美国国家公共电台 NPR--At a Mass. mobile home park, residents are evicted for a new housing development

At a Mass. mobile home park, residents are evicted¹ for a new housing development

Transcript²

Residents of mobile home parks are losing their places to live as new investors³ buy up park land for redevelopment. Residents typically own their homes, but not the land they sit on.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Mobile homes have long been an affordable⁴ housing option, but big investment firms have been buying up the land they sit on, causing homeowners to worry about whether they'll be able to stay. From member station WBUR in Boston, Simon Rios reports on how corporate⁵ ownership is upending the lives of people in one park.

SIMON RIOS, BYLINE⁶: Outside John Piazza⁷'s trailer, the 84-year-old former harbor captain and amateur historian is sorting through his life's belongings⁸.

JOHN PIAZZA SR: You want drills? I got a bunch for you to take home. Look at them. Keep them. There's three or four. Keep them.

RIOS: His son John Jr. is helping⁹ him pack and trying to persuade him to toss more stuff. They argue over a pile of boxes Piazza hopes a cousin will take.

JOHN PIAZZA SR: This is - look at it, Joe Santi - Joe - this is all going out.

JOHN PIAZZA JR: Yeah, Joe Santi's been here three different times.

JOHN PIAZZA SR: No.

JOHN PIAZZA JR: If he doesn't take them, he doesn't want them.

JOHN PIAZZA SR: How do you know?

JOHN PIAZZA JR: Well, I don't know. If he wanted them he would have...

JOHN PIAZZA SR: He's in love with them. He grabbed the two bikes.

JOHN PIAZZA JR: Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

RIOS: Piazza has lived more than two decades at Lee's Trailer Park in Revere¹⁰, a small working-class city just north of Boston. Living in a mobile home was a good choice for him when rent control ended in Boston in the '90s.

JOHN PIAZZA SR: I said, let me look at it, and I fell in love with it. I says, wow, this is bigger than my apartment. And I bought it - 20,000.

RIOS: Mobile home parks are home to 22 million people across the country. But they've become a target for corporate investors, accounting¹¹ for roughly a quarter of park sales, according to the firm Real Capital Analytics. Residents worry this means increased rents and the possibility of displacement¹² because even those who own their mobile homes don't usually own the land they sit on. Piazza was planning to spend the rest of his days at Lee's Trailer Park, but a year and a half ago, it was sold to an entity¹³ managed by a Boston investment firm, Helge Capital. They soon started evicting¹⁴ people to make way for a new housing development. Piazza recalls standing¹⁵ outside with his neighbors as one of them watched his house being destroyed.

JOHN PIAZZA SR: The person that runs the machine put the top jaw¹⁶ on top and the bottom jaw above the metal frame, and squish, and that whole wall came off.

RIOS: The park's new owners wouldn't agree to an interview, but in a statement they said they have treated every resident fairly. They've also been compensating¹⁷ residents for the value of homes that can't easily be moved. The park's former owner, William Settipane, says he feels for some of the people whose trailers were crushed, but...

WILLIAM SETTIPANE: Well, they're paying the people, though. And he agrees to take it. They ain't do nothing wrong. They ain't forcing no one to take it.

RIOS: Settipane also says the new housing development planned would be a big improvement over the park, which he says has long been dogged by drugs and crime.

SETTIPANE: The city should be glad that they got rid of the - get rid of the park because it was nothing but a problem, even though I was the owner.

RIOS: Mobile park advocates say parks like Lee's get into bad shape because park owners let it happen. And cities don't do enough to stop it.

ETHAN MASCOOP: This looks like there was a - certainly a home here. And maybe over here where the dumpster is. Dumpster's not covered. Minor¹⁸ things, but still violations²⁰. Drainage is a problem. So we have wetlands issues here, too. You see here, it looks like a river or a brook²¹.

RIOS: Boston University public health instructor²² Ethan Mascoop sits on the state Manufactured Homes Commission. He surveyed Lee's Trailer Park and spotted²³ one health violation¹⁹ after another, even though people still live there.

MASCOOP: It looks like a remains²⁴ of a war. There's stuff strewn about. There's people's - some belongings. It's very, very sad.

RIOS: Mascoop says he wants to know where the city is with so many apparent health violations. The Revere mayor's office did not respond to multiple requests for interviews. But in the meantime, the park's population is slowly dwindling²⁵. Roughly 100 people have already left Lee's and just 17 mobile homes remain. Those are gradually being removed as well. Back at John Piazza's mobile home, surrounded by decades worth of belongings, his son John Jr. says it's sad to see his dad forced to leave this way.

JOHN PIAZZA JR: I mean, he's - his independence is gone. He can walk out here, get in his car, go shopping and stuff like that now.

JOHN PIAZZA SR: Exactly.

JOHN PIAZZA JR: You know, he's not going to be able to do that in the city.

RIOS: That's because Piazza is headed to an assisted living home in Boston, where he won't have his car any longer. He doesn't want to leave, but he counts his blessings²⁶. He says some of the people who lived at Lee's Trailer Park have no place to go. For NPR News, I'm Simon Rios in Boston.

1 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

5 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 piazza   

n.广场；走廊

参考例句：

• Siena's main piazza was one of the sights of Italy.锡耶纳的主要广场是意大利的名胜之一。
• They walked out of the cafeteria,and across the piazzadj.他们走出自助餐厅,穿过广场。

8 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 revere   

vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏

参考例句：

• Students revere the old professors.学生们十分尊敬那些老教授。
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven.中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。

11 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

12 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

13 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

14 evicting   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Money spent on evicting sex offenders cannot be spent on treating them. 花在打击性侵犯者上的钱并不能花在治疗这一社会问题上。 来自互联网
• Money spent on evicting sex offenders cannot be spent on treating them. Does this matter? 钱被花费在驱逐性犯罪者而不是用做教育他们，这样做真的好么？ 来自互联网

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

17 compensating   

补偿，补助，修正

参考例句：

• I am able to set up compensating networks of nerve connections. 我能建立起补偿性的神经联系网。
• It is desirable that compensating cables be run in earthed conduit. 补偿导线最好在地下管道中穿过。

18 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

19 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

20 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

21 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

22 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

23 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

24 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

25 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

26 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》