Just got back from the mail box, and there was a letter from the City in there for me, that stated that there were numorouse complaints that i was running a car shop out of my house, in a resedential area, and i will be FINED $200.00 , EVEN!, if i wish to contest it in court! This is the last straw for me. Iv been getting picked on for around 8 years now since i moved into this trac and iv seen guys with dead cars sitting in their driveways for those past years , and i can't believe that their getting tickets and paying on them all this time!!! The neighbors just have a problem with my hobbie, and guys that come over, so their reaching for a excuse now. I wonder how many have banded together in a private little "caucus" , to discuss how to get rid of the "Plauge" down the street!!! Damn! i can't be the only one that has this trouble but iv never heard any of you guys complaining. Am i just a whinny *****, I don't think so! One thing i do know though. Im gonna start turning in some dead cars sitting around here! (None of the Cl***ics though).
Dude that ****s! From what I have seen in your earlier posts you have been more than patient. Go get em. I would also keep track of the Folks you know for sure that have been screwing with you and at the first hint of an infraction Turn em in. No Mercy No Quarters. Dawg
**** em! the best defence is a good offence. George Patton: "I dont want to hear that we are holding anything, let the hun do that. We are continually advancing...we wanna grab him by the nose and kick him in the ***"
go kick their *** then when you get a fine its for a good reason dont feel too bad though, my shops out in the country (3 miles of gravel) and they just put a ritzy housing development around the corner. i guess they dont like open headers at three i the mornin.......
JUst walk up and down the street with a clipboard, noting infractions, then put them together in a list with the addresses and make copies and hang them from a rubber band from all the nieghbors door handles (remember, putting them in their mailboxes is a federal offense). Add a note to the bottom that you be giving a report like this to the code enforcement people once a week if you get a another fine.
Turn the tight ***es in everytime they screw up. You probably know who the ***es are already. I would ask the city to explain what the complaints were and how many and when it would probably identify who was doing it.
"......i will be FINED $200.00, EVEN!, if i wish to contest it in court!" I can't believe, even in the People's Republic of California, that you can be fined with no recourse. There HAS to be some avenue for appeal. Whether or not you want to persue it, is your call. Just remember, if you lose your temper, you lose - period !!
Now if that don't piss off the neighbors IDK what will. I bet mine love it when I wake up at 6, fire up the Dodge )it takes at least 3 restarts to hold a decent idle, you know, under 2k) and let it brap brap brap til I leave at 6:30. As far as writing up the neighbors, it doesn't work. We had a busy body neighbor when we lived in Plymouth (readleasantville) and I tried doing that, making a list of all the OTHER people in town with the SAME infraction (a mobile car parked on a surface other than concrete or asphalt). Even had pictures too. The inspector told me to "get bent" he wasn't going to write up everyone in town just because I was pissed off. If I didn't like it, move. So I did. Good luck, sometimes it pays to play the game straight for awhile, then **** them from behind when they aren't looking. Jay
If you want to know who is the little caucus go to court. They have to produce evidence, more than well some called and said. which brings me to my next point/question is it against the law or city ordinance to work on your own cars in Lancaster? If they are claiming that you are running a business without a liscence or in an area not zoned for business than once again the burden of proof is on them. if not in the kangaroo court then when you appeal in the next court. Never ever go down without a fight. BTW the code nazis har*** us all, I'd offer you some cheese but I used all I had the last time they har***ed me.
If It were me. I dont think I'de get the town or the law involved. That makes you just like them a narc. Think about it real good and plan another stratagy go out of the box man be real cunning and then get them where it hurts. but i think i would get to **** out of suburbia get some land where you dont have neighbors that have there heads in there ***es. when you sell your house look for some one that you would not want to live next to and sell to them. get it?
out in the country it's usually better, I had the county out poking around once when I still lived in town, showed him that all the old cars were registered, nothing came of it. but out here where I am now the guy on one side is out there doing bodywork at night on his own stuff, the guy on the other side fires up his straight pipe harley at 11pm, I drive my straight pipe bulldozer on sundays, and we all get along great!
