Vang Appeal: Public Testimony

(Don’t worry the video is only 30 minutes, not 2 hours!)

I feel privileged to be working with Mr. Vang, who says all the things I thought Madison believed in . . . and yet we can’t seem to get right. And then he acts on it. More moving testimony from Mr. Vang. Hope to see you at the Zoning Board of Appeals at 5:00. Room GR 22 in the City County Building (210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd) Please register in support of Mr. Vang and get there 15 minutes early for something of interest.

FROM: Koua Vang
TO: City of Madison’s Zoning Board of Appeals
DATE: March 28, 2013
RE: Appeal the zoning administrator’s order, decision, requirement, and determination of camping use in Chapter 20.091(1) on 3600 Portage Road

1. In order to avoid further confusion as to whether a decision of the zoning administrator was made, I now amend my Appeal Notice to include the attached City of Madison Official Notice dated March 18, 2013 and issued by the Code Enforcement Officer, Jacob Moskowitz.

2. I also was informed by the Chrissy Thiele, Administrative Clerk, that I only have 3 minutes to present my appeal. Because I will not be able to speak in 3 minutes, I have prepared a written speech and is attached here for the record.

3. With the recent Memorandum of the City Attorney’s Office and my opposing opinion as to whether or not the Zoning Board of Appeals has proper jurisdiction to hear this appeal, I believe the Zoning Board of Appeals may not have the opportunity to review Attorney O’Brien’s memo and my responsive memo yet and then to consult with a third party legal experts on this jurisdiction question. I am open to extending this evening hearing to a later date if the Zoning Board of Appeals should also feel so.

Sincerely yours,
Koua Vang

and

FROM: Koua Vang
TO: City of Madison’s Zoning Board of Appeals
DATE: March 28, 2013
RE: Appeal the zoning administrator’s order, decision, requirement, and determination of camping use in Chapter 20.091(1) on 3600 Portage
Road

1. I want to thank my good neighbors for being patient with me and the homeless people until only April 16th. If your city and county leaders should take their responsibility to uphold the welfare, wellbeing, safety, and protection of all citizens as they are written in Ordinance 28, WI Constitution, and the US Constitution, then neither my family nor this neighborhood would have to protect these homeless people during this coldest and wet season. I thank some of you who called me on the phone. A neighbor named Matt even asked me how can he help? He said he also asked his church for help. Some of you asked me a very good question, “why are you doing this to our neighborhood?” I tell you, it is not my head. Every logical reason told me not to help these homeless people. Who would want to be associated with the low of the lowest human being? But it is my heart in seeing the cold, wet, and suffering of these people that really bothered me. I am tough, I don’t cry often. But I did cry for these sufferings. I am a human being. I am not an animal. How we treat these homeless people are worst than we treat our own home animals. Whether you and I and these troubled homeless are related now, we came from the same ancestor millions of years ago. Inside, we have the same organs, bloods, and tissues. We all have feelings and pains. It does not make sense why some people have everything good and some always have problems. If we help with our heads, we would think with reasons and ask ourselves “do the troubled people deserve our helps”. However if we help with our hearts then the question should be “do we deserve to help the troubled people?” You and I will not receive any rewards for helping these homeless people in our neighborhoods. But I believe that our rewards are in our
hearts and in Heaven.

2. I want to thank my family to be strong with me and to learn, even though we may lose $11,000 for the fines by the City of Madison. I want my children to know the following:

a) We need to work hard in our lives, as I have tried, so that we don’t have to be without a place to live like these homeless people. Nobody wants to be without a home and a family. Sometimes even hard working people have problems finding a home. I have a good job and good income. My wife and I own many real estate properties. Recently, we lost some of those homes to foreclosure. Last year, I tried to be a co-signer so that my daughter, Amanda, and her freshman college friends can get an apartment. My apartment rental application was denied. This year, I tried to rent an office space. After reviewing my rental application, I was denied. If I cannot even get a place to rent, how can these more troubled homeless people get a place to rent?

b) Even we when work hard and everything seems to be fine, there are many problems and mistakes in our lives. Some of the problems and mistakes will knock us down all the way to the bottom. We may lose our job, home, family, friends, and our dignities. In this country, sometimes it is not easy to just get up again because the system is designed to punish those who have history of troubles. When a person lost everything, sometimes drug, alcohol, and mental disorder seem to be only the way for some of the sufferings to get a brief and false relief.

c) When you have a better life than others, you need to (1) help others who are in trouble and (2) stop hurting them more.

– 1) Help, many times, does not mean you have to give yourself to the troubled people, but it means to offer comforts, even just kind words and positive attitudes. When the body is so cold from the winter storm, I think we can help at least to keep the heart warmed a little.
– 2) Don’t condemn them by saying words, such as “get a job”, “we don’t want you here”, or other hateful and hurtful words.
– 3) Our lives can change anytime without notice. We all may be in trouble some times in our own lives. How do we feel when other people condemned us when we are already so damaged?

d) Do what is right, even when others will judge you wrong.

– 1) If our early Colonists were willing to fight the Imperial English in order to gain the rights of freedom and independence,

– 2) If President Lincoln and many Americans were willing to sacrifice their lives during the American Civil War to get rid of the inhuman slavery system,

– 3) If Rosa Parks was willing to sit in the bus in violation of the unjust law,

– 4) If our American solders now are willing to die so other foreign countries can also share our freedoms and democracy,

– 5) Then my family is willing to be criticized and to be fined by the City’s Hypocrite leaders with the possible $11,000 forfeiture.

– 6) I always told my children that money is not the problem. Attitude is the problem.

