MIAMI — Tuesday was deadline day for the remaining residents at the Li’l Abner Mobile Home Park in Sweetwater.
They had until noon to leave the property, which is being redeveloped.
6 p.m. report:
Two separate Miami-Dade judges ruled against tenants trying to fight their evictions in separate hearings on Tuesday.
The judges each ordered that the stays on the plaintiffs’ evictions be lifted.
In Tuesday morning’s case, a woman claimed she was denied her due process rights.
“There’s a level of chaos of what’s going on here,” her attorney, David Winker, said. “Part of this is us trying to put order to this. These people never expected this to happen. People said to me, ’I feel like we’re being treated like criminals.’”
The attorney for Consolidated Real Estate Investments says she was never officially listed as a tenant, only her husband.
“There was no due process violation that she didn’t know, that she didn’t have an opportunity to be heard ― because she did ― and she chose to be silent," Judge Diana Gonzalez-Whyte said. “You cannot just sit on your rights, if you don’t exercise your rights, your rights will not be exercised for you
More than 200 families are currently suing, claiming they were not given proper notice about plans to close the mobile home park and redevelop it.
Meanwhile, urgent eviction notices have been posted on remaining homes since Monday, giving residents just 24 hours to vacate.
One of those notices was taped to the door of Osmar Mayo Polo, who has lived there for 15 years with his son.
“I hadn’t seen this yet,” he said in Spanish, after being handed the notice. “I’ll be on the street! Practically, I have no place to go.”
Wednesday night, a group of demonstrators held up signs while sharing their frustrations with one another as they seek more time.
“They should help us out, we have no place to go. We have no money,” said resident and demonstrator Adam Rodriguez. “We need more time. At least five months.”
It’s unclear when or if the 24-hour eviction notices will be enforced.
Winker said he plans to appeal Tuesday’s rulings.
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