Happy Trailers To You

Some folks who live in an ocean-front trailer park in south Florida are selling out to developers. The sale will make most of them millionaires.

--Residents of this trailer-park town sitting on beachfront property have voted overwhelmingly to sell their community to a developer for more than $510 million, which could make most of them millionaires.

Some residents bought their homes for as little as $35,000.

About 80 percent of the town's shareholders who cast ballots approved the sale, while 17 percent opposed it, according to a statement Wednesday from the town's corporate office. More than 97 percent of shareholders voted.--

So hey, that's cool. They made a good investment, and now it's going to pay off. And four out of five owners are in favor of the sale, meaning that anyone unhappy with it is in the distinct minority.

Everything sounds peachy, so how come I'm even writing about this?

Mostly because I'm wondering how the fuck a trailer park ended up occupying prime Florida coastal real estate in the first place. That just seems weird to me. I didn't even think they allowed trailer parks in places like that.

Let's face it. When you think trailer park, what comes to mind? Arkansas, Oklahoma, and other similarly backwards states, right? Palm Beach, Florida isn't even on the trailer park radar.

Don't think I'm saying trailer parks shouldn't exist, because I'm not. They fill a niche for affordable housing for people that, well, can't afford any other kind of housing. And that's great, at least until a tornado or something comes through. Or until it catches on fire, because those things burn like a motherfucker.

Disasters aside, though, the world needs trailers. I'm just still not sure how a bunch of them ended up along the scenic coast of southern Florida.

Oh, well. Let's hope their deal closes before a hurricane comes through or something.