Pedro Rodriguez said when he moved to the Forest View Mobile Home in Blue Island 27 years ago, every trailer was filled with neighbors he knew like family.

Today, most trailers are abandoned, and about 65 people live on the mobile home property being shut down by the city of Blue Island.

Rodriguez said he is unsure where he or other mobile home residents will go, noting how expensive it is to move his trailer, not to mention losing his attachment to the community.

“I guess you gotta get used to somewhere else but after you live for so long here, you know everything around here as your own house and your own neighborhood,” Rodriguez said.

Blue Island officials, in a letter to the Forest View property owners June 23, demanded the owners to “cease and desist” and evict residents, calling the property a “clear and present danger to the public health, safety and general welfare of the City” as well as those living on and near the premises.

The letter stated the business owners of Forest View Mobile Home have not complied with city code, state law and a Cook County court order issued in April. There are code violations and unpaid water bills, the letter states.

Rodriguez said in the past four years, since the COVID-19 pandemic, some people who are not residents took advantage of empty mobile homes and moved in, bringing drugs, shootings and multiple deaths. He said prior to that the area was not dangerous, but regardless, a lot of families still live in the area who could not afford to move.

Isley Castillo, who has lived in the mobile home park for eight months, said her family of four has no where to go if evicted.

“If we had known that the park was in trouble, we wouldn’t have come here to buy the trailer,” Castillo said. “We just want a solution, because where am I supposed to go with my two daughters?”

In addition to revoking the Forest View property owner’s business license late June, Blue Island ordered the owners to provide $5,000 for “rehoming expenses” to legal residents of the mobile home park.

But Rodriguez said the $5,000 is “nothing,” noting that he already paid several thousand dollars to replace his water heater last year.

Resident Larry Allen, who has lived in the mobile home park for almost three years, said he doesn’t believe the owners would help residents, but said if they did it would not be enough. Allen said he invested $60,000 into remodeling his trailer after the property owners allowed him a few months rent free if he fixed it up, a deal Allen said the owners offered to several other residents.

“This stuff costs money,” Allen said, noting that he still had not finished fixing his floors. “The paneling costs money, the ceiling costs money, the floors cost money and the labor costs money. We had to fix the electricity, the plumbing, all that had to be fixed before you can come in and use it.”

The city, in a statement Tuesday, said it made “good faith efforts” since November 2023 to “find solutions that would bring this situation to a close in a way that treats the existing tenants fairly.”

“It is well past time for the owners to take responsibility for a situation of their own making and take all legal steps to cease operations,” the statement read.

In 2023, the city came close to shutting off the mobile home park’s water service after the landlord did not pay $850,000 in water bills. Residents protested and received a temporary restraining order to keep the water on, but not before community members filled up plastic tubs with water out of precaution, Allen said.

The city gave the mobile home park owners until July 3 to provide a detailed report on the business’ plan to rehome and evict residents, but residents were still unsure, as of Thursday, what their next steps are.

Rodriguez, along with Allen and resident Raymond Armwood, all said they have not received any communication from the property managers or the city since the cease and desist letter was issued.

“I just don’t understand how can the mayor come in and scoot us all out of here like that,” Allen said. “I don’t get it.”

The property’s attorneys did not respond to numerous requests of for comment. A city spokesperson provided a written statement but did not respond to numerous requests for information on next steps for the property following the deadline.

Rodriguez said a group of mobile park residents held three meetings since the city issued its letter and plans to have another Saturday with a lawyer.

Armwood, who has lived in the park for five years, said the community still plans to host its annual block party for the neighborhood children before the start of school and plans to fight for the property.

“We’re all like family around here,” Armwood said. “If we can help each other, that’s what we do.”