Trailer Park

Tom Titus According to the publisher of "Cinderella Waltz," playwright Don Nigro's mission was to "investigate the archetypical origins of the tale contrasting the familiar and charming Perrault version with the darker more ancient tale recorded by the brothers Grimm." Well, the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse has laid its hands on this wacky take on the classic fairy tale and done some investigating of its own. The result is a sterling example of what can be done with liberal doses of the F word.

Marisa O'Neil Supporters of a campus trailer park slated for demolition this summer will continue their fight to keep it open, even after a university official said he would not entertain negotiations to preserve it. At a forum on Friday, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Manuel Gomez told university officials, students and faculty that the park's fate is sealed and denied a request by the residents to discuss ...

Lolita Harper A nonprofit fair housing organization sued a Costa Mesa trailer park owner in July for allegedly discriminating against families with children, which violates state fair housing standards, officials said. Elizabeth Pierson, lead counsel for the Fair Housing Council of Orange County -- a private nonprofit organization -- said her office sued the owner of the El Nido and Snug Harbor Mobile Home parks because the managing office -- used to manage both sites -- displayed a sign that read "no children, no dogs."

Construction of the long-awaited El Moro Campground at Crystal Cove State Park is expected to begin after the weekend, Crystal Cove State Park Supt. Ken Kramer said. State Parks officials recently awarded a $12-million public works project contract to Los Angeles Engineering Inc. for the conversion of the former El Morro Village trailer park to a state park campground, beach and picnic area. The project is set to begin in mid-July and is expected to be open to the public by early 2010.

This photo involved about six hours of waiting. I got a call from an editor about a group of UCI students blocking the entrance to their on-campus trailer park. The university wanted to send in a drilling truck to test the soil, which is one of the steps to removing the residents and demolishing the trailer park. I arrived at mid-morning to find several TV crews and other news photographers milling around the students as they held protest signs and marched in defiance at the university.

The former tenants of the El Morro trailer park have agreed to pay the state a $60,000 settlement involving trash and vandalism discovered after residents vacated the park in March, state officials said Wednesday. The May 18 settlement is the final hurdle in the legal snarl to convert the trailer park to a campground for public use. The state purchased the land in 1979, and residents were allowed to continue living there until a few months ago. "This is obviously a much better solution than going to court and having to resolve the issues there," State Parks District Supt.

Destruction and vandalism at the recently vacated El Morro trailer park could prompt the California state parks department to take legal action against the former tenants, who moved out March 1, officials said Thursday. In some of the trailers, the destruction is staggering. Graffiti covers the outside and inside of many of the beachfront homes. Inside one of the trailers, everything glass ? including the floor-to-ceiling front windows and the shower door ? is shattered, leaving a layer of shards, some two inches thick, across the floor.

Paul Clinton CRYSTAL COVE -- Assemblyman John Campbell has revised his funding bill for the cove in an attempt to win support from his Democratic colleagues. Campbell, who represents Newport Beach, said he has reworked an idea he first proposed last year that would allow residents of the El Morro trailer park to stay past December 2004, when their leases on the state-owned land expire. In a bill he said he would introduce in the next two weeks, Campbell will propose extending the leases for five years to raise money to restore the 46 beachfront cottages at Crystal Cove State Park.

Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle likes the new plans for campgrounds at the old El Morro Village trailer park, but Assemblyman Chuck DeVore criticized it as a waste of tax dollars. Crystal Cove State Park’s campground construction was expected to begin after the July 4 weekend, Crystal Cove State Park Supt. Ken Kramer said. El Morro Village trailer park residents once called the planned campgrounds home, but now the area will turn into a tourist attraction. The project is expected to be open to the public by early 2010.

I doubt that the names Charley Griffen and Charley Pearson are recognized by many people in Orange County today, but in the 1940s, Griffen was the city clerk of Anaheim, and Pearson, the mayor of Anaheim, was his boss. Pearson was a strong-willed, farsighted man who anticipated the urbanization of Orange County. Whether he foresaw the degree to which it has become urbanized I don't know, but while other county leaders sat on their hands, Pearson set about annexing land, attracting industry and making Anaheim the leading city in the county.

