A divorced woman with two school-age children finds herself wanting to remain in Syosset, since her children are enrolled in the Syosset schools, her part-time job is located on Underhill and since the community is a safe place in which to reside. She only receives child support and since the house was not in her name, she finds herself wondering where she can find affordable housing in the Town of Oyster Bay. Rentals are pricey and one can forget about purchasing a luxury townhouse for $800,000, so what is she to do? A local merchant mentions the Syosset Mobile Home Park located on Jericho Turnpike behind Ralph's Ice. She has a hard time finding it since it cannot be seen from the road. Once inside the entrance to the park, she realizes that this may be the perfect answer to her problems. There are two trailers for sale, one is affordable since it is selling for $60,000 and the maintenance per month to the managers of the park, who owns the land, is doable at $500 per month, plus her utilities. She thinks, "this is a god send," and purchases said mobile home on the reassurance from the Park Management that it would always remain a mobile home park, given its 80-year history as one.

She and her children are extremely content living in this close-knit community.

Their nightmare is just about to begin, after a year and-a-half of living in "bliss" they find out, not through the management of the park, but through the grapevine that the property has been sold to developers whose goal it is to build more "unaffordable" housing in the Town of Oyster Bay. She and her children will lose all their money, lose their home, be forced out of the Syosset School District and on top of all this they have nowhere else to live.

Now, picture this woman your sister.

What would you tell her to do? Fight for her home? Walk away without a penny? I truly doubt it if anyone would tell their sister to "chalk it up to life experience."

Randi Portnoy