THE MERIDIANS

San Bernardino EDA: 'Meridians' tenants to get tap water back
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/19/2010 05:58:52 PM PDT


SAN BERNARDINO - Two of the last people to live at "The Meridians" have been doing so without running water since August.
Allyn McGinnis, 55, and his son John, 34, have jugs filled with water for cooking, bathing and flushing the toilet outside the door of their Westside apartment.

"I can appreciate people in the Third World carrying water on their head. What a bummer," the elder McGinnis said Tuesday morning.

"The Meridians" area cluster of Fifth Street four-plexes near San Bernardino's western boundary with Rialto. The area is at the center of a major redevelopment project and Allyn McGinnis and son are waiting for relocation aid that will help them follow their neighbors to new homes.

San Bernardino

Allyn McGinnis, 55, stands outside the apartment he shares with son John, left, at the Meridians Apartments complex in San Bernardino on Tuesday. McGinnis, whose water was shut off in August, has been waiting on a relocation check from the San Bernardino Economic Development Agency. (Gabriel Luis Acosta/Staff Photographer)Economic Development Agency officials said Tuesday that the relocation money should be on the way by the end of the coming week. Water service should return to the McGinnis' building by today.
"They'll get that back," said the EDA's Shannon Johnson, who is managing The Meridians redevelopment project.

San Bernardino Water Department personnel initially shut off water service for lack of payment, Johnson said. The water was subsequently turned back on illegally and cut off again.

The EDA closed its purchase of the McGinnis' building on Friday. The EDA's ownership makes it possible for the city to turn the water back on.

The purchase also means that the EDA should be able to ensure Allyn and John McGinnis receive relocation dollars, EDA Housing & Community Development Director Carey Jenkins said. The agency is legally required to help them and other Meridians tenants move because the redevelopment work will result in their apartments being demolished.

"We haven't had any issues with cutting people checks. Give us about a week and we'll take care of it," Jenkins said.

The elder McGinnis said he has had trouble dealing with California Property Specialists, the consulting firm

assisting the EDA with tenant relocations. Johnson said she contacted the company and was informed that McGinnis only needs to send in the necessary claim form to get his money.
There may have been a mail mix-up. The elder McGinnis said he has not yet received the form in question.

And he and his son need the money, he said. The elder McGinnis receives S.S.I. income and his son has been unable to get work since his car was stolen six months ago, they said. They are expecting about $5,200 to help them find a new place.

The Meridians have a reputation for gang and drug activity and the San Bernardino Economic Development Agency is attempting to transform the area by buying and demolishing the apartments there.

Demolition crews have already eliminated multiple apartment buildings, but the McGinnises and a few other families in the remaining buildings live next to now vacant lots and boarded-up apartments.

In some cases, metal scavengers and squatters have broken into the vacant units, leaving behind a mess of broken windows and unpleasant smells.

The situation was so bad that the elder McGinnis said he was worried authorities would condemn his building before he gets his relocation package.

"I'm hoping, I'm praying to God the city doesn't tell us we have to go before they give us our check," Allyn McGinnis said.