I was finally given access to the Certificate of Occupancy records. I reviewed the Certificate of Occupancy records on line in the Building Inspections Department and had them print the list for me. Page 1 of that list is shown below; it contains 3 Certificate of Occupancy records.
Many required fields were left blank especially Occupancy Type, Construction Type and Proposed Use. These fields were vital as a new Certificate of Occupancy inspection was only required on a new building or when the Occupancy Type changed. It was impossible to tell, based on their official records, when the Occupancy Type changed as this field was left blank. There were no fields to record code violations or life safety violations contrary to what Mr. Wilkinson stated. In fact, these inspection items were covered by other Departments (Fire Department, etc.) and were not part of the Certificate of Occupancy Inspection.
No Certificate of Occupancy was issued for the middle record and no reason was given. This meant that the business could not operate as they were illegally not allowed to obtain an occupational license to operate their business even if they already had a valid Certificate of Occupancy on file – as we did but were still being denied an occupational license to operate our business.
I wrote Mr. Butterworth, the Florida Attorney General, on August 24, 1999, pinpointed the illegal actions on the part of City Officials, and informed him that the State Attorney, Mr. Golden, had refused to stop these illegal actions against us and the other citizens of Pensacola. I concluded the letter to Mr. Butterworth with the hope that he would seriously address the situation I pointed out and take corrective steps. I received a letter from the Florida Attorney General, Mr. Butterworth, dated September 27, 1999, where he refused to take any action.
I wrote Florida Governor Jeb Bush, again, about the apparent illegal/criminal activities, against us and against our historic building. I pointed out to Governor Bush that he had stated in his letter of June 17, 1999, that “Persons serving on the Construction Board of Appeals are independent of the local government and practice building construction or design, so they should be familiar with the city’s rules and regulations. They are independent of the city, they are not obligated to follow the decision of your building official.”
I reported to Governor Jeb Bush that all of the Board Members were licensed contractors who were required to obey Construction Laws which in Pensacola are covered in the Standard Building Code, yet they admitted to breaking the construction law regarding COs themselves which resulted in additional income from unnecessary construction, illegally required by City Officials, and the opportunity to steal building materials and artifacts from property owners – as happened to us. I told him that I had researched the composition of the Board and discovered that almost all members, in addition to their regular businesses, had lucrative contracts with the City or, in other words, were de facto employees of the City and not independent or impartial at all, in violation of Florida Statutes.
I reported to Governor Jeb Bush that all of the Board Members were licensed contractors who were required to obey Construction Laws which in Pensacola are covered in the Standard Building Code, yet they admitted to breaking the construction law regarding COs themselves which resulted in additional income from unnecessary construction, illegally required by City Officials, and the opportunity to steal building materials and artifacts from property owners – as happened to us. I told him that I had researched the composition of the Board and discovered that almost all members, in addition to their regular businesses, had lucrative contracts with the City or, in other words, were de facto employees of the City and not independent or impartial at all, in violation of Florida Statutes.
It appeared that City Officials and members of the special-interest group were predators who routinely broke laws in order to subject the people of Pensacola to illegal requirements in order to make them unwilling victims who were forced to lose their assets, including money, building materials and artifacts which they had worked hard to accumulate in order to support themselves and their families.
I again asked Governor Bush to stop the apparent criminal/illegal activity taking place in Pensacola.
Around this time, there were news stories about the need for Governor Bush to address the rampant corruption problem in Florida. One of the best articles was written by Carl Hiassen, Miami Herald, “Corruption fight depends on Bush Input.” Unfortunately, it appears that Governor Jeb Bush did not crack down on the rampant corruption taking place in Florida.
The Pensacola Police Department appeared unwilling, and even refused, to address the reports I made of theft of our property, especially artifacts over 115 years old. The Pensacola Police Department made one arrest - not for the theft of irreplaceable artifacts. The following incident took place at the house downtown.
I had purchased 5 door locks from Home Depot and had them rekeyed to match, one for each outside door of the house. I had handwritten on the outside of the boxes what the key numbers were because they usually came in sets of three instead of five as I required.
When I got back to the house, the contractor installing the locks was ready for the locks and I placed one by each door, all set to install.
One lock went upstairs. When I came back down, the contractor asked me where the locks were. I ascertained immediately that they had been stolen, which much of our materials and many of our artifacts had been. I had diligently reported these apparent illegal/criminal actions to the Police Department but they had appeared disinterested and none of our previous stolen property was ever returned. The Pensacola Police Department consistently refused to seriously address theft of our property even though it states in Pensacola City Ordinances that it is their job to protect citizens and their property in Pensacola. It appeared that the Pensacola Police Department officers accepted theft during construction as not breaking the law.
I went back to Home Depot and returned to the lock section. All five locks were there, with my handwriting with the new key numbers clearly on the boxes. It appeared that one of the contractors on site had stolen them, returned them to Home Depot and had received a refund for the locks, almost $300.00. I bought the locks again and went to the Police Department. When I walked in, carrying the locks, the desk sergeant yelled at me to get that stuff out of there while swinging his arm pointing at the door. I left, put the locks in the car and returned to the desk sergeant where I said that I wanted to report locks which had been stolen and which I had to repurchase. He started asking me to describe the locks. I asked if I could go to my car and either write down their description or bring them back in so I could show him. He said to go write the description down. I did and returned to the desk sergeant. I told him they were probably stolen by one of the contractors as all thefts so far had been by contractors. He took the report.
I went back to the house and gave the locks to the contractor to install. I told him they had been returned to Home Depot by the thief and that the store had a copy of the return sheet and would release it to the Police Department. Mr. Michael Jackson, a subcontractor, came forward, confessed that he had stolen the locks and asked that I not press charges. He said he would reimburse me for the second purchase of the locks. I told him I had already made a report and he left without another word.
I was called by a detective at the Police Department to come in for a statement. When I told him that Mr. Jackson had confessed, he described Mr. Jackson and said that he was a known petit thief.
I later received a letter from the pretrial Diversion Program that Mr. Jackson had been referred to their program by the State Attorney’s Office, that he had to complete their requirements and make restitution in order to avoid a trial. I contacted their office, as directed, and told them of the cost of the locks, just under $300.00 which is the cut off between petit theft and grand theft.
Mr. Jackson never made restitution. I notified the State Attorney’s office that he had never made restitution as required in the program but they took no steps to rectify this violation on Mr. Jackson’s part and didn’t seem to care.
Shortly after Mr. Jackson’s arrest, a Pensacola police cruiser pulled into our parking lot where I was working outside. The policeman turned off the engine, opened his door, leaned out and told me that the only reason Mr. Jackson had been charged with theft was because he had confessed. His attitude seemed to be that I had done something wrong by reporting the theft, by taking the initiative to go to Home Depot to ascertain that the stolen property had been returned by the thief and by notifying the Police Department that they could easily get the signed receipt from Home Depot in order to identify and arrest the thief. The policeman’s attitude seemed to be that I had done something wrong in causing a thief to be apprehended. He started up the cruiser and left. I was too confused to say anything.
On August 27, 1999, I again wrote Mr. Curtis Golden, State Attorney, and reported that the illegal activities of City Officials, especially Mr. Wilkinson, were continuing and asked, again, that he investigate and stop these illegal activities which was his job.
I received a letter from the State Attorney’s office stating,
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“I am sorry to again advise you that the State Attorney’s Office has no jurisdiction over the matters contained in your letter of August 27, 1999.”
(signed)CURTIS A. GOLDEN
STATE ATTORNEY
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