"If there was ever a time when government was needed to do something for the betterment of the public, this is it," he said.
Many residents of the park have complained of rising rents, charges for water and lack of response from the Utah-based owners, Kingsley Management.
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For Wednesday's meeting, it was standing room only.
Terry Burnes, the planning administrator, presented an affordable-housing report. But what's affordable to the county and the state may not really be affordable for some families, said Gabriel Aguilar, vice president of the Homeowners Association - even though the report found that it was considered affordable for low-income families.
Aguilar, who addressed the crowd in both English and Spanish, said that low-income families have been driven out by rising rents.
Many residents are afraid to speak out for fear of managers retaliating against them, he added.
"We would like to live without fear and insecurity," he said. "We would like to own our own community."
"The report by its own admission is not talking about this park," said Jeff Messer. "The affordability of this park is being threatened."
"Every time they raise my rent I feel like I'm going backwards instead of forward," said Jennifer Celestre, who added that at 53, she was thinking about her retirement and how she would afford to live there.
L.C. Schilling said she spends 66 percent of her income on housing, and to cut costs has no health insurance, doesn't go out, take vacations or buy new clothes. There needs to be affordable housing for her and others like her, Schilling said.
"When the community of the Coastside goes over the hill to work, we provide the manpower for the Coastside," she said.
April Vargas of the Midcoast Community Council said there's a pressing need for affordable housing on the coast, as is mandated by the Local Coastal Plan.
"There are three affordable housing sites in the Local Coastal Plan," Vargas said. "The other two are undeveloped tracts of land."
Rent control is a useful tool in keeping mobile homes affordable, David Schnur of the Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition told the commissioners.
"The residents have pointed out the difference between affordable housing in theory and affordable housing for people who live here," said Schnur, pointing out that in San Mateo County, low income can be considered $80,000 a year for a family of four.
The attorney for management, Edward McDonald, said he had no comment. In a fax sent after the hearing, McDonald wrote, "As indicated in the report, the total housing and package for those residing in the El Granada Manufactured Home Community is at a level that is affordable for very low-income families in San Mateo County."
But after the testimony, the commissioners agreed they should look into options to bring relief to residents of the park.
"We need to stop the bleeding," said Commissioner Carl Goff, adding his support to Silver's for an emergency ordinance to freeze rents or even roll them back. He told residents a solution would take time.
"It's not going to be fast," he warned. "Everything is going to have legal tie to it. And unless you do it right you'll have lawsuits."
Commissioner Ralph Nobles also agreed that the staff should look into an emergency ordinance.
"I am very impressed by what I heard," he said. "I will do everything I can to help solve this problem."
Goff also addressed residents' complaints that the pool is only open 3 months out of the year and the clubhouse only five hours a day on weekdays.
"I think if I paid $700 or $800 here, I'd want use of the pool and the clubhouse," he said.
The turnout at the meeting and the recommendations of the commissioners show that momentum is building to resolve the issue, said Lisa Ketchum, secretary of the Homeowners Association.
"The light at the end of the tunnel may not be an oncoming train," agreed resident Henri De Roule.
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