Raw sewage and terrible stenches: Sylmar residents frustrated with neighbor's makeshift RV park
A Sylmar neighborhood has grown frustrated with a makeshift RV park filled with over two dozen of formerly homeless residents.
"I don't have peace, not even in my own house," said Maria, who lives next to the park.
Maria did not want to reveal her last name but said for two years she, along with her family and neighbors have been dealing with noise, trash and terrible stenches. The disturbances grew too unbearable and forced the family to start a petition to get them removed.
Maria said raw sewage seeped into her yard last January.
"Son got sick that day, all of us got nauseous the ambulance came because my son was vomiting at night," said Maria.
The mother lives in San Fernando but the RV property is just a few feet away from her home in Sylmar.
Officials stopped by Friday with applications for people living in those RVs to fill out to get into subsidized public housing, which is a relief for some but a scare for others.
Some don't have documentation and are scared they won't have any place to go. Maria said this wasn't the only time officials made a visit this week.
"People from San Fernando and Los Angeles City came to my house to heck everything, they just say that its a process," said Maria.
Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, whose district encompasses Sylmar, said she's working on alleviating the situation.
"I'm continuing to work with the City Attorney, LAPD, and the officials from the City of San Fernando to accelerate the clean up of the private property in question," said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez's assurance was not enough for Maria and her neighbors.
"We just want to hear answers," she said. "We want to hear answers from the San Fernando City, Los Angeles — to see when they are going to resolve this situation."
Neighbors said they're going to a city meeting on Tuesday to express their frustrations. We reached out to the city of L.A., which said the city attorney is reviewing its case against the property owner for not following the code.