This and the lack of work is why I got the hell outta' Cali.! My neighbors here think my stuff is cool, they always come over to see what I've done and to look at what I've aquired!! Weather ****s though! Cali. is the land of fruits and nuts!!
its probably just one 'old lady' that you are driving nuts & she calls the fuzz every chance she gets. i try to keep everything clean & uncluttered looking from the street. (look good from the road) tell your friends (visitors) to tone her down when coming & going. i walk over & BS with the neighbors when out doing yard work. this leaves me safe when i fire a Big Block with open headers & let it run awhile in the drive. i even ignite the tires once in a great out front in the street & the neighbors like it! never piss the neighbors off! if i had one that complained about me id surely find out which one it was & id run the MFer outta there ID BE THEIR WORST NIGHTMARE!
It's like this in EVERY town...Some fool buys up a ton of land from some dead farmer's family and it just seems to be next to a cool old dragstrip or junkyard on the outskirts of town. The fool builds high dollar homes to attract rich snooty folks and now they start to complain about the "eyesore" old cars or the noise from the drags. The people with the money soon get all the cool stuff cleaned up and torn down. This is the way it always goes! I think soon St Louis will technically be a suburb of KC with nothing in between but houses.........
I feel for you. But your only recourse is a good lawyer. I have been thru this many times with Oakland county. In 1985 had a neighbor move in about six places down. From then on I would be visited by the Township Constable about every 90 days. He would write down all the plate no's. and make me start every vehicle. Every time. He hated those historic vehicle plates and would tell me everytime that I couldn't store a vehicle on my own property with those plates!!! To which told him everytime he was full of ****. I went as far as building a 8ft. fence around the back property. July 1985, I am working on a project in garage. Two State police, two county cops, township car and local newspaper pull into the drive. They have a Warrant to search property. They took pics of everything I owned. Machines in shop, paint guns, inventory on shelves, all cars and all plates. About halfway thru the search the two state cops ran plates and left, saying they saw nothing wrong. But I was charged by Oakland county and township for operating a chop shop! Local paper thought they had a scoop! Even tho everything on the property was in my name with bills of sale for most. Long story short. A good lawyer got it thrown out of court. But township still showed up every ninety days. Taking down notes. Till the Constable died! Then the new guy saw what was happening and left me alone. But it was too late I was already moving to 10 acres I bought oun in the country..
I always thought that El Cajon was the sticks but I KNEW that Lancaster was the in the toulies! I can't believe that folks up there are that ****, must be all those Orange County social nazi's that have fled East. Buy a few acres in Hesperia and you won't have to worry about the nieghbors...
Typical anti-American so******t ****. Zoning laws take away your property rights. Fight them with the law and go to the local law library and don't get mad. I try to at least once go over and talk to them nicely. If it degenerates into a fight, walk away. Face to face it is hard for some people to justify thier BS. regards, DJ
I know I'm supposed to be sympathetic.... and I am... You might have all your **** put up and a nicely mowed front lawn...... But....First look at what you might be doing that pisses off the neighbors. When the sun goes down your grinder should too. Loud music at night or a driveway full of cars hanging out into the street ... loud talking after bedtime can piss folks off.... I had to move 2 years ago to get away from college kids taking over the nighborhood. I wasn't ******* them off... it was them jacking with me. If you can find out whats turning them red you might get some ground rules that you and the neighbors can live with. Hope it all works out.
