Yeah, county problem resolved, city’s turn! I swear, I don’t know why my head isn’t bloody from beating it against the walls the city and county governments keep putting up . . . and why? What is the point? Today’s not insignificant problem . . . that needs to be resolved, today. We’re a public nuisance!
NOTICE FROM THE CITY
Monday, I got this email from Mr. Vang. It was in the middle of the county created crisis that I was dealing with – I was meeting with the folks at camp, trying to answer their questions and trying to figure out what to do depending upon what the county did. (Luckily, that got resolved.)
from: Koua Vang
to: Brenda Konkel;,bwallbaum
cc: Koua Vang
date: Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 5:22 PM
subject: Notice of violationBrenda and Bruce,
I just received this Notice of Violation today for the junks, debris, and trashes. It was issued on April 18th, but I just received it in the mail today. We only have until April 24th to clean the place up. Can you help to do this? You may call Mr. Young if he would give you until the weekend to finish cleaning up.
I did think that if I requested an extension it wouldn’t be a big deal.
REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION
I went out to the property to see what the current condition is and what we could do about it and how much time we needed. This is what I saw. Of course, it was Tuesday morning and they wanted it cleaned up in the next 24 – 48 hours and everyone is at work and this stuff doesn’t fit in my little Ford Focus.
Here’s the longer view of the site
And closer up photos
So, I sent this email.
From: Brenda Konkel
Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 11:00 AM
To: Hank, George
Subject: Fwd: Notice of violationIs there any way to get an extension to this weekend. The items left on the property are pallets which are intended to be re-purposed for raised bed gardens. The other items are not garbage but coolers and other items intended to be reused. The new dumpster really wasn’t all that necessary. Our only issue is its hard for us to get it done today or tomorrow. Many of us with vehicles are busy working.
Brenda
Here’s the dumpster I refer to. As I said, they even delivered a new dumpster – and I’m not even sure who “they” are, but I think it was the city streets department, when we hadn’t even filled the last one. Tho is looks like the neighbors tried to help.
Old Dumpster
New Dumpster
Here’s the official notice to remove the stored items (Notice of Violation, 4-17-2013 (debris, trash, junk)) – perhaps what they believe to be junk, trash and debris.
THIS IS NOT THE RESPONSE I EXPECTED
Whoa – first, let me say, George Hank is a really nice guy. And this is really uncharacteristic of him (tho he did say please and thank you). And not at all what I expected. I did expect him to be reasonable – tho, he probably doesn’t know what the site looked like yesterday morning and he probably didn’t realize we didn’t get the notice til Monday night. We did do some clean up over the weekend.
from: Hank, George <GHank@cityofmadison.com>
to: Brenda Konkel
cc: “Bunnow, Kyle” <KBunnow@cityofmadison.com>
date: Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 3:44 PM
subject: RE: Notice of violationBrenda,
I am sorry but I thought our original due date was longer than it should have been. My intent will be to have the inspector check it first thing on Thursday morning. If it is still a problem, I plan to declare it a public nuisance and use the summary abatement process outlined in MGO 27.05(3). Compliance should be immediate. We will have a contractor collect the remaining items and place the non-wood items in the dumpster.
The wood items will be placed next to the curb and picked up by Streets.
I would suggest people concentrate on the items they want to keep the most so they can be removed by the time the contractor gets there. I anticipate the contractor being on site Thursday afternoon, maybe sooner. Once we ask, they are clear to act as soon as they can get there.
Thanks,
George
NOW WHAT?
Yeah, “people” should do that. Who the hell are these “people” who can do this today?
Think we can load this stuff on a Madison Metro bus if we buy a bunch of tickets for homeless people without vehicles to drag things from Portage Rd to Lake Farm Park? It’s only a .75 walk to camp.
Can you imagine what the Parks Department would do if we brought all this stuff there?
Is this stuff really hurting anyone?
WTF CITY OF MADISON (THAT PRIDES ITSELF ON BEING GREEN)?
I am struggling to understand why they would rather us throw the pallets away instead of re-purpose them – would an extension for 3 days really be that bad?
Seriously, we’re not trying to be a pain in the butt. We’re trying to be responsible – but clearly there are challenges and if the city would just work with us it could be win-win.
And, the raised bed gardens are for Stone Soup to grow food to use to make soup to feed homeless people.
Anyways, I think these is a plan to comply.
I hope there is a plan.
I gotta go . . .
gotta make sure there is a plan . . .
and try to make it to work today . . .
%$#@!
