Civil rights violation

[Ronnie343]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

Hey everyone, thanks for reading this far...
I reside in a small town in northern Ohio and have this question...

I had put up a small (less than 3 ft) wooden "sculpture" trellis in my side yard. Though it isn't complete yet "it" in its unfinished state reminds my ever nosey neighbor of someone giving him the finger. Now I admit that if you look at it for awhile he may have something here. In its finished state it will be a lighthouse. It is leaning against my garage and only visable to my neighbor to the south.

Now enters the buiding inspector who orders me to take it down, I refuse. I speak with him over the phone and he tells me that I have 10 days to comply. Today I recieve a nasty letter through the cities legal department telling me I have 10 days to comply or be forced with further legal penalties.

There is nothing in the codified ordinances governing my display. No need for a permit...In fact, he told me it would be fine if I placed it in my back yard. Now I wish that I could place a picture of this sculpture here for all to digest and make an educated opinion of but I can't. I'll try to discribe it so here goes...


It is approximately 3 ft wide by 3 ft tall. It is exactly 1/2 inches thick. It was made by using "dog eared" fence boards from HOME DEPOT and are of various heights. The first and second board are about 20" tall. The third board is about 36" tall with the forth and fifth boards being about 20" tall again. Get the picture?

My take is this, I know that art is subjective. My neighbor thinks that this is obscene. My building department "thinks" it is obscene. I see it as an unfinished piece. Or now that it getting some attention, it is a finished piece.

It would take me all of 10 seconds to take it down and place it in the trash. If that is the consensus of this forum I will do just that. As a flag waving AMERICAN I thought I would bounce it off of someone with the knowledge of the law.

Thanks for listening!

Ronnie

 

[dkshadow]

It is a work of art

Art is considered the same as free speech, Tell the officials of your community that is is garden art work, and dose come under the U.S. Constitution and if they persist, Advise them you are filing a complaint to your state A.C.L.U. This is no worse that what has been on public display in some of our govermental buildings. Enjoy your Free speech expression of
" Garden Art Work "" dkshadow

 

[Ronnie343]

Thanks for the speedy reply!

Today I phoned my building department and requested in writing that they inform me of two items...

1. Just exactly what the objection is in regards to my sculpture.

2. Just exactly where in our codified ordinances do they claim to have the right to order me to remove my artwork.

I highly doubt that I will hear back from them in a timely matter, in fact, I totally expect them to come back and "pen whip" me and do a total exterior home inspection to get me to comply. I can live with that. I can't live with the squeeky wheel syndrome where the one who makes the phone call with the complaint must be right. Our building department has told me that they are a "complaint driven" department. They do not enforce violations unless someone complains. I do not know if that is the everyday practice with building departments across the country, but I can't see the fairness or objectivity in it at all. For instance, I have had the inspector knock on my door when we first moved in here for having my motorcycle trailer in the driveway. I didn't know about the ordinance then but I am well schooled in the matter now. You can't have a trailer in your driveway for more than 48hrs at a time. I can accept this, but I can drive down one of our cross-town main streets and count no less than 12 other people with boats on trailers in their driveways. "Are they in violation", I asked the inspector, he tells me that they are all "guilty" but he will not pursue them unless there is a complaint. He then asks me if I want to file a complaint about them. I kept my cool and asked him "kindly" to leave.

Alright, enough small town weirdness for one night. Thanks for listening.

DKSHADOW, thank you for taking the time to respond, it is greatly appreciated.


GOD BLESS THE USA


Ronnie

 

[racer72]

Forget about the ACLU, they only deal with cases against groups of people, they do not handle individual cases.

 

[Ronnie343]

Update!

The inspector shows up at the house again (with his tail between his legs) today and withdraws the complaint. He tells me the law director wants me to make certain that I label it as "garden art" and not a trellis as I had previously. He said if it was a "trellis" it would fall under an outdoor structure and opens a whole new can of worms. We had a great conversation and he parted laughing at the whole thing. If anyone wants plans for the "trellis" please let me know!

Thanks for the direction guys!

 

[hassled65]

Obviously. it is your neighbor who is calling on you. Did he live there when the motorcycle issue came up? You should do your upmost to make sure HE is in compliance with code, If you live in a termite area, wood on the ground is a big no-no. call on this azzhole whenever you can.

 

[dkshadow]

As long as your neighbor leavs you alone

Leave them alone. Nitpicking just leaves to door open to a long term neighbors dispute. As long as your problem is resolved , you already gave them grief by comming out a winner. If they keep up the harassment , do not reply to them just keep a record. When you can show a pattern of ongoing harassment, Sign a harassment complaint and, take them to small claims court tor all the stress they caused you. In other words give them enough rope to hang themselves. dkshadow.

 

[Ronnie343]

Without a doubt it is our neighbor next door. If we played tit for tat it would have buried him long ago. To date I have had to tackle the wife a few times to keep her from calling about different items....

We do have a paper trail with all of their behaviors and code violations but I can't bring myself to present that.......yet!

We have resigned ourselves to the fact that they are just not nice people and we'll move on. Life is too short for that.

All the best my good friends, all the best.


Ronnie