A Garden Grove man pleaded not guilty Friday to killing a Costa Mesa woman and her co-worker in Stanton last year. Hilbert Pineil Thomas, 39, was indicted last week on two counts of murder related to the mysterious killing of two people at the Golden Sun Homes trailer park in Stanton Feb. 2, 2009. For months authorities could not find a motive for the crimes or the car of Elizabeth Ann Palmer, a Costa Mesa resident, who was a secretary there. She and Francis Scott, the business owner’s son, were shot to death.

Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle likes the new plans for campgrounds at the old El Morro Village trailer park, but Assemblyman Chuck DeVore criticized it as a waste of tax dollars. Crystal Cove State Park’s campground construction was expected to begin after the July 4 weekend, Crystal Cove State Park Supt. Ken Kramer said. El Morro Village trailer park residents once called the planned campgrounds home, but now the area will turn into a tourist attraction. The project is expected to be open to the public by early 2010.

Construction of the long-awaited El Moro Campground at Crystal Cove State Park is expected to begin after the weekend, Crystal Cove State Park Supt. Ken Kramer said. State Parks officials recently awarded a $12-million public works project contract to Los Angeles Engineering Inc. for the conversion of the former El Morro Village trailer park to a state park campground, beach and picnic area. The project is set to begin in mid-July and is expected to be open to the public by early 2010.

Costa Mesa Mayor Eric Bever is concerned enough about rent hikes as high as 35% at the Anchor Trailer Park in downtown Costa Mesa that he has directed city staff to look into whether the park’s owners are engaging in an illegal attempt to rezone the parcel. Average monthly rent, which went from $660 to $850 last year, is scheduled to balloon to as much as $1,025 this year — significantly more than any other comparable mobile home spaces in the city, which average about $700 a month.

. FOR THE RECORD: In the April 11 article ?Rent hikes prompt moving,? the mobile home park two blocks from Anchor Trailer park is Harbor Mobile Homes. . Tenants of Costa Mesa?s Anchor Trailer Park are upset about sharp rent increases they fear will force a number of residents from their homes. The small park of about 30 residences off of Newport Boulevard in downtown Costa Mesa was once a great place to live, resident Jeanne McMahon said. She works nearby, and her grandkids are close enough for the frequent visits she cherishes.

Wasting time is wasting money at high school Four years. Four years is how long Robins Hall has been sitting empty at Newport Harbor High School. This building held not only the wonderful theater, but more than a dozen classrooms, a courtyard and school offices. To make up for the closed classrooms, rows of portable buildings are filled with students on the far side of campus. My oldest son was lucky enough to attend Newport Harbor as the beautiful school it was. His youngest brother following him four years later spent his entire high school career — as thousands now have — attending classes in what amounts to a trailer park.

Brandon Hart's parents don't know where the family will be living when their son celebrates his first birthday on June 25. They don't even know where they'll be living tonight. John Hart and Ashly Spector escaped a burning trailer with only their infant son in their arms before the single-wide burned to the ground early Sunday morning inside a West Newport trailer park. The couple lost their 3-year-old cat, Charlie, in the fire. Firefighters found the cat's heart-shaped collar tag in the rubble.

The former tenants of the El Morro trailer park have agreed to pay the state a $60,000 settlement involving trash and vandalism discovered after residents vacated the park in March, state officials said Wednesday. The May 18 settlement is the final hurdle in the legal snarl to convert the trailer park to a campground for public use. The state purchased the land in 1979, and residents were allowed to continue living there until a few months ago. "This is obviously a much better solution than going to court and having to resolve the issues there," State Parks District Supt.

Destruction and vandalism at the recently vacated El Morro trailer park could prompt the California state parks department to take legal action against the former tenants, who moved out March 1, officials said Thursday. In some of the trailers, the destruction is staggering. Graffiti covers the outside and inside of many of the beachfront homes. Inside one of the trailers, everything glass ? including the floor-to-ceiling front windows and the shower door ? is shattered, leaving a layer of shards, some two inches thick, across the floor.