E-mails From Randy Paige To Mobile Community Management
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2012 5:00 PM
To: Paige, Randy E
Subject: Re: FW: KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV request for Information -- TIME SENSITIVE
Mr. Paige:
We have just received the email you sent today at 2:24 pm. I note that you claim to have sent an email to us dated Wed. 10/31/12, but we have checked our system and can find no evidence that such email was ever received by us and we have never seen it before today.
Since the business day is almost over, we do not have time to respond to each of your questions, but we are enclosing a general Statement of Information about the community that may be helpful for you to understand that the allegations contained in or inferred by your questions are all false and misleading.
As we have previously stated to you, we are quite willing to respond to each question so long as we are given time to do so. Some of the responses may require us to do some investigations to make sure the responses are factually accurate. Accordingly, we are prepared to send such responses to you by the end of business on Monday. As we previously stated to you, we demand that the full unedited text of this response be printed or broadcast as part of the story if such the story is run prior to our written response to you on Monday.
Please let us know whether you would like such response sent by email or fax.
Thank you,
Mobile Community Management Co.
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On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 2:24 PM, Paige, Randy E wrote:
To Whom It May Concern,
We sent you the email witnessed below on Wednesday and we have not received a reply. Please respond immediately, and if you choose not to answer any of the questions below, we ask that you let us know you have received this request.
Sincerely,
Randy Paige
Reporter CBS2/KCAL9
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From: Paige, Randy E
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2012 1:14 PM
To: Mobile Community Management
Cc: Paige, Randy E
Subject: Fwd: KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV request for Information -- TIME SENSITIVE
To Steve Rowe, or to Whom It May Concern at Mobile Community Management Co.:
I am a reporter for CBS2 Los Angeles and I am producing a story on Measure F and the concerns being raised by members of the El Monte City Council and residents at Brookside Mobile Country Club that prompted this initiative. In order to present MCM's and Brookside's position on these issues, we requested an on camera interview with Jeffrey Kaplan. In response, Vickie Talley provided me with a generic media statement that indicates it is your policy to deny all on camera interviews and respond to media requests solely in writing. While I can certainly attempt to provide you in writing with all of my questions currently, the finite nature of a written exchange would undoubtedly limit the information your organization can provide. A one on one conversation in which we both can follow up with questions and answers as the information unfolds would be much more productive. For that reason, I wish to respectfully reiterate my request here for an on camera interview and provide you with the opportunity to directly address the concerns raised by city leaders, your clients and the tenants of Brookside.
Below is a preview of the questions I would like to ask. If you insist on limiting our access to your organization and not meeting with us in person, I would appreciate it if you respond to each of these questions in writing. The story is scheduled to air as early as tomorrow (11/1/12) at 5pm so I will need your responses by 3pm tomorrow in order to incorporate them into the story.
1. Why are you charging rents that range as high as $1400 per month for a space at Brookside when average rental rates at similar mobile home parks in El Monte are roughly $500?
2. How do you respond to seniors who live there who say a 10% discount as a result of the "Mobile home tenant rent assist program" which passed in 1990, does not provide them with any relief given the monthly rental rates you are charging them?
3. How do you respond to city council members who say the 1990 initiative was brought in order to allow you to raise rents to unfair levels without any oversight and the proposed 10% discount was merely a ruse to convince voters to approve it?
4. How do you respond to your critics who say you are raising rents to a level they cannot afford in order to take possession of their homes and then sell them to another customer at a substantial profit?
5. Is it true that you sell mobile homes that are left abandoned on your property when residents are forced to move out? If so, how many have you sold this year?
6. How many abandoned mobile homes currently sit empty at Brookside?
7. What price do you typically sell those abandoned homes for?
8. Why did you send a letter dated August 8 to residents in your park proposing a significant rent increase (some as high as 17%) in direct response to the city council's actions related to Measure F?
9. How do you respond to residents who say this latest rent increase is an attempt to bully them into abandoning their complaints (or convincing their fellow tenants to abandon their complaints) to the City Council about the high rents at your facility and the need for reform?
10. How do you respond to residents who say that MCM does not adequately maintain the property?
If you cannot answer any of these questions, I would appreciate it if you would forward them to a representative who can provide answers.
Thank you.
Randy Paige
