TUCSON, Ariz. -- People who live in the Mesa Ridge community say they have been dealing with an ongoing problem.
"Our power is constantly going out and if it's not our power it's our water that's going out," resident Jasmine Grijalva said. "We never know what is going on in this complex."
Grijalva has lived at Mesa Ridge for three years and said the power and water fluctuations have been a problem almost the whole time.
She said there are times when her family has to leave the home because there's no running water.
"I have three kids and one of them is on bottles so he constantly needs water," Grijalva said. "I'll go to my moms, my mother-in-laws, or somewhere where I know I'm good and the kids are AC'd and with water."
Grijalva and her family even refrain from buying a full week's worth of groceries because they don't want the food to spoil if the power goes out.
"At this point I'm looking to try to get out of here," Grijalva said.
Vietnam veteran Robert Barajas has lived at Mesa Ridge for more than a decade.
He said the community didn't always have this type of problem.
"When I first moved in here it was like a garden of Eden. I was so happy. Now, I'm living in hell," Barajas said.
He said the owners of the property have started the process of fixing the problems with electricity and water.
"They kept on putting a band-aid, putting a band-aid until it finally caught up with them," Barajas said. "Now they're doing something about it."
Both Grijalva and Barajas said their main concern about the outages is the children who live in the community.
"It's ruined everybody's life," Barajas said.
"There's so many people in this community. So many kids," Grijalva said. "Water and electric is the main thing we need for these kids."
Property owner RHP Properties said they are in the process of fixing the electricity at Mesa Ridge.
The safety and comfort of our residents is our top priority and we take that responsibility seriously.
We are in the midst of a $12 million community-wide electrical system upgrade and once complete, which is estimated to be in October, this system upgrade will result in reliable electric service for years to come. At that time, all residents will be placed onto the Tucson Electric Power (TEP) grid.
We are aware of the intermittent power outages and have been working diligently with our electrical engineers to remedy the situation if and when they happen as part of the large construction project. We will continue to respond promptly to any reported power outages and keep our residents updated on our progress. We thank our residents for their patience and understanding.
