HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992 09 28 Regular
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We bought our house 7 1/2 years ago. The reason we bought a
house instead of renting was so the house and property would
belong to us and we would not have a landlord to answer to about
everything we did to the property. However, it seems as though
the city of Winter Springs is the landlord because they tell us
what we can and cannot do. If we had been told of the most
ridiculas codes before we bought this house I can assure you we
would have bought elsewhere. If the city is so concerned with
the property of every house in Winter Springs then they should
give out copies of the codes with every house bought ard be
listed with the realty offices as a restricted city.
We have been harrassed repeatly for several years. I have not
kept all the citations over the years. I called the police dept.
today to try and get copies to bring tonight, however it takes a
week to get them.
I will tell you about many of the citations and if you like I can
get copies by next week.
I have written everything down that I wish to say so I don't
forqet anything. That is the reason I am reading this to you.
The harrassment started 6 years ago when my son and 3 of his
friends were in our front yard after school at approximately 4
pm. The boys were playing mLsic and roughhousing. My son was
given a citation for making too much noise at 4 in the a~ternoon.
In April ()j'" I"lay of 1'388 \.,!e recei'/ed another citation. Th:i..:s time
it was for a disabled motor vehicle. It was my father's car. My
husband was working on it in his spare time. Neither one of us
had a lot of spare time because my father wad dying of cancer and
had only 3 months left to live. This upset my father very much
because it was his car and he felt that he was putting his burden
on us. I was furious at this city to say the least. My father's
last days were moire important to me than any silly code
violations could ever be. I discussed this with the mayor and
heard nothing else about it. The point is the Code Inspector
should never have approached by father and upset him.
The next citation was for disabled motor vehicle again. This
auto was on our property for less than 12 hours when it was
cited. My husband was going to pull the engine and put it in my
father'~5 car.
The next citation was for having 2 boats.
driveway and a 12 ft aluminum Jon boat in
fenCE:?
We had one in the
the back yard by the
The next tIme It was foy a disabled motor vehicle again. The
citation was put under the windshield wiper of the car. It was
written on the citation that the car had been sitting in the same
place (the driveway) for a long time. We had 3 auto's and did
not realize we had to drive all of them all the time.
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The next time, someone from the code dept came into our yard to
measure our 17 1/2 foot boat to see if it was too large.
However, I have seen 30 foot boats parked in yards in Winter
Srings. Why aren't they measured?
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About a year ago on a Friday we had our camper plugged in to keep
the refrigerator cold prior to leaving for a camping trip that
~"-: i tJht . t.JrH?n my husband got in f"( om wor k ,::..: ound 5 pm and st c(( t ed
to hook the camper up a neighbor came over to tell him about what
had transpired in our absence that day. It seems a city code
inspector came out and walked around our camper and then
unplugged it and left a citation in the door. There was no way
he could have known the camper was plugged in from the road.
This person had no right to enter our property and unplug our
camper. We had to throw out the food that was in the
refrigerator,. If Florida Power doesn't mind why does Winter
Spl" i ng!:".;;"-;:'
Now we come to the latest episode of harressment. I feel Mr.
White used his position to make this a personal thing because of
a phone call we had. But let me start my story from the
beginning.
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Mr. White came to my home on Wednesday Sept. 23rd. My son
answered the door. Mr. White did not ask for my husband or
myself. He told my son that the boat in our driveway was not
behind the lines. And something to the effect of we had been
doing a good job keeping everything behind the lines and he had
driven by and seen the boat. He did not issue a citation because
my son said the boat was his uncles and would be leaving in a few
weeks. My son told him that his father's truck was broken down
and we would be fixing it soon and Mr. White said he didn't hear
that.
When my son told me about this I was furious to say the least. #1
I can't begin to count the number of boats in driveways and #2 I
was tired of constantly being singled out to be harrassed by this
city.
My son thought the man he talked to was a detective so I called
the police dept. to find out what was going on. They said that
Mr. White would call. When he called he came across as being
arrogant and patronizing which only made me get madder. In
my anger I probably said some ~hings that ! should not have said
but with all the prior harassments this was like the preverbial
straw that broke the camels back. I was so upset that I don't
remember exactly what was said but the basics we discussed were
that I was tired of being harrassed, I was tired of the city
telling me how to live my life, I wanted him to stay out of my
business because I feel that I don't have to explain to him or
the city of Winter Springs why we have a boat in the driveway.
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He told me that he had not given a citation to my son and I could
go to city hall and get a copy of the codes.
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I told him something to the extent of don't do me any favors.
You do what you have to do and I'll do what I have to do.
He then told me something about the camper shell that sits on the
side of our house and has been there for the past 7 1/2 years and
then I proceded to give him a list of other things wrong with my
yard. He told me that an auto can only be broken down for 2 days
in the city of Winter Springs. This has got to be the most
ridiculas code I have ever hea~d of. Most people work for living
and cannot afford to take time off to fix an automobile before
the two days are up.
I must add at this point some information about the disabled
truck. The truck was parked in our driveway and has legal
Florida license plates and insurance and in no way did it look
like a disabled vehicle.
After having my say and telling him what I thought of the codes
and restrictions on Winter Springs I hung up. In no way did I
make this personal between him and me. My beef was Winter
Springs.
On Friday September 25th at 2:51 pm Mr. White showed me ~ow
this had become a personal vendetta. Remember on Wednesday he
was not going to issue cit2tio~s but after my conversation with
him he decided to. That proves he is using his office for
personal revenge.
I answered the door on this day and Mr. White did not introduce
himself or show me any 10. I felt that he was trying to
intimidate me because he brought a poklice officer with him when
on all the previous times including 2 days prior he was alone.
He said here's the citations you asked for (I might add he was
smiling all through this). Then he hands me a clipboard and pen
and says sign here. I said I will not sign anything I haven't
read. He said (while I was reading) there was no reason for me
not to sign. I refused to siqn and he continued to press me to
sign and still I refused.
I saId when can I go to court about thIS. He said around Nov.
15th. (aft2r talking with the mayor we found out there was no
court. Therefore Mr. White lied to me.)
I was making a big todo about the truck being legal. I asked the
police officer to run the plates. He tolkd me he would do it
later. Then the police officer started in that the truck had no
fyont bumper and continuously referred to this.
When I asked a question concerning what the state of Floyida laws
said concerning the truck I could not get an answer from either
of them.
Mr. White said I see you have gotten rid of some of the auto
parts you had here which tells me he watches my house.
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After giving me my copies of the citations he asked me what I was
going to do with them. I told him it was none of his business.
He asked me this several times Qnd each time I gave him the same
answer.
My husband and I had ridden around the neighborhood Wednesday
night and I had a list of addresses wi~h much the same violations
which I gave him. He said you expect me do do something with
these 50 why don't you tell me what you are going to do with
yours. I told him it was his Job to act on the complaints on my
list but I did not have to tell him what I intended to do with
the citations he gave me. I did tell him in parting that he had
not heard the last of this matter.
That night when I told my husband about all that had happened he
was also furious. He called the police dept. and told tem he did
not want Mr. White on our property again. He then called the
mayor which is the reason why we are here tonight. The mayor
asked us to try and settle this within the city before we go to
other legalities.
Mr. White returned to our house this afternoon alone and I
observed his attitude had taken a drastic change which leads me
t() b~?liev€~ someonf:~ t()ld him ',.Jhi::\t was ~~oil'lg on. EVE211 w:i.th hi':;;
attitude change I still feel this man is not right for the job
and that he as a representative for the city should be replaced.
I further believe that the codes should be amended or thrown out
due to the fact that they are not fair to everyone and not
enforced on everyone.
.:t