CITY HARRASSMENT

[webdotscnsc]

2 yrs ago my wifes mother died, she left her a 5th trailer which had been parked on the wifes property for some 5 yrs. Once everything was over and we started checking it out we found the walls and roof to be leaking.

So we decided to scrape it. And we did and we placed everything into a 1976 school bus. We have bee working on our conversion for a year now and we are to the point of minor items left to be completed. Sewer tank/tiolet, water lines, propane and minor interior work.

Now we are getting harrassing letteres regular mail and certified mail from the city. Saying that people are complaining, checking with neighbors - NO ONE is complaining. But with phone conversations we are in a round about way accused of having a meth lab in our back yard. They come by once a week and take pictures (Over our fence) and send us letters.

we would fight, and file papers againist the city, but a disability and lack of funds prevents us form doing so. ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS?

[Sharkey]

Well, right off the top of my head, I'd say you ought to put together the lab equipment and start a meth lab. Better to be accused of something you are doing than something you aren't

OK, not funny. Actually I got asked a similar question via email just last week. Here is a copy-and-paste of the message I sent back to those folks:

Yes, sorry to say that there are busybodies everywhere who think that they have some right to dictate who lives where and how. I've always been fortunate to not run into any hardassed officials who took it upon themselves to "save me" from my own lifestyle choices.

You have several options, some may be valid, some may not.

One would be to simply ignore them and hope that they go away. Is there a history in your area of successful evictions? They can tell you anything they want, and if you believe it and move away, they don't have to take any action, so they don't have to justify anything.

Another would be to bald-face lie to them and tell them that the bus is a storage shed and that you live elsewhere. Are they likely to set up surveillance to build some kind of lawsuit to prove you wrong?

You could give them the okey-doke. "Yep, yer right officer, sir, your caught us, well fix it", then switch to mode #1 (ignore them) and see if they forget.

As for the cops, I don't know what things in your county are like, but here, they have no budget. There are exactly two Lane County sheriffs for an area that stretches from the coast to the Cascades, 100 miles inland. They don't even show up for property crimes anymore, they mail you a report form to fill out and mail back. They sure as hell don't do any evictions! If it comes down to it, it's more likely that there would be sanctions/fines against the property owner, but even those require a hearing and can be contested.

You might try reasoning with the officials, like if you have to leave where you are now, all safe and secure and with everybody happy, you'll still be living in your bus, but probably not in as safe a manner, and certainly not where they are going to know about it, so you're better off staying where you are so that they can keep an eye on you. Swelling the homeless population is never good for the public safety. Ask what they would require to allow you to stay (sprinkler system if they are phobic about fire, etc)

Raise a stink! Contact the newspaper, the local Public Interest Group (usually associated with any universities in your area), renter's rights organizations, etc. Officials don't like it when you shine a light under their dark rug.

Apply for a hardship grant. Someone is aged, infirm, injured, incapacitated, needs to live close by. Require that they show that there are no possible exemptions (remember, they won't show you anything you don't ask for if it will help you).

Get elected. Run for County Commissioner, get a seat on the Planning Commission, subvert the bastards from the inside! Some anal-retentive desk jockey wrote these bogus rules, it's up to compassionate people to unwrite them again. It shouldn't be a crime to have a warm, safe place to live, whatever that means to you.

Most of all, DON"T PANIC! There's plenty of time for that later.

Not everything I wrote may apply to your situation, but the theme is the same. Unless "they" are going to come with a paddy wagon and a tow truck and cart you and all your possessions away, screw 'em!

Your message doesn't indicate whether or not you are living in the bus. If not, then I'd confront the "officials" and ask them to supply a written copy of the ordinance that you are supposedly violating, complete with city/county/state code references so you can look it up for your own self.

Are there any CC&R's on the property, homeowner's association rules, local ordinances that prohibit the parking/storage of RV's on private property? Again, make them prove that you are violating something concrete.

Maybe just inviting them into the yard next time they are snooping around and offering them a tour of the bus would be enough to convince them that your meth lab is elsewhere?

[AccordGuy]

I'd write back to them and demand to know the accusation and the accuser in detail and then invite them down to have a look-see. You could send them pictures of the inside of the bus.

Of course this assumes that as Sharkey mentioned, there isn't an ordinance or covenant preventing you parking it there.

My house has some weird covenants from the 1940s that stipulate that I must have a fence along the perimeter of my land (presumably to keep the sheep in?) but many ignore it and have no fence at the front because they've converted their front garden into a drive for their car. It also says that I'm not allowed to park any trade vehicle on my land or any "mobile dwelling". But lots of people have their builder/plumber/electrician/whatever company vans or a towing caravan parked on their drive and nobody has been evicted yet.

Mind you, there was that house across town where they were all evicted for running a "house of ill repute" . Apparently, they were very good quiet neighbours but someone reported them because of all their customer's cars... Parking is such a hot topic in our little town