Residents from three Petaluma parks flooded Monday’s city council meeting to defend Jody Johnson, who has led their fight against major rent increases for three years
On Friday afternoon, residents of Youngstown Mobile Home Park found an unusual document on their doorsteps.
Hand-delivered — reportedly by the park’s own manager — the packet appeared to be a private investigation report. It featured case types labeled “state felonies, felonies, criminals.” It named Jody Johnson, the tenant advocate who has organized rent-stabilization efforts across three Petaluma mobile home parks for the past three years.
By Monday night, nearly a dozen residents from Youngstown, Capri Villa, and Little Woods had made their way to Petaluma City Hall to tell the council what they thought of it.
“I was shocked,” said Tina Yonkers, reading from the packet during public comment at the April 20 City Council meeting. “And then suddenly I came to my senses and I took a better look at this.”
What she found, she said, undermined the document’s premise: its core findings appeared to describe a woman named “Franco Jody” living in Ohio — not Johnson. “Most of these findings are regarding Jody Franco,” Yonkers told the council.
Residents say the packet was connected to Harmony Communities, the investment group that owns Youngstown and other Petaluma mobile home parks alongside Three Pillars. Harmony and Three Pillars did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
Three years of organizing, now under attack
The backdrop to Monday’s meeting is a years-long fight over space rents — the monthly fees mobile home residents pay to lease the land beneath their homes. Since Harmony Communities acquired Youngstown and neighboring parks, residents say the company has pushed for rent increases exceeding $1,000 per space per month, increases that, on fixed incomes, would effectively force many out of their homes.
Johnson, a Youngstown resident herself, stepped into the role of organizer and advocate without pay. Residents credit her with helping block those increases, navigating regulatory processes, and connecting residents with pro bono legal resources.
“She figured out how to do it,” said John Robbins, a Youngstown resident. “She’s like a guardian angel.”
Kay Paulin, who said she has shared a residence with Johnson for seven years, described her as someone who works “days, nights, weekends, even holidays.”
“She does whatever it takes to defend our homes,” Paulin told the council. “It truly appears that no good deed goes unpunished.”
Who is ‘Patriot Chris’?
Residents say the defamation packet is part of a broader pattern involving an individual or individuals operating under the name “Patriot Chris,” who they allege has been working to sow distrust within their communities.
“The day that Patriot Chris came out from underneath the rock,” said Jennifer Boyle, a Youngstown resident, her voice rising, “her intent was to burn this park down. Not literally, but get everybody separated and angry with each other from the inside out.”
Bert Boda, reading from prepared remarks, offered a more clinical analysis. “Patriot Chris is not raising genuine concerns,” he told the council. “He’s running a disinformation campaign with one goal — to destroy the residents’ trust in Jody Johnson, the one person who has organized and led our defense for three years.”
Boda walked through what he described as manipulation tactics embedded in the packet: questions designed to imply financial misconduct without providing evidence; allegations presented as settled fact; and a structure that, he argued, made any denial appear as confirmation of guilt.
“Any denial becomes evidence of wrongdoing,” he said. “There’s no acceptable response. That is the point.”
Angie Cruz, holding up what appeared to be a photograph, told the council it showed the individual who came to Little Woods. “Everyone in Petaluma should be for accountability,” she said. “But unfortunately, the park owners, Harmony, Three Pillars, and their allies demonstrate hypocrisy through the defamation packets.”
What residents are asking the city to do
Linda Ranney read a list of specific requests to the council: publicly acknowledge that “coordinated harassment of mobile home park residents is unacceptable,” help connect residents with additional pro bono legal resources, and investigate whether park ownership has legal exposure for what residents are characterizing as a hired harassment campaign.
“We’re seniors,” Ranney said. “We’re on fixed incomes. We have nowhere else to go. We’re not asking for charity. We’re asking for the city of Petaluma to continue to stand with us as we fight to stay in our homes.”
Jorge Arango-Garcia, a 23-year resident of Capri Villa, offered context on that park’s situation. “All the decisions regarding Capri Villa are made by the residents and for the residents,” he said. “We vote on issues.”
He described the new owners’ track record as one of “evictions, illegal rent space increases, reduced utilities and parking at Capri Villa, and harassment.”
Council members respond
Several council members were direct in their support of residents — and their criticism of the park owners’ tactics.
Council Member Teresa Cater-Thompson, who traveled to Sacramento earlier this month to testify at a state Housing and Community Development hearing on mobile home park fees, said the packet was a political tactic designed to divide residents.
“I also have letters that I could send to Harmony on people that are owners of Harmony — legal issues — but we’re not doing that,” she said. “They’re doing it, and so… to go after senior citizens in this way — as a politician I expect it, because I know that happens. I do not expect people to attack senior citizens in this community in this way. It is just disgusting and I stand with all of you.”
Cater-Thompson noted that the city has strengthened its mobile home park ordinance more than once, including protections specific to senior parks. “The overlay for senior parks was really important,” she said.
Mayor Kevin McDonald acknowledged the broader picture. “We strengthened the mobile home park ordinance, and strengthened it more than one time,” he said, praising the work of city attorneys and pro bono lawyers who have contributed to residents’ legal victories. He did not directly address the defamation packet but thanked residents for attending.
A pattern residents say extends across the county
The events in Petaluma are not isolated. As reported in February, Sonoma County mobile home residents have testified at the Board of Supervisors about similar pressure campaigns at parks owned by Harmony and affiliated investment groups in Windsor, Cotati, and Santa Rosa. Residents at those hearings described rent increase threats, closure notices, and conditions they called psychological intimidation.
At the county level, supervisors acknowledged the problem but stopped short of committing to immediate action, with staff noting that mobile home policy updates may not reach the agenda until 2027.
At Monday’s meeting, Angie Cruz drew a direct line between that broader pattern and what residents are experiencing now.
“These investment groups and their allies are and will try anything, legal or not, to get what they want,” she said. “But they have not been successful, so they will try to find any loop or angle to bury us to silence and compliance.”
“We know who supports us and who fights for us,” she added. “These companies can’t tell us otherwise.”
Harmony Communities and Three Pillars had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication. The Petaluma City Council took no formal vote on the mobile home park issues raised during public comment Monday.
—