TOLEDO, Ohio — The flies appear to be mutants – large, annoying and fierce.
Water bubbles and flows from beneath two mobile homes, flooding a field that drains into the nearby Swan Creek.
Riverside Mobile Home Estates sits yards from the Anthony Wayne Trail, within sight of downtown Toledo. But the conditions are comparable to those of a slum in a Third World country.
Trash is piled beside the vacant park office. Much of the park appears to be vacant. Some of the homes are split open or have doors ajar beside home security stickers.
Feral cats skitter from beneath abandoned structures, darting off to hide in the waist-high grass that has not been touched by a mower in years.
“Look around. It looks like a hurricane went through here,” Willie Smith said.
But it wasn’t a hurricane. The damage is from years of neglect.
A Google Earth page for Riverside Mobile Home Estates from more than five years ago shows rows of neat, tidy mobile homes.
But around the same time, owners quit paying their water bills to the city. After the city sued, the ownership changed to a foreign for-profit corporation based in Illinois. The owners are currently more than $150,000 in arrears on their water bill to the city.
On the application to become an LLC – under summary of corporation purpose – the Riverside Mobile Home Estates applicants wrote: “To run our mobile home park without tenants thinking we are a scam.”
However, Smith has never seen the owners, the management office sits empty and no number exists to reach the owners.
A working number could not be found for Riverside Mobile Home Estates. A company lawyer was reached and said he would pass along a message. On Monday evening, the lawyer responded to say that the LLC has a couple of potential buyers but that the LLC "is struggling."
Nearly three years ago, Smith moved into a trailer at Riverside Mobile Home Estates. It’s not the same place it used to be.
“These are old trailers. I mean, I understood that when I moved in, but the grass was cut," Smith said.
And he had power, but that is no longer the case. The electric company said faulty wiring would make it too dangerous to try to turn it back on.
“I don’t have power, basically just a roof over my head and running water,” Smith said.
For the right to sit in the dark amid vacant trailers, except for those occupied by vagrants, Smith was paying $350 a month.
But the money he was sending via Venmo wasn’t going to the owners of the company. When he asked why, he said he was told that the person was stealing it.
And then the company decided to evict him. While he was lying in a hospital recovering from a heart attack, a hearing in Toledo Municipal Court took place. The judge issued a writ to have him removed despite the hospital faxing the court documentation to prove Smith was unable to attend the hearing.
“I can’t really say I lost in court because I never got a day in court. A judge decided to rule against me without me being there,” Smith said. “While I was in the hospital, you know, wondering if I was going to live or die because my heart wasn’t working, that’s when he decided to rule, to make his judgment.”
Smith showed 11 Investigates copies of Venmo receipts but with no context about who he was sending the money. The company says it has not received money since May, something that Smith admits, but he added he has no idea where to send the money.
He’s now about to be kicked out of his powerless home, a home that few people would be lining up to live in.
Smith reached out to Toledo City Councilman Nick Komives and 11 Investigates for help. During an interview, Komives arrived with members of the water department. At other times, the environmental and code enforcement departments were on the site.
“I’m shocked that an eviction process can happen here because I don’t think an eviction should happen, and they shouldn’t be renting to somebody," Komives said. "These are not maintained in a way that is livable. It’s really unfortunate and it feels predatory.”
Surveying the mound of trash near the office, he added: “People don’t deserve to live like this. It’s unconscionable that somebody would allow it to deteriorate to this level and not do anything about it.”
Though the entire property has dozens of trailers and is several acres, Komives said the property is valued at just $11,000 for tax purposes. Despite that, the company owes thousands in real estate taxes.
According to the Ohio Department of Commerce, the site is also unlicensed and has accrued dozens of violations in recent years. The department’s Division of Industrial Compliance is responsible for monitoring the grounds in mobile home parks. Jarrod Clay, a spokesman, said, “The Division has been made aware of the conditions in this park and has taken investigative action. DIC has cited the park operator for multiple violations of its rules and is currently reviewing the park for potential enforcement action.”
Jim Molnar, Toledo’s director of Building and Code Compliance, said the city has been trying to get the company into court since at least 2019. A records request shows the park was declared a public nuisance in 2021.
But for years, the property has seemingly been abandoned by the state and the city.
“I certainly see the city’s connection is real here too. We should have been on top of this, so I apologize to the residents here for that, but I want them to know we are going to do everything we can to connect them to a new place to live," Komives said. ”Some of them may not want to move."
For Smith, he said he doesn’t want to live here, but said that if he is evicted “I’ll be homeless.”
Komives is working with him on securing legal help and also helping in finding a new place to live.
“I just want some attention brought to this,” Smith said. “I don’t know what can be done at this point, honestly, but this can’t keep going.”
MORE FROM 11 INVESTIGATES: