APACHE JUNCTION, AZ — After a month in the dark and in the heat, electricity is finally flowing to homes in one Apache Junction mobile home park.
“It’s nice to be able to have a fully operating refrigerator again,” a resident at Arizuma Country Estates, Markos Korakas, said. “We should have had power a long time ago.”
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Residents tell ABC15 that a fire at a multi-meter box sparked an outage for many park residents in late July, but repair work stalled in August.
“Financially, mentally, emotionally, all of it. It’s not easy. But I don’t have a choice,” resident Crystal told ABC15 on August 20.
The city of Apache Junction issued a Notice of Violation which required the park to fix the power by August 27.
The city said repairs began again on August 22. SRP confirmed the power was back on by August 28.
The ordeal prompted some longtime residents like Monica Jones to move out.
“It’s frustrating that it took us making all that noise,” Jones said. “I am so happy for everyone that they got power restored over there…Those people really became my family and they mean a lot to me.
The Arizona Department of Housing, ADOH, recommends mobile home residents who feel like a landlord is adding to an infrastructure problem or not moving fast enough reach out to their local city and county as well as file a ‘Landlord Tenant Act’ (LTA) petition with ADOH online.
The property owners sent a statement to ABC15, saying in part that at no point in time was anyone left without power, claiming all affected tenants were either relocated, used their own generators, or were provided with one. Tenants ABC15 talked to strongly dispute those claims. The city has also confirmed to ABC15 that seven lots did not have power the week of September 9, resulting in the citation.