Sorry this is long.. Chapter two. I move out in sticks. land is such that from the road all that can be seen is house and garage. Two large barns and several out bldgs. are not visable. All is fairly well, no twp. probs. Only real problem is I'm only one out there and get poor utility/road service and have several break ins. In 1990 the twp. Re-zones all properties. I am now Rural Estate. Lawyer says it shouldn't effect me. I get a neighbor soon after. From Bloomfield Hills. He's a great guy but his wife is a BlTCH! She's got a hard on for everything that is country. Tries to get pe***ions for paved road. Hates well water, etc.. Neighbor gets into real estate and starts dividing off all the farm lands around. Gets them rezoned as residential. Big 3/4 + million dollar homes etc. 1999 The state sets up Universal zoning ordinance. Problems start!!! 2004 The old Constable every ninety days starts all over again!!! New zoning laws allow NOTHING but your house and out buildings on your property!!! No grandfather! No motorhomes etc. no tractors, even tho I am zoned agricultural. I do not make the min. $5000. from farming. I am taken to court because I had an inoperable car in my drive (on a plated trailer). The day an inspector arrived. NO lawyer is allowed. No defense permitted. YOU are guilty! A township official will walk your property and all violations noted will be removed in 30 days. Fine for each day after. Long story short. $4000.00 lawyer fees. Several court dates.. I joined the ACLU for help. I am stll guilty.. I am now moving 165 miles northwest. I wonder how long it will be before the "yuppies" get up there..
Roadster1 No parties, I am a quiet person. I don't smoke or drink. Wife at the time was also a State Cop!! No late night open exhaust sessions. I would expect problems.
That's why me and my girl are getting the hell out of CA, soon as we can swing it. I like the desert a lot, hell, I like CA for the terrain. But the laws out here are stupid. Housing is stupid expensive, and you have to pay through the nose for a tiny yard. I saw a "news story" on the local channel, bragging how some eviro-nazi was forcing people to "dispose" of their cars. This was out on F-5, near Sierra Hwy, there ain't jack **** out there. I live in a tin ghetto in palmdale, it's no better. I have some crazy ***** neighbor trapping our cats, another one that likes to yell at everyone, kids tearing up our yard. You can't park anywhere but your desegnated spot, if you do, they sticker and tow your car. No flat tires. No working on cars, you can't even wash your car. Did I mention that it's some ****ty trailer park? I have a car sitting out Acton, because I can't bring it here. I'm probably going to sell it. Even back in my home town of Charleston, WV, we had those county piece of ****s coming out to tell us to clean our property, because there was tires buried along the side of a creek that had been there 40 years. We're probably going back to WV, but outside of Kanawha County, it's the equivelant of LA county here in CA... ran by a bunch of self-rightous better-than-thou ***holes.
Never will forget, people built a new home,really nice lawn. Must have pissed someone off, they had big dead place in their gr*** saying got ya. Used good stuff too, stayed all year. Probably made them think before they ****ped on others.
Ok how do I say this without soundin' like a hater...'cause I'm not. Just relaying the experience. I grew up with a step dad who hordes junk cars. Not cool **** like most of us have...junk (well once in a while I'd get lucky and there'd be somethin' cool). Stuff was everywhere and it looked like hell. This was out in the country a bit, but was along the path to rich people houses and the folks m parents bought the house from had started to sell plots of land to other folks who built modest but nice houses on them, directly behind our acre right on the road. It got bad. Tickets, fines, harrasment, court, you name it. He and my mom have had to pay thousands in fines and other costs over the years. What did I learn from this? Well, lots. This isn't directed at any one person or post...just what works for me. First, befriend yer neighbors. All the talk about traditional don't mean **** if ya don't live it, and to me that means knowin' who my neighbors are and findin' some kind of common ground with them, even if I don't like them. Respect is earned, and it goes both ways. Second, keep yer **** tidy. I don't have a garage, live in a nice old neighborhood, have three old cars, and just parted another one out. All right out in the open. I respect my neighbors enough to keep it from lookin' like hell, and they pay me back by not givin' me h***le about it when I'm actually workin' on stuff and make a big ****in' mess, because they know I won't leave it for them to have to look at every day. Third, and the part that bugs me the most about what I've read in this thread, don't **** with yer neighbors. They're there, whether ya like it or not. Again, respect goes both ways so if ya want it ya gotta give it. Runnin' around tryin' to get the court of yer back by pointin' out everyone elses violations just makes ya look like an *** to the judge, and yer neighbors. It'll get ya no where. Same goes for the "well if ya don't like this wait'll I REALLY make **** look like hell around here" mentality. And finally, if all else fails, sell yer house to crackheads and find a place in the sticks where nobody'll bother ya. Just kiddin'. Seriously. I've never had a problem with my own neighbors by doin' the above, so I don't have an "if that fails" plan. Take my spiel as what it is...just what works for me. my step dad still tries to play the game his way, he's worse about it than ever, and he's still gettin' fines so that obviously doesn't work for him. Hell now he's got 8 ft fence around 3/4's of the property and they still get 'im. That said, GOOD LUCK with your situation. Olson
