What's Wrong With North Miami Code Enforcement? Everything!
The Next Installment:
I've been awake since shortly after 3 AM seething with anger about that fence and the special treatment my neighbor gets.
When we were under one-day-a-week strict mandatory water restrictions during the recent drought he was watering every day. I kept complaining. Nothing was done or "we issued him a warning" at worst. It was only after I screamed that fines were the law and that they escalate with the number of offenses, and nobody seemed to know how many of these friendly warnings had been issued because nobody bothered to log them, nobody kept a record, nobody seemed to care how many warnings he got. He just kept watering. In fact he flooded the street so the puddle would sometimes have thirty feet of my swale under water and I'd get my feet wet getting to and from my truck.
He's an arogant person who thinks he can get away with anything, and thanks to North Miami's "selective code enforcemet" and their bumbling inept employees the city employs he seems to do just that. Of course there are plenty of people who figure that corruption is involved, money changing hands, and why not when the Miami Herald is constantly doing stories about corruption and pay offs in other cities and town all over Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. But I'll give them the benifit of the doubt. I'd like to think that our emplyees are honest. Of course those are Big Buck major scanals, not "minor" problems like 1375 N.E. 133 Street where the owner frequently parks his vehicles straight across the sidewalk rather than parking them on his pristine swale or pulling them all the way into his driveway.
Isn't that a violation of the federal Americans With Disabiities Act? Isn't that a violation of North Miami's own ordinances? Why isn't he cited?
From N.E. 14th Ave. to N.E. 11th Ave. yesterday I counted at least seventeen houses on 133rd St. with overgrown lawns and swales. I guess today I'll check another street.
Let some people get away with an illegal fence and they think they own the world, have the right to dump their trash in their neighbors' yards, park wherever and however they please, and let their contactors beat the crap out of anybody they want for excecising their constitutional right to stand on public property, the middle of the street, and photograph a code violation in progress. Since that day I was left lying in the swale bruised and battered and half concious I've suffered dizzy spells and there are times I'm unsteady on my feet. I can no longer fill in and cover a wedding for a sick photographer. It's affected my income. I can no longer do much if any of my own yard work. It's affected my expenses.
I'd like to thank North Miami's finest, the North Miami Police Department for a fairly prompt response to my cell phone call made while I was being punched and kicked. The guy had stopped by the time the cops actually arrived though, and "we can't make an arrest unless we actually see it happening", like I pummeled my own face? I gave myself the black eye? Maybe I put those fresh bleeding cuts in my face?
So instead the cops asked the guy for the standard "License, registration, and insurance card please". He had NONE OF THEM with him. NO I.D. but they they let him go, not even a ticket. They did that while I was barely able to stand up. THEY LET HIM GO, NO TICKET! Remember that? No wonder my neighbor thinks he's made of Teflon. And the ILLEGAL FENCE is still there nearly OVER THREE YEARS LATER. The city attorney tells me that as a member of the Board of Adjustment it is incumbant upon me to report code violations. I asked. Part of my job. Part of my responsibilties.
I'm supposed to risk getting killed but the City of North Miami won't back me up? Won't enforce their own codes on selected special people? Nit pick others to death, and in this case it might result in exactly that. Death!
I want that fence brought into conformance. I want that ficus hedge trimmed so it isn't intruding into MY YARD. I'm tired of trash in my yard. I want to enjoy my property. I'd like to be able to go out in my own yard with my friends, grill some burgers, have a good time, and not have to look at that ILLEGAL FENCE to remind me of getting beat up like I did because the city wouldn't enforce it's own fence ordinance.
If Dennis Kelly DKelly@northmiamifl.gov "can be reached on my cell phone at 786/402-3019" he can just as easily reach me on my cell phone. Plenty of people at North Miami City Hall have my cell number. It's no secret.
Finally, I'd like to thank all of you who read The Price of Silver and called or sent emails about this situation. Stay tuned. I'm not giving up until it's resolved.
I've been awake since shortly after 3 AM seething with anger about that fence and the special treatment my neighbor gets.
When we were under one-day-a-week strict mandatory water restrictions during the recent drought he was watering every day. I kept complaining. Nothing was done or "we issued him a warning" at worst. It was only after I screamed that fines were the law and that they escalate with the number of offenses, and nobody seemed to know how many of these friendly warnings had been issued because nobody bothered to log them, nobody kept a record, nobody seemed to care how many warnings he got. He just kept watering. In fact he flooded the street so the puddle would sometimes have thirty feet of my swale under water and I'd get my feet wet getting to and from my truck.
