BOZEMAN — Residents of King Arthur Park and Mountain Meadows Estates gathered on Tuesday to respond to the recent sale of the land beneath their homes.
"OUR HOMES, OUR RENT, OUR SAY, AND OUR FUTURE," chanted the residents on outside of Berkadia, the real estate broker facilitating the sale of the two parks.
The communities, which formed tenant unions back in July, have been working with Neighborworks MT, a state-wide non-profit, for the past few months to buy the properties and become resident-owned communities.
The Tuesday event came after King Arthur Park and Mountain Meadows Estates were informed that the bid made on their behalf was rejected and that the "the seller has gone under contract with another buyer."
"We want to have a say in our homes, a say in our lives, and a say in our community," said one resident during the event.
We spoke with Philip Zemke, outside of his King Arthur Park home, which he has called "home" for the past 25 years.
Pictured: Philip Zemke
"Welcome to King Arthur Park," said Zemke. "We are a strong tenant union, as is Mountain Meadows. We have a voice, we have concerns, and we live here every day."
Zemke said he's also on the park's bargaining committee. He and other union members who attended the event on Tuesday said they will hold the new owner accountable for fixing infrastructure in the parks to the unions' standards.
Tenants brought photos of infrastructure concerns showing broken PCV pipes spraying water, broken electric boxes that lead to frozen pipes in the winter, and rotten telephone poles.
"We demand that maintenance issues in the park be attended to immediately before any talk of rent increases," said Zemke.
WATCH: Residents respond to the sale of their home land
Zemke expressed concern about deteriorating breaker boxes in King Arthur Park.
"Some of them are so old and delicately at the edge of the end of their lives that if you go and touch them, they disintegrate," he said.
While the identity of the new buyers has not been disclosed to the tenants, Zemke had a message to share.
“We are paying you rent, which is money that you get to use. Please use some of that money to make sure we can live here safely, and securely, and that we make sure our rent is going to help us maintain our well being in the park.”
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