us/westwoods_2.html

Please let me know what you think.


If anyone would like to voice their support, I will provide a list of the reporters and television stations who did the story, along with their email addresses and phone numbers. I think it would help a great deal to hear feedback from people who think what the park is doing is wrong.

Here is the list:

Paul Orlousky-Action 19 news(CBS) porlousky@19actionnews.com, phone # 216-367-7322

Kathleen Cochrane from Fox 8 News kcoch579@foxtv.com phone # 216-432-4057

Barbara Gauthier from Channel 3 News (NBC) barbaragauthier@wkyc.com Phone # 216-344-3310

Leon Bibb from Channel 5 news (ABC) bibb@newsnet5.com Phone #216-431-4221

Scott Allyn from The Lorain Morning Journal news@morningjournal.com Phone # 440/245-6901 or 800/765-6901

Matt Keener from The Chronicle Telegram ctnews@chroniclet.com Phone # 440-329-7151 or the Chronicles main phone # (440) 329-7000.

I can also provide the number for the mobile home park office if anyone would care to contact them.

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