He's an arogant person who thinks he can get away with anything, and thanks to North Miami's "selective code enforcemet" and their bumbling inept employees the city employs he seems to do just that. Of course there are plenty of people who figure that corruption is involved, money changing hands, and why not when the Miami Herald is constantly doing stories about corruption and pay offs in other cities and town all over Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. But I'll give them the benifit of the doubt. I'd like to think that our emplyees are honest. Of course those are Big Buck major scanals, not "minor" problems like 1375 N.E. 133 Street where the owner frequently parks his vehicles straight across the sidewalk rather than parking them on his pristine swale or pulling them all the way into his driveway.
Isn't that a violation of the federal Americans With Disabiities Act? Isn't that a violation of North Miami's own ordinances? Why isn't he cited?
From N.E. 14th Ave. to N.E. 11th Ave. yesterday I counted at least seventeen houses on 133rd St. with overgrown lawns and swales. I guess today I'll check another street.
Let some people get away with an illegal fence and they think they own the world, have the right to dump their trash in their neighbors' yards, park wherever and however they please, and let their contactors beat the crap out of anybody they want for excecising their constitutional right to stand on public property, the middle of the street, and photograph a code violation in progress. Since that day I was left lying in the swale bruised and battered and half concious I've suffered dizzy spells and there are times I'm unsteady on my feet. I can no longer fill in and cover a wedding for a sick photographer. It's affected my income. I can no longer do much if any of my own yard work. It's affected my expenses.
I'd like to thank North Miami's finest, the North Miami Police Department for a fairly prompt response to my cell phone call made while I was being punched and kicked. The guy had stopped by the time the cops actually arrived though, and "we can't make an arrest unless we actually see it happening", like I pummeled my own face? I gave myself the black eye? Maybe I put those fresh bleeding cuts in my face?
So instead the cops asked the guy for the standard "License, registration, and insurance card please". He had NONE OF THEM with him. NO I.D. but they they let him go, not even a ticket. They did that while I was barely able to stand up. THEY LET HIM GO, NO TICKET! Remember that? No wonder my neighbor thinks he's made of Teflon. And the ILLEGAL FENCE is still there nearly OVER THREE YEARS LATER. The city attorney tells me that as a member of the Board of Adjustment it is incumbant upon me to report code violations. I asked. Part of my job. Part of my responsibilties.
I'm supposed to risk getting killed but the City of North Miami won't back me up? Won't enforce their own codes on selected special people? Nit pick others to death, and in this case it might result in exactly that. Death!
I want that fence brought into conformance. I want that ficus hedge trimmed so it isn't intruding into MY YARD. I'm tired of trash in my yard. I want to enjoy my property. I'd like to be able to go out in my own yard with my friends, grill some burgers, have a good time, and not have to look at that ILLEGAL FENCE to remind me of getting beat up like I did because the city wouldn't enforce it's own fence ordinance.
If Dennis Kelly DKelly@northmiamifl.gov "can be reached on my cell phone at 786/402-3019" he can just as easily reach me on my cell phone. Plenty of people at North Miami City Hall have my cell number. It's no secret.
Finally, I'd like to thank all of you who read The Price of Silver and called or sent emails about this situation. Stay tuned. I'm not giving up until it's resolved.
Labels: board of adjustment, city code, code enforcement, illegal fence, variance
posted by Al Kaplan at 4:31 AM
1 Comments:
Hi, what do you think about what happened to me.
On June 27, The City of Miami Code Enforcement Board issued me 6 code violations stating I was operating a business from my home in Coconut Grove, Florida. I was summoned to appear before the code enforcement tribunal to answer to the violations. I had no idea what they were talking about. When I appeared they had cleared out the entire City Hall on Pan American Drive. They threw charge after charge after charge and then they kicked me out of the meeting and found me guilty of all 6 code violations. On March 13, the City of Miami placed a $23,100.00, lien on my home and will place additional lines on my home every 90 days for $13,500.00, until the liens exceed the value of my home in Coconut Grove, Florida. I filed a civil lawsuit on December 1, 2008, and just two days ago I received the official Transcript of the September 10, code enforcement board hearing. Get ready for this one: it states on page 43, lines 3 thru 18, that Mr. Jobie Steppe shows people his art and in doing so echanges emotion and that is considered a business in Miami, Florida punishable by fines, liens, foreclosure and criminal arrest" this is so stated by the Attorney representing the code enforcement board of Miami, Florida on Sept 10, 2008.
How about that one? For a copy call Jobie Steppe @ 305-447-6526. Also type the name Jobie Steppe into your search engine to see what everyone thought was the official version until I received the "OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS"
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