News/Commentary

Makeshift LA trailer park making neighbors feel ill as feces and urine ooze onto their properties

July 19, 2023 | | Print Article

A woman in Los Angeles named Cruz Godoy reportedly has 25 smelly camper vans in her backyard that are literally oozing feces and urine onto neighbors’ properties and out on the sidewalks, making people ill.

(Video Credit: KTLA 5)

Godoy does not have a permit for the illegal, makeshift trailer park which makes the gathering of RVs illegal. Not to mention the health risk from the setup in the suburban California neighborhood.

She claims the people have nowhere else to live and that she is giving them a place to rest and regroup.

Despite not having the required permits, it has taken years for authorities to act even with a deluge of angry complaints from residents, according to the New York Post.

One of the residents named Maria Macias is fed up with the situation. Her property backs onto Cruz’s lot. Regardless of feeling sorry for those living in the RVs, she can’t stand the stench coming from RVs and says it has been “unbearable for years.”

“It’s been so stressful,” Macias told the New York Post in an interview where she wept. “I just wish someone could help. We have all gotten sick because of all the feces is everywhere. And then we see them trying to clean early in the morning with really strong chemicals to get rid of the smell, but we don’t know what’s in the chemicals.”

“I feel bad for the people paying rent there because it’s not their fault,” Macias asserted. “It’s the woman who is making all that money from them. I feel sad for them because they are going to suffer also.”

The Los Angeles Police Department visited the property with officials from the city’s Department of Water and Power to cut off the electricity to the camp in Sylmar, Calif. on Tuesday, according to the Post which was present when it was done.

The heat is another issue. Temperatures soared above 100 degrees Tuesday causing some of the residents to stagger out of the RVs looking confused and angry after their power was cut off.

“I was sleeping because I work at night, but I have my three sons here and I don’t know what to do now,” a woman named Claudia remarked. “It’s f***ing hot right now and now I don’t have electricity. I talked to (Cruz) and she also has no power. No one knows when it will be back on.”

Another resident named Hector Rivera claims that Godoy also rents out garages and sheds to the down and out.

“The smell is so bad, the flies … and there are unsavory people running around the neighborhood,” Rivera stated. “People have been sick and we think it might be the fumes (from the house).”

Carmen Cisneros has lived next door to the property for the last 30 years. She also can’t stand the smell coming from the encampment.

“The feces and urine runs down the street and the smell is unbelievable,” Cisneros commented. “Cruz used to have a shop at the swap meet, but when that shut down during the pandemic, she brought it to her house. Then I started seeing RVs about three years ago. At first, I saw three and all of a sudden both sides (of the property) became full. I didn’t care so much at first as long as they stayed on their side, but then the wind would blow the smell over.”

The neighbors finally went to the local neighborhood council and begged them to do something. They also started a petition that got over 100 signatures which they plan to present to San Fernando and Los Angeles officials.

Debbie, another neighbor, claims that her family has come down with mysterious illnesses since the illegal trailer park sprang up.

“It’s the smell,” she said. “My husband has been sick for three years and the doctors just can’t figure it out. We used to call it the ‘Big House’ with the previous owners. It was gorgeous. Then right before COVID, this started — the smell. It’s awful. When you drive down sometimes you see liquid and you gotta figure, ‘Where is this coming from?'”

Godoy is what locals refer to as a “van lord.” Those are property owners who attempt to make money off the suffering of others by buying campers and renting them to individuals who are poor or homeless. She is charging the renters somewhere between $500 to $1,000 per month according to the New York Post.

The LA City Attorney’s Office has filed criminal charges against Godoy for not complying with building and safety codes. Those include illegally permitting parking of RVs in her yard and not properly storing trash and other debris. She is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles court Wednesday.

Kurt Cabrera Miller, who is the president of the Sylmar Neighborhood Council, says that Cruz has been cited a number of times over the past decade by the LA Department of Building and Safety.

“They have about 27 RVs in the back of the property and they’ve had a lot of issues with the sewage,” Miller remarked. “As far as I know, the first case that I saw was filed in 2010 and a lien was put on the property in 2016 on that case. Since then there has been 41 violations — open and closed cases of building and safety violations. It’s been an ongoing thing. She fixes one thing, and then something else happens.”

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE

Latest posts by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles