Weirdness of the Day
Mar. 23rd, 2007 10:02 pmOk, better make that month. I never cease to be amazed by the sheer heavy-handedness of this town and the mayor. Here's what happened. My parents used to have a place that they used as a rental and has been empty for some time, mostly due to the issues the city has w/any housing that is not "official". Now the place had been used hard but it also wasn't that bad off. It was being compromised by the fact that people kept kicking the doors in and breaking windows to get inside, regardless of how many times it was secured.
So. Wednesday, the local cop (Tom __) stopped by and asked me if they could clean up the outside of the unit. I said sure, no problem. Nothing was said about the inside nor did I sign anything. It was (I thought) a verbal agreement for them to clean the yard of whatever debris people had dumped there.
Tonight, Shockey (one of the few guys I consider a friend) stopped to tell me (about 7:30pm) that he was told by Sam Smith Sr. that the city was tearing the place down. He could see I was upset and he went out to make sure that Sam was right, even though we both knew that Sam was probably 99% right. Sure enough, the city was well on their way to full destruction (I can only imagine what was planned for tomorrow, final demolition by bulldozer I'm sure). So Shockey gave me a ride out there and I managed to get them stopped. The walls are still standing and the roof is ok but the interior is pretty well gutted. Anyway, the mayor admitted that he didn't have anything signed and also that since it was merely verbal permission, and through a third party, that he should have double-checked before starting anything. No Kidding!!!
Somehow I managed to keep cool, all things considered and I told the mayor that I would be calling my attourney Monday morning. Tomorrow I will take pictures and get them developed in Hastings in order to be ready by Monday. I will probably edit more later on.
So. Wednesday, the local cop (Tom __) stopped by and asked me if they could clean up the outside of the unit. I said sure, no problem. Nothing was said about the inside nor did I sign anything. It was (I thought) a verbal agreement for them to clean the yard of whatever debris people had dumped there.
Tonight, Shockey (one of the few guys I consider a friend) stopped to tell me (about 7:30pm) that he was told by Sam Smith Sr. that the city was tearing the place down. He could see I was upset and he went out to make sure that Sam was right, even though we both knew that Sam was probably 99% right. Sure enough, the city was well on their way to full destruction (I can only imagine what was planned for tomorrow, final demolition by bulldozer I'm sure). So Shockey gave me a ride out there and I managed to get them stopped. The walls are still standing and the roof is ok but the interior is pretty well gutted. Anyway, the mayor admitted that he didn't have anything signed and also that since it was merely verbal permission, and through a third party, that he should have double-checked before starting anything. No Kidding!!!
Somehow I managed to keep cool, all things considered and I told the mayor that I would be calling my attourney Monday morning. Tomorrow I will take pictures and get them developed in Hastings in order to be ready by Monday. I will probably edit more later on.