JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Tenants at the Lake Park Colonial Apartments on Edgewood Avenue in Jacksonville\u2019s Lake Forest Hills neighborhood are speaking out about a persistent mice infestation in their building.<\/p>\n
Residents\u2014including the mother of a two-week-old newborn infant\u2014say the pest problem has gone unresolved for several months despite repeated notifications sent to management.<\/p>\n
Residents pointed out physical structural defects around the exterior of the building, including visible gaps in the brickwork and an exposed PVC pipe, which they believe mice are using as entry points into individual apartment units.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Leah Alonso, who has lived alone at Lake Park Colonial Apartments for almost three years, noted that the pest problem initially seemed confined to one side of the building. However, tenants say the mice have since multiplied and built a widespread presence across the property.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I\u2019m in the kitchen, you can hear them in the walls,\u201d Alonso said.<\/p>\n Alonso said she discovered mice in her living space, including one rodent that was trapped directly under her kitchen stove. After paying $150 out of her own pocket for private pest control services, technicians discovered two open holes in the wall directly behind the appliance.<\/p>\n The infestation also forced Alonso to discard food supplies after discovering rodent droppings scattered throughout her kitchen pantry.<\/p>\n \u201cAnything that was boxed, I don\u2019t care if it was sealed or not, it was going in the trash,\u201d Alonso said. \u201cWe can\u2019t afford extra food, we can barely pay our rent.\u201d<\/p>\n Alonso described hearing rodents inside her apartment while speaking on the phone.<\/p>\n \u201cI hear \u2018eeee,\u2019 I\u2019m like, what? You know. It\u2019s \u2018eeeee,\u2019\u201d Alonso said. \u201cHe\u2019s starting screeching, and I\u2019m on the phone, and I am like, \u2018there\u2019s a mouse. There is a mouse in the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n Alonso\u2019s neighbor, Rieau Newsome, said she has been dealing with the mice infestation since before giving birth to her child two weeks ago. Newsome recalled catching multiple mice in her apartment over Mother\u2019s Day weekend in May.<\/p>\n \u201cMother\u2019s Day weekend, we caught five,\u201d Newsome said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to bring my child back into the apartment, and this is what\u2019s going on. This is dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsome documented multiple attempts to contact property management regarding the ongoing issue. She showed text message records sent to management dated May 10, May 14, June 3, Aug. 5, and during the previous week.<\/p>\n Action News Jax went to the property\u2019s leasing office seeking answers regarding the tenant complaints and repair requests. An employee working at the leasing office declined to discuss the situation on camera.<\/p>\n \u201cYou might want to call the corporate office,\u201d the leasing office employee said.<\/p>\n Action News Jax reached out directly to Navarino, who oversees the Lake Park Colonial Apartments property, but has not yet received a response.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Tenants at the Lake Park Colonial Apartments on Edgewood Avenue in Jacksonville\u2019s Lake Forest Hills…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[176581,9286,55102,88568,35072,142889,116,118,117,1609,176586,176578,176579,634,176583,176585,176584,176580,176582],"class_list":["post-455572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-alonzo","tag-ben","tag-casey","tag-casey_stone","tag-edgewood_avenue","tag-jackson_casey_stone","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-lake","tag-lake_forest_hills","tag-lake_park_colonial_apartments","tag-leah_alonzo","tag-local","tag-mothers_day","tag-navarino","tag-newsom","tag-park_colonial_apartments","tag-rio_newsome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}