APOPKA, Fla. – In the days since an alleged drunk driver was arrested for killing a six-year-old boy who was riding his bike in an Apopka mobile home park, the residents of that community have grown increasingly vocal about safety concerns on their roads.
Lakeshore Management, which operates Rock Springs Mobile Home Park, hosted a meeting Thursday for residents who are pushing for additional safety measures.
News 6 was planning on attending the meeting, but a Lakeshore Management representative asked that the media not attend nor remain on their private property.
“Pretty disappointing,” resident Adrian Andrade told News 6 of the meeting. “The same stuff kept getting repeated twice.”
In the wake of Emiliano Garcia’s death last weekend, residents had planned to march to the management office on their property to confront staff about a perceived lack of signage and effective speed bumps.
News 6 and other media outlets reported on those plans, which never materialized once management caught wind of them and invited residents to attend a meeting on Thursday.
“My main concern is the driving,” said Juancarlos Rodriguez, a Rock Springs resident who opted not to attend the meeting.
Rodriguez said his relationship with management has soured since he had a frightening encounter last year with a driver who he suspected of being drunk. His three-year-old daughter, who has autism, was near the road at the time.
“I reached out to them a while ago explaining to them that there’s an issue here when it comes to drunken drivers,” Rodriguez said.
He told News 6 that he was not satisfied with the response to his requests for special signage outside his home.
News 6’s Mike Valente asked Rodriguez: “What does management say?”
“If they had to provide signs for me that they would have to provide signs for everybody else,” Rodriguez said of the response. “Then they sent an email stating that if I put up the money for the signs that I can install them. And I was like, ‘I don’t have the money for that.’”
While media outlets were not permitted inside the meeting, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that deputies did attend.
“Deputies from our Community Oriented Policing Squad and Special Projects attended the meeting this afternoon in support of that community,” a spokesperson told News 6.
News 6 attempted to reach a Lakeshore Management representative Monday at its office in Rock Springs, but we were told no one there could comment. A separate representative who asked News 6 to leave the property Thursday did not respond to a subsequent request for comment.
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