MASSACHUSSETS Agreement preserves future of trailer park

A car dealership tried to drive the tenants out.
BOSTON (AP) -- When Jackie Lundell first meets people, they don't believe her when she tells them where she lives: a waterfront home that rents for less than $1,000 a month in one of the most expensive cities in the country.
"They're shocked," she said.
She's among about 100 tenants who call the Boston Trailer Park their home.
Tenants there are still celebrating a recent agreement that preserves the future of the park, located along the Charles River in the city's West Roxbury neighborhood.
A Porsche and Honda dealership next door tried for years to kick tenants out after James E. Clair bought the 13-acre lot next to his car dealership in 1986 and wanted to expand.
Is happening elsewhere
The tenants' ordeal is being played out at other parks across the country, according to Bruce Savage, a vice president with the Manufactured Housing Institute, a national trade association based in Arlington, Va.
Once reserved for spots on the outskirts of town, the land underneath the mobile homes has become more attractive.
"Urban sprawl has surrounded these communities," Savage said. "You've got these huge pieces of land being redeveloped. With real estate prices continuing to escalate, sometimes they are priced out of the market."
Although trailer parks are increasingly rare in major cities, they still exist across a fairly wide geographical spread.
Atlanta, Denver, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh are a few cities that host trailer parks, according to listings on Mobilehome.net.
There are an estimated 22 million people living in 25,000 trailer parks -- also known as manufactured housing -- in the United States, Savage said.
In Boston, the battle over the park was settled when both sides reached an agreement negotiated by city officials after more than a decade of legal squabbling.
Clair will donate the back nine acres to a nonprofit affordable housing manager, and keep the front section for his long-awaited expansion. Clair did not return calls seeking comment.
Homes must be moved
Thirty-two of the park's 120 mobile homes must be moved from the front, under terms of the deal, but residents say the inconvenience is worth it. They've got long-term security for the first time, and rents between $200 and $450 -- in a city where the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment last year was $1,700.
Mobile homes and trailer parks became popular after World War II, when returning soldiers needed housing. The Boston Trailer Park was established in 1953, according to Bob Murphy, president of the West Roxbury Historical Society, on the former site of what was called Caledonian Park, where a Scottish-American social group gathered on occasion.
"They'd hold their annual track and field meets out there, with bagpipes and everything," said Murphy, who recalls just one other city trailer park, which disbanded years ago.
Boston City Councilor Maura Hennigan, who for 17 years has been helping the park residents, said most Bostonians still don't realize there's a trailer park in the city. She said she knows there's a social stigma, but the park's neighbors were always supportive.
"They very much are a part of our community," Hennigan said. "They are respected and loved. West Roxbury as a whole stood with them and said, 'They have a right to live here.'"