SWEETWATER, Fla. – Residents of the sprawling Li’l Abner Mobile Home Park in Sweetwater are racing against time to stop the demolition of 900 mobile homes.
Michael Dib, who lives in the park, expressed the urgency of the situation.
“Yeah, the clock is ticking,” Dib said. “We’re doing what we can on our side and making the moves we need to make to sort of address that.”
These calls for help brought residents to protest outside the Miami-Dade County Permitting and Inspection Center on Friday morning.
The tenants say they are facing illegal removal from the property, paired with exposure to hazardous materials like asbestos.
Questions remain about the presence of asbestos on the property.
Community advocate Melissa Martin notes that asbestos was a common material used years ago to build the mobile homes.
According to a report by Miami-Dade County, inspectors with the Air Quality and Management Division found asbestos in four demolished mobile homes in December.
Advocates said that the mobile homes should never have been demolished without proper inspection and they fear they’ve been exposed to hazardous materials.
“Not until March 20 did the county actually issue a citation for $108,000,” community advocate Melissa Martin said.
Martin said the property owners hired their own asbestos inspector, but she and the residents aren’t buying the results.
“We believe that he’s providing falsified results to the county,” Martin said.
Residents in Sweetwater have until mid-May to find another place. While many have left, those who remain continue to protest.