– 7) When my family is having fun, I often asked a stupid question again and again. “What is the problem?” Even my younger children now know the right answer. “There is no problem”. In this world, there will always be problems. When there is no problem, then that is the problem of itself. Sometimes we caused our own problems. Sometimes other people or circumstances brought the problems to us. Nobody can stop problems. But we can try to solve and alleviate the problems.

e) Stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. When you help those you need your help, they will appreciate you. But when you try to help those who don’t need your help, they may even laugh at you.

3. I like to watch animal television shows. I learn a lot from the animal kingdoms.

a) Some animals have marked territories, and anyone who should enter the territory will be subjected to a severe punishment.

b) Some animals bite, kill, and eat their own kinds.

c) But the King Penguins of South Georgia are different. The winter temperature there can be the coldest on earth.

– 1) The King Penguins huddle together so that all the combined body heats can warm everyone.

– 2) They all take turns circling in the outside blizzard winds so that everyone can get a little warm in the middle and all can survive.

d) When I went to college, my sociology book taught me that human is a societal animal. What the sociologist scholars did not teach is that this specie of societal animal called “human” also has many kinds: Some human have territory, some will even bite, kill, and eat their own kinds. But some have hearts like the King Penguins. It all depends on how each person is brought up by his/her parents and
society. I hope my remaining life and the future of my children and
their children will grow up to be like the King Penguins.

4. I am not here to defend these troubled homeless people. I cannot help them, but I know my God and we all together can. I am here only to defend my conscience.

a) I saw wherever they laid their tents on for the past 2 years, our dear neighbors and government leaders were embarrassed by what they saw and did not want these homeless people to be near them.

b) Some said these unclean homeless tents will reduce their real estate property values, when in fact it is the heartless governmental policies that hurt all homes in the entire country. Instead of helping the troubled home owners to keep their homes, our politicians bailed out the banks. Now banks are making lots of profits and our nation’s home owners are making lots of trips to community food pantries and filling out many rental applications.

c) Some said these are people with problems and we donot want to have problems in our neighborhoods. If we should go to court every day like I did before, we will see that most of our society’s problems are committed by our own domestic family members, friends, neighbors, business partners, and the people we trusted.

d) Others said there are many open homes and shelters these homeless people could have gone to. May I ask, how many of us would allow these troubled people in our homes or vacant shelters? I did, have you? No homes and shelters were opened to these homeless people even during the coldest days in this winter.

e) Some were afraid even to go close to these homeless people. They would stand far away and took pictures as evidence of uncleanliness.

f) I visited them.

1) They look like me. They respected me because I respected them.

2) I have a warm home for my family. They have nothing, not even a place to lay their tents.

3) When the winter temperatures were so cold, I turned my heat up. They put more snow around their tents as insulation so that the inside of tent is warmer.

4) When the snow turned into ice and the heavy rain came down, I turned my TV on loud and I could not notice the rain. They were dealing with cold ice and wet rains out in the open field. Even the camp fire was rained out.

5) I and many other good neighbors in Madison have many vacant lands and buildings that the real animals and birds are allowed to take as shelters, these real human beings don’t even have place to set up their tents.

g) The citizens of this City and County pay so much tax in many forms so that our government leaders can take care of our troubled citizens. Why do my family and my neighbors have to fill in the gap? Why are we even here at this public meeting? Why do I have to appeal to my governments when I already paid them to do the job?

h) Should I close my eyes and ears and make selfish blames to make me feel good and fortunate that I am not like these troubled homeless people, or should I risk my sleep and money to pay the $11,000 fines just to have a clear conscience? The answer to me is very simple. I hope it is to all of us too. What goes around will come around. If you shut your eyes and ears when others need your help, remember when you need help don’t blame others for not helping you.

5. Throughout my over 20 years of being a lawyer, I found that it is not the law at all. The first law of this country is the US Constitution. It is short, precise, and a protection of the life, liberty, and happiness to all. It limits the powers of the government and gives all the powers of freedom and liberty to the people. Our ancestors suffered so much through the hands of government’s uncontrolled powers.

a) It is always about the people who decide what the law is.

b) Laws are made to be fair and equitable. When the law is not fair and equitable to a situation, the judges and jury can ignore the laws and decide for fairness and equity.

c) When the City of Madison did not give itself, the Dane County, or any other private property owners any single violation and fine because they all too violated the camping zoning law, and now the City decided to fine a former refugee private land owner. This is not only a discrimination and equal protection violation under our Constitution but it is also a shameful, unfair and unjust enforcement.

6. Again, I am not here to defend my goodwill or selfish action under Ordinance 28.091(1). You can read and read our Madison General Ordinance entire zoning chapter 28, you will not find that camping is a prohibited use. The idea that anything is not a permitted is therefore prohibited is unconscionable and uncontrollable powers that we, the people, have not granted to the government. Most of the homes in Madison are zoned under Ordinance 28.032. The permitted uses are listed under Table 28C.1 and on 4 long pages 28-11 to 14. To those of you who are animal lovers, only “keeping of chickens” is a permitted use. Dogs, Cats, Birds, and all other animals are considered prohibited. If you want to put a permanent or temporary swimming pool in your backyard, it is not listed as a permitted use and therefore it considered prohibited. The list can be very long because anything that our government forgot to include in the permitted uses are all considered to be prohibited uses. It is scary to think that if our government does not like you, it can come and say “sorry what you are doing is not listed as a zoning permitted use”.

7. I am here to ask all of us, who are human beings, to share the burdens and troubles of these homeless people. Cold can be so tortured and painful. We can be the King Penguins. We can keep our human kinds a little warm so that all can survive a little longer.

8. When you make a decision on this appeal, don’t make it for me. I already have a conscionable and right decision. You should make a decision for the common sense and decency of our human race and for the once named most livable city in America.

Koua Vang