People living in a mobile home park in Chicago's Blue Island suburb are at risk of losing their access to water on November 20.
Residents at the Forest View mobile home park may lose water access just three days before Thanksgiving after Mer-Car Corp, the property's management, failed to pay the bill.
The water bill, which has been unsettled since March, now has a balance of nearly $900,000, including usage and late fees, as first reported by CBS News.
City administrators for Blue Island said they have made several attempts to have the mobile home park's management address its outstanding water bills, including placing a lien on the property in September.
"We hope that the property managers and owner will take responsibility for this very serious situation and address their outstanding water bills," a city administrator told CBS 2 in a statement.
Chicago city workers have already posted notices of water disconnection and warnings that the mobile home park will no longer be safe to occupy after the shutdown across the community, leaving many residents blindsided.
"How is it that they haven't paid the water in God knows how long, and we are the ones who are going to suffer the consequences? It's not fair, it's unjust, and it's just wrong," Patricia Guzman, who has been a resident of Forest View for seven years, said in a statement to the outlet.
"We've paid our lot fee religiously on time every month. We were never told about this disconnection. We were never warned. We were never given a heads up," she added.
Rallying For Water Access
The mobile home park's residents have pled with Blue Island city administrators to keep providing access to water during a rally on Sunday.
In addition to the rally, a lawyer who lives in Forest View is reportedly planning to file a request for an emergency restraining order against the city and Mer-Cer Corp. with the aim of preventing a shutoff. It was not immediately clear when the request will be made.
Residents of the mobile home park are also planning to bring up their concerns to the Blue Island City Council meeting on Tuesday.
