Suburban Chicago mobile home park residents set to have water shut off in five days
BLUE ISLAND, Ill. (CBS) -- People in a south suburban community are demanding answers as they face a water shutoff deadline just days away.
CBS 2 first told you about the threat in Blue Island, and on Wednesday night, the residents took their fight to city leaders.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported, residents of a mobile home park came out to a meeting Wednesday night – pleading with Blue Island City Council members and asking for, and demanding, more time before the water is turned off. They understand their property manager has not paid the water bill, but they insist the time the city has given them has not been sufficient.
More than 100 people call the Forest View mobile home community in Blue Island home. Yet a red notice warns of the water service to the entire mobile home getting shut off in five days on Monday, Nov. 20 – something that will leave many out on the streets.
"While your kids can sleep in your beds during Thanksgiving, my kids will be homeless," one woman said at the city meeting.
"Where are we going to go?" a man said.
The property owner, according to Blue Island Mayor Fred Bilotto, has failed to pay the water bill for more than two years.
"In the 31 months that followed our initial meetings, Forest View has only made 13 payments - the last payment being over eight months ago," Bilotto said.
And with an overdue water bill of just under $900,000, the mayor says the owner has placed the city and residents in a bind.
"As I said before, this is not a decision the city makes lightly. We are painfully aware of the human impact of these decisions," Bilotto said, "but all of us were elected to protect the interests of the city as a whole."
Yet those at the meeting Wednesday night do not see how a shutoff notice days before the Thanksgiving holiday protects them.
"You decided to do it," a resident said at the meeting. "You can decide to not do it."
Residents are questioning why they were never informed during the 31 months the bill wasn't paid.
"This is pretty inhumane of City of Blue Island of not letting us residents know," the woman said.
Yet now, the city tells them they can't stay.
"We're all scared. We're all frightened," another woman said. "We have no answers. We don't understand."
"They are thieves and crooks," a third said. "But we're not. We're honest, hardworking people."
The meeting ended with no further discussion – leaving the crowd baffled, and booing.
Clearly absent from the meeting Wednesday night was the owner of the mobile home park. In recent days, we have reached out several times to the owners and the owner's attorney – who have not gotten back to CBS 2.
Again, as it stands, the water will be shut off on Monday, Nov. 20.