Anna Pier connected with Ann Colichidas while she was attending the 79th Stockton Folkdance Camp at UC Santa Cruz. A dramatic ceremony of passing the light of folkdance inspired in Ann the image of “light-bearer” to describe her dedication to the mobilehome owners’ cause. Ann and Anna continued the conversation in the Clubhouse of Pueblo Serena Mobile Home Park, 951 Fifth Street W., Sonoma.
When did you start folk dancing? I started in 1991, intrigued by a one-sentence blurb in the pink section of the Chronicle. “Learn steps and styling from around the world.” The teacher was a pioneer of folkdance in California. Later I danced in several performing groups including City College SF.
What is this folkdance camp? It’s a joyous annual event where people come from all over the world to share the love of dance and learning. One night we performed a candle lighting ceremony honoring the oldest members and also the first-time campers. A huge room went from dark to light as the flame was passed around. It was a solemn ceremony, kind of corny I thought. Until I realized how we all have our time to tend and carry the light. In this case, dancing brings people together and that’s what I like to do. It’s how I got into my mobilehome work in the first place.
Because to dance, you need a place to gather, and there is a clubhouse at our mobilehome park, Pueblo Serena.
How long have you been in Sonoma? What brought you here? I knew Sonoma because my father came up here a lot. The Greeks loved visiting here. My cousin lives in Sonoma and was very active in the community. She had met many wonderful women who lived at Pueblo Serena and were very happy. She said “Annie, do it!” So I bought our mobile home in Pueblo Serena in 2013.
Where were you born and raised? I was born in the Mission district, near the Valencia Street cathedral. The priest lived next door. There was a phyllo factory nearby, and the whole block by the church was Greek businesses, a bakery, a grocery, a radio station.
Where did you study? I went to Lowell High, and then to San Francisco State, where I graduated in psychology with a minor in linguistics. In my mid-40s I returned for a graduate degree studying gerontology. College was much more fun the second time around.
What was your work? I was a trade show installer. Before that I was a production manager for a woman-owned neon sign company, NeonNeon. Neon lighting had a resurgence in the 70s. “Lighting” was a theme for my life even back then. Seriously, I have been inspired by many extraordinary women, including Dr Effie Chow, Qi Gong Master, and healer.
Talk more about becoming a mobilehome owners’ advocate. My first introduction to Sonoma mobile home parks was because my husband’s best friend from college lived at Moon Valley. I had never been in a park before. Some years went by and we were looking around Sonoma and noticed Pueblo Serena. I was enchanted. As a gerontologist, working at the time in a lively retirement community, I could see this 55-plus park had all the features conducive to aging in place. Most important were the opportunities for community and socialization, keys to longevity and health.
One person I wanted to meet was Herb Golenpaul, a leader in the park in his 90s and ubiquitous presence at City Council meetings. Sadly, he passed away before I ever met him, and when I asked who had taken his place, I was handed a red binder with the answer, “YOU” (no kidding). And the light was passed just like that.
Talk about your role as a “light bearer.” When I first moved into Pueblo Serena, the homeowners, recently faced with an average $350 monthly rent increase, were in full swing with a campaign to revise/update the mobile home rent stabilization ordinance, first established in the 1990s. The updated ordinance gave park owners automatic annual increases while preventing such rent spikes which could outstrip a homeowner’s ability to pay. After all, we own the homes and are responsible for all home repairs and ground maintenance.
This is happening all around the country, and in Sonoma County right now. Parks used to be under “mom and pop” ownership. But big corporations are buying them up all around the country – like Alden Venture Capital, which by the way, also owns the local press, Sonoma Media.
I began to work with the Tri-Park Coalition, representing the three parks in the City limits – on Fifth Street West, Pueblo Serena and Moon Valley; and on Hwy 12, Sonoma Oaks.
I carried on in Herb’s shoes, and was elected President of Sonoma Valley GSMOL (Golden State Manufactured-home Owners League.) After the fires, I represented Sonoma’s mobilehome parks on Sonoma Valley Collaborative. I helped tend the flame through COVID, and we pulled out of the pandemic limping but intact. The unique set of experiences in my life made me set up to do this work.
Please continue your mobilehome story.
Early on, we were introduced to a monthly luncheon in Petaluma that attracted mobilehome owners from all over Sonoma County. It was a lively and informative gathering where we learned from each other about new and ongoing issues and always had a guest speaker. I always looked forward to that meeting. After a COVID hiatus, where we managed to hold things together on zoom, the longstanding, dedicated chair had to retire.
That meeting, hobbled by COVID, could have easily died, but someone needed to pick up the light, and a group of us did. I am now the MC of the meeting. And this is how we got a front row seat from the first rumblings of park operators’ egregious behavior and tactics. That soon led to Petaluma being known as “ground zero” for unrelenting attacks on mobile home owners and their way of life.
Please explain. Since then, the attacks have spread throughout the County and the state. Park operators with their lobbyists aim to undermine mobile home protections that have been established and maintained at the local level. Every jurisdiction, including Sonoma County, established their own set of ordinances in the 1990s to preserve this precious stock of affordable housing and protect the homeowners who live there. These ordinances get outdated and need periodic tending to keep them up to modern standards and local conditions.
At this time, we have a crisis of affordable housing in Sonoma County, and a coordinated attack – backed by a 3.5 million-dollar war chest, aiming at rights of homeowners. Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Windsor and Cotati were all caught off guard and had to play catch-up to modernize their own ordinances. And they are facing serious obstacles.
What exactly is the current issue for which the mobile homeowners are seeking support from the Sonoma City Council? Here in Sonoma, homeowners seek to be proactive in updating these policies, and the only way to do it is to appeal to the City Council to adopt these changes. This periodic refreshing of policy is one of the main jobs of the light bearers, in this case the Tri-Park Committee, lest homeowners forget that they are the ones who are ultimately responsible for their own protections. The alternative is waiting for a crisis to overtake them.
The Tri-Park Committee has engaged the services of the best mobile home policy attorney, who has crafted an ordinance to present to the City Council. It protects us and it protects the City.
Talk about the perspective of mobile home owners. In July, I initiated a survey of mobile home owners in the City of Sonoma, asking what they want the City Council to know when deliberating on the policy choices. The response was overwhelming. In just one week, I had an amazing 25 percent response. Homeowners were eager to express themselves and tell their stories in their own words. They described their lives as a carefully constructed balance that included their savings, retirement security, ability to remain independent, the importance of community and the ability to continue affording the home they own. They described owning their “forever” homes, that are not mobile, with no place to go if they had to abandon them due to a park conversion, and they fear homelessness. They ask the City Council to support the Tri-Park’s proposal.
Any last thoughts? We will keep up efforts to gain the support of the City Council. Meanwhile, I’d rather be dancing!
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