ANDRADE, Calif.-
The Sleepy Hollow RV Park is almost empty following the Quechan Tribe evicting the residents due to poor water quality.
When the tenants of the park first received their eviction notice, they were only given two months to move. The Quechan tribe told them they would not extend their stay or help them move their trailers. On Thursday, out of the 55 families living at the park, only two remain after the tribe and county stepped in to assist them. “There are three more families living there and they are headed out today,” says Mimmie Clark one of the remaining tenants at the park, “they are just waiting for the movers to move them.”
With the help of the Imperial County Board of Supervisors and the Quechan tribe, nearly everyone living at the Sleepy Hollow RV park were able to find a new home. Clark says she is happy with how things turned out. “O God bless them I was really surprised. I am really glad they did that,” says Clark.
To help the tenants, the county gave 700 dollars to help move the residents. The board also approved a county-wide program to help residents pay rent in unincorporated areas on a first come first serve basis. The Quechan allowed some tenants extra time to find a place to live without turning off their electricity and water. Clark says that’s all she and others were asking for, “I am thrilled just that little more time so that I could get my stuff done and be able to go see my mother that’s all I wanted really.”
There still is some trouble at the park. With people packing up their belongings and moving out, extra security was added to the property because of people looting the area. “People coming in picking up things that were left behind that people are still coming back for,” Clark says. “They just couldn’t carry everything on their trucks so these people are coming around and the other people that are coming for their things, they’re gone.”
Clark says she does not want to leave her home that she has been living at for ten years but says she is thankful for the tribe and county helping her and the other 55 families at the park. “Thank you everybody that I ran into that saw everything that was going on and stood by us. But the tribe has turned around and made us happy and so has El Centro. I’m happy with what’s happening, I don’t want to leave it’s my home but what can you do?”