by Sherry Lynn Gros for the Highland Park Review June 23, 2023
There is no such place as Lakeview West Estates in Mobile AL. That is a made up name by people who tried to convert HPca, Inc. so that it appeared Lakeview West had property rights to the lake. Some people made donations to some general maintenance of dredging and then claimed it gave them property rights. And they tried to erase the name of Highland Park. Lakeview West HOA mantra was the Crown Jewel business strategy of “Join Us”. It’s as simple as that. The result of their scheme is a collapsed dam and a collapsing infrastructure and destroyed eco system below the dam that is getting worse with every rainstorm. And the damage doesn’t stop there, these people have destroyed untold hundreds of migratory bird stopover for nesting and migration. Even now people from Lakeview West and Spring Lake and individually are talking about how they can scheme to “save the lake” or that they personally can trounce the land and do some kind of construction work on the land even though they do not have property rights, money, or an eco friendly plan to the land. Nor do they have any understanding how the environmental laws apply to the HPca Inc owned land. Nor do they have any consideration to the HIghland Park property owners whose land is deeded to the Park and Lake area. I’m working on the psychosocial portion of the Environmental Assessment these days while waiting for the grant approval/rejection. It’s not easy to do it alone. But it never ceases to amaze me how “The HOA People” from Lake View West Subdivision and a couple from Highland Park were allowed to slap a name on a sign, rename their subdivision without due process through the City or County then attempt to convert a corporation (HPca) from Highland Park to their own HOA without City or County authorities questioning these actions. Did authorities think it was cute? Didn’t care? Were local authorities friends of subdivision homeowners or businesses so they turned a blind eye to unlawful schemes? All of the above it seems. So, what if every subdivision in Mobile decided to rename their subdivision every time somebody had money to buy the letters to put on the monument? Why was this area of federally protected wetlands allowed to be destroyed? The last lawsuit was a preliminary hearing where the judge waded through the weeds to decide what he was going to hear at a jury trial was my understanding. He said he grew up around here so he knew all about the lake. He had prior knowledge of the lawsuits. I needed a new judge and asked for one and was denied. I even questioned if this court had subject matter jurisdiction given the Federal nature of the aspects of the case. I was facepalmed, denied, dismissed. I was told, “I’ll tell you what’s going to happen here, someone is going to go broke.” I saw Allen snigger at that comment. HPca Inc is the sole owner of 25 acres of land has deeded by Carl Swanstrom to HPca. HPca stands alone, she does not share ownership with any stakeholder and she seeks to uphold the environmental laws that apply to protect the wildlife and wetlands for future homeowners in Highland Park, surrounding stakeholders, for the good of Mobile, and the State of Alabama. If you want to further that agenda HPca welcomes your support. #Keepitenvironmental #SupportTheGrantEffort I will never stop working for this watershed. So I’m working on the psychosocial impact of the missteps and illegal activities that have taken place that contributed to the destruction of this ecosystem. It’s not easy, it’s sad, and it was so unnecessary if people would have just exercised the law instead of served themselves to a valuable natural resource that at the moment has been laid to waste after much protest to stop. Let’s hope and pray Optimist gets the Federal technical assistance we have asked for through this grant so we can set this area right.