I guess I don't see how they can legally fine you based on an accusation - if that is the case then you need to do the same to the ***hole who complained about you - make "numerous" complaints claiming they are violating some obscure part of the zoning law. Find the books and read up and see if you can find a real violation. Normally, if you are accused of something, someone in zoning has to come inspect and verify you are in the wrong. In my most recent case, the neighbor claimed I had a disabled car here - my '50 Chevy - and was "running a business out of a residential neighborhood" according to the letter. I had like 10 days to resolve the problem before they inspected. So I went to the DMV and transferred the plates on the car that I'd had laying in it the whole time anyways. Put sticker on the windshield. That was that - they came, they inspected, and I haven't heard anything since. My guess is if the guy complains in the future he is going to look like a ***** because they didn't find anything but an old car with three colors of paint on it. But just to piss them off I started parking my Suburban where they'd asked me not to, and it worked pretty good since one of them nearly got hit pulling out of the driveway. This street is a cul-de-sac and very quiet, so it's not like they had to pull out into 55-mph two lane road or anything. I also complained to the town about a section of their pool fence that had settled and was not quite the required 4-foot height, which I see they've fixed since. I don't know what the guy's problem was, they started getting a bug up their *** when I brought a car trailer home for a couple weeks with a batch of car parts on it that I'd sold to a guy and had to arrange delivery on. Then I had another car here on a trailer for about 10 days because it was so rotty I was afraid to drag it back off the trailer the usual way, and that was that - to him it was an old piece of **** eyesore, he didn't give a damn that they only made a few thousand of them in '58. The town guy lied to me too. He e-mails and tells me a car trailer is considered a commercial vehicle and it's not allowed. The actual zoning ordinance says commercial vehicles over 7,000 lbs are not allowed. I called his bluff in the e-mail, asking "if commercial vehicles are not allowed, how does anyone get any work done on their house, and where do they park their half-ton pickups with commercial plates on them?" Then I found the actual ordinance by accident later. So if you're accused, the first thing to do is find the section and read it yourself. Be sure you're not violating any laws already. If you're not, you do need to find out who the complainer is. I would think you have a basis for a civil suit againt them for har***ment if you can clearly show the claims they made are false. The problem isn't as much that zoning laws take away your rights as it is that the people who enforce them go on power trips and there is zero accountability to get rid of some ***hole codes inspector who uses his job as a means of legally har***ing people, either because he has a bug up his **** or because one of your neighbors does. Heck you had that guy in the midwest a while back that turned out to be a serial killer - using a codes inspecting position to gain access to people's property and har*** them, and eventually kill some of them. Thats taking the "I have power therefore I am God" trip to new heights. What someone need to do is find some way to get a state legistator to slip in quietly a bill that would hold these people accountable for their actions, and make it a criminal offense for them to use the position to har*** people - something like where a resident complains of more than three inspections with no violations found per year cons***utes har***ment and after three incidents of har***ment, the inspector loses his job - with fines for each incident. Things like do***ented instances of lying about zoning regulations and accusing people of violating regulations when they are not, aught to cons***ute har***ment for this law. My friend where I keep the cars now has a dip in the property and keeps the majority of cars out of view of the road. His family has been around this particular town for years, and when the town threatened to start in on him he just told them he would run for judge - with his name and background he'd have a good shot to actually win. They backed off and leave him alone.
Do what I did, I started buying up the houses around me and using them for rentals. If the neighbors don't like what I'm doing, they can move and I'll help'em. JayD
there's a guy in Huachuca City, a little wide spot on the road to here, who has had a "surplus" store for years, and it's a big mess....he finally ran for mayor (and won) so now he doesn't get h***led about it any more. that's one way to deal with it.
The Jalopy Journal
