Is The City Harassing Senior Citizens?Yard work was halted at the home of one of our senior citizens on 10/3/2008 without prior written warning, the City issued an "ORDER TO CEASE AND DESIST FROM CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES" drafted by City Attorney, Kurt Glaser. According to Mr. Glaser one must obtain a building permit when bringing more than 10 yards of fill to a property in Centerville but he did not cite the ordinance or include a copy. The order further indicates that the senior resident has significantly altered the "approved drainage plan" and is somehow in violation of the Rice Creek Watershed District.
Unfortunately, the resident (living on a fixed income) has been forced to retain an attorney because OUR city is also issuing a criminal complaint before the Anoka County District Court.
The order was copied to:
Administrator, City of Centerville
Centennial Lakes police Department
Rice Creek Watershed District
Houston Engineering
The senior citizen obtained the appropriate permits from the Rice Creek Watershed issued 10/22/2008 when no violation was found by their inspectors. Link Here
The resident is still waiting for our City to lift the cease and desist order and hopeful that Centerville will do so before the frost sets in. Until the order is lifted, the dirt can not be moved from the driveway!
Could all this have been avoided if the City had contacted the RCWD in the first place?
26 comments:
Was this done without a warning letter? It seems a bit extreme, especially when dealing with senior citizens. They should be given every opportunity to fix the problem before being taken to court for Gods sake!
What is wrong with this city?! Now the poor people aren't even in violation but the dirt is still sitting there!
Disgusting!
Sound like the city is bullying the elderly. Why? I think it is disgusting.
If the only violation is the 10 yards of fill as it appears let these people pay the fine and move on with it.
What is the ordinance for dirt anyway?
If the city didn't follow procedure, they're screwed!
yep!
What about accountability and responsibility? I've read a lot on this site and feel that in some instances the city needs to be held accountable (absolutely), but I also feel that in some instances some citizens also needed to be held accountable for their actions. It was my understanding that whenever ANYBODY does any type of work on their home that it was also their responsibility to understand the ordinances that may be applicable to their situation. If the resident did get the appropriate permits, then the city should lift the order. However, isn't it the citizens responsibility to understand the ordinaces that created all this in the first place? Regardless if they are a senior citizen?
If City Hall doesn't know what ordinances are, how are the citizens. Landscaping,if that is what it was, shouldn't need a permit. There is nothing in the code saying you need a permit for a load of dirt, nor two loads, etc. etc.
Guess what? There is no violation for 10 yds of dirt. Did the city falsify the charges?
You are assuming the resident didn't check the ordinances - because I know they did! Again, the point is that the City tells a resident they are in violation of an ordinance, threatens with criminal charges, yet FAILS to specifically identify what it is the resident is in violation of! What part of this is right or fair? This doesn't only sound like bullying, it is bullying!!
isn't this the same resident who went around town and compiled and list of anyone in the city who had ordinance violations...YES IT IS!!!
Low and behold she has many of her own and now the city is making her responsible...and you feel sorry for her.
She doesn't have to hire a lawyer, just fix the ordinance the city is asking.
she did not violate an ordinance! this is what the city continues to do to those who have any backbone. The RETALIATE!!!!! WAKE UP! All you have to do is read capra's & parr's comments in the citizen. They are doing to the people now what the "other one" et al did to the citizens after the road petition and the other down "the ole rd" prior to that with their petition! If you have not been targeted by the "city" consider yourself lucky. however... to you snoops that blab to everyone and to all you staff and council members... WE ARE NOT GOING AWAY AFTER NOV 4! And to Mr Glaser, Happy Reading!
HELLO PUDDING HEAD, that was my point! What ordinance!! The City FAILED to CITE a specific ordinance!! How can anyone be expected to "fix" something, when the city can't even tell the resident what is that needs to be "fixed"??? This was PURE HARRASSMENT and the City has decided to use the "SCARE" tactic and "bet" that the resident wouldn't seek legal council! It wouldn't be difficult to find better legal council than what this city has!!
"isn't this the same resident who went around town and compiled and list of anyone in the city who had ordinance violations?"
Well... DUH! Who wouldn't point out the unfairness of the City's ordinance enforcement when they were being attacked because their neighbors complained?
Do you understand what the Declaration of Independence is?
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..."
This statement implies that all men should be TREATED equal!
What a novel thought...
If you have so much inside information - why don't you publish the letter the City sent to the resident so we can see for ourselves. It is public information. But it most likely will not further your cause so you won't. This blog site loves hearsay and innuendo.
We do have copies of all the letters and will gladly post them with the consent of the residents legal council.
Hearsay and innuendo, this is not.
Stay tuned...
You do not need the consent of the legal council. Just remove the resident's name. If I had time I would go to City Hall and request a copy. So what's the delay?
Get a life! It sounds like you have
a personal vendetta against the resident. You are probably the one that complained in the first place.
Oh by the way it's legal counsel, not council. To bad spell check won't catch that.
sounds like retaliation to me.
If this is public information, then go get it yourself! Further cause? I can't believe you, who are you "in bed with"?
Selective Enforcement/Abuse of Power?
Is it illegal to have 14 yards of dirt delivered to your residence? Of course
this isn't illegal, but it is the basis for the City of Centerville's actions
against some of our very own senior citizens! The City writes a "nasty
attorney letter" to senior citizens telling them they've done something wrong,
yet fail to mention what exactly that is? And then threaten to take them to
criminal court, but yet the citizens haven't been informed by the City as to
what they did wrong and the City won't even tell the senior citizen's attorney
what the criminal charges are and refuse to lift the decease and desist order?
Is the City simply trying to drain these senior citizens of their retirement
fund on legal fees? Is this a trend, have others been through this very thing?
If so, we want to hear from you. This sure seems to be abuse of power by the
City of Centerville?
this kind of crap that makes me want to sell my house and get the hell out of Centerville. Oh wait............I can't, the housing market crashed and we are in a recession. I am now a prisoner in Centerville. HELP.............
All you power hungry people that are supposed to be representing the residents, press criminal charges against an old lady for WHAT...............delivering dirt? Are you kidding me? How do you people sleep at night? You should all be ashamed of yourselves. You ever hear the term KARMA? Stay tuned....it's coming your way............sooner than later I hope
The selective enforcement is encouraged by the way the city handles complaints. When a neighbor wants to retaliated against someone they don't like, they file a complaint. The city jumps on it and this encourages the neighbor to complain again and again. On Friday this happened again to the senior citizen. The neighbor kept yelling at her neighbor about removing the stakes the city put out along the road. The neighbor kept yelling at the senior citizen and then ending with, "I'm calling the city. She did. Guess what? The city is the one that removed the stake. This adds up to a false complaint because the neighbor has had the support of the city for their previous complaints.
I guess some people get their kicks out of making life miserable for others.
Reminds me of the old saying...
Misery LOVES company!
Too bad the City feeds it.
Isn't that under false accusation? What kind of charge does this person get by going after seniors? I'll bet if this happened to their mother, they would be the first to complain big time.
How much money has the City wasted on attorney fees for crap like this? I hope that the state audit will let us know.
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