Holding protest signs including 鈥淔und our community, not our displacement,鈥� about 10 supporters of the Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park demonstrated outside of a Western Reserve Land Conservancy fundraiser at the conservancy鈥檚 Moreland Hills headquarters Friday morning.
The conservancy, which owns the land where the mobile home park sits in Cleveland鈥檚 Collinwood neighborhood, announced in February that more than 100 mobile home residents would have to move to make way for a new public park. Since then, United Residents of Euclid Beach (UREB) 鈥� a resident鈥檚 union with about 40 members 鈥� and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH) have continued to protest the decision, saying the park and the mobile home park can coexist.
The conservancy bought the property in 2021 and made the decision earlier this year to hand the property over the Cleveland Metroparks. WRLC said it would provide financial and logistical assistance to residents as they seek new places to live. They can stay in the park until it closes more than a year from now. The decision was made in partnership with local officials, community development corporations and input from Collinwood community members.
鈥淭hey behave as if it鈥檚 a rock-solid plan by not listening to us and not talking to us,鈥� said Anthony Beard, a UREB member and a resident of the mobile home community since 2007.
Some NEOCH staff handed flyers to fundraiser attendees as they walked to the breakfast event. NEOCH Executive Director Chris Knestrick drove a trailer onto the conservancy鈥檚 property for the crowd to message spray painted on it: 鈥淩esidents demand to stay.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e out here today just representing those 40 members and kind of creatively reminding the funding base and the board of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy that what they鈥檙e doing is displacing and destroying a community,鈥� Knestrick said.
After the fundraiser, a conservancy spokesperson said the plan to close the mobile home park is unchanged.
鈥淭hey have every right to express their opinion. They were peaceful. We appreciated that. But the reality is the Euclid Beach mobile home community is going to close August 31, 2024,鈥� said Jared Saylor, WRLC director of communications and public relations. 鈥淲e recognize that this is a big change in people鈥檚 lives and we don鈥檛 take that lightly.鈥�
Beard said he remains hopeful the mobile home park will survive.
鈥淲e鈥檙e reaching out to everybody listening and someone, we believe, will come in and help us find a resolution that鈥檚 best for the residents,鈥� Beard said.
Knestrick said he was disappointed that Matt Zone, WRLC senior vice president and director of thriving communities, wouldn鈥檛 recognize UREB as a union. Saylor confirmed that Zone and the conservancy don鈥檛 recognize UREB as a union.
Saylor said the conservancy expects to give residents more details on compensation packages next month. He said WRLC is working with housing organizations in the region, such as Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, Habitat for Humanity and Cuyahoga Land Bank, to help find housing for the residents.
鈥淎ll of these organizations that we鈥檙e working with to try and find suitable housing options and really to help residents get into a new home,鈥� Saylor said. 鈥淚 am proud of this organization to have made such an effort and I know for a fact no other mobile home community owner would have done what we鈥檝e done and gone as far as we have.鈥�
The WRLC fundraiser Friday morning was for the conservancy鈥檚 initiative to improve Cleveland鈥檚 tree canopy.
