On August 27, 1999, I again wrote each member of the
Pensacola City Council reporting that the illegal activities of City Officials,
especially Mr. Wilkinson, were continuing and asked, again, that they
investigate these illegal activities directed at harming citizens of Pensacola
and stop these illegal activities.
On August 27, 1999, I again wrote Mr. Curtis Golden, State
Attorney, reporting that the illegal activities of City Officials, especially
Mr. Wilkinson, were continuing and asked, again, that he investigate these
illegal activities directed at harming citizens of Pensacola and stop these illegal
activities which is his job.
I
received a letter from the State Attorney’s office stating, “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
It appears that this is precisely what the state attorney is
supposed to investigate and stop. According to the real construction rules, City Officials are trespassing when they come on our property when a new Certificate of Occupancy is not required or they were not asked to perform an inspection. According to Florida Statutes, City Officials are committing extortion when they threaten individuals with arrest if they operate their legal business without getting a new Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant when the classification stays the same, and our classification stayed the same. City Officials illegally demand a new CO in order to illegally get access to the owners property. City Officials then take pictures of valuable architectural features in the house, illegally demand removal of the historic artifacts and then steal them or have them stolen by a contractor they force the home owner to hire by refusing building permits to contractors of the owner's choice. Florida Statutes also describe the collection of an inspection fee which is not required as extortion on the part of the Official. Stopping this illegal scam which results in serious damage to an historic property and serious depletion of the owner's life savings is definitely in the job description of a state attorney. Mr. Golden repeatedly refuses to do the job he is being paid to do.
I wrote an email, dtd 9/14/99, to the Pensacola Planning
Board members regarding the memo I had received regarding the new proposed
changes to the Land Development Code. I again pointed out that the Land Development Code was not the legal device for construction regulations but the Standard Building Code was the legal device for construction rules. It was illegal for City Officials to demand that we in Pensacola obey the Land Development Code instead of the Standard Building Code because the Standard Building Code was recognized by the State of Florida as a viable building code when the Pensacola Land Development Code was not. City Officials used the Land Development Code to make up their own rules to bully law-abiding Pensacola citizens and illegally take their money, building materials and historic artifacts by force and threats of arrest for breaking the law (their made up law)..
I wrote a letter, dtd 9/20/99 to the Pensacola City Council
Members regarding the proposed changes to the Land Development Code. I pointed out that the actions on the part of
the Pensacola Building Inspection Department were in violation of real construction
laws and asked that they stop this illegal activity.
On September 20, 1999, I wrote the Pensacola City Attorney,
Mr. Don Caton, stating that I had received no answer to my letter to him of
August 24, 1999, reporting, again, that the Pensacola Inspections Department
was still breaking the law regarding CO’s and, again, asking that he stop these
illegal actions.
I decided to attend the next Pensacola City Council meeting
to be held on September 23, 1999, and bring this matter to the attention of the
public, as the meetings are televised.
Many people are intimidated at these meetings as the council members
talk very fast, often talking over each other.
Mayor Fogg often states, “Robert’s Rules of Order says,” and then makes
his own rules instead of really following Robert’s Rules of Order. I was a long-time member and past president
of a local toastmistress club where we operated strictly by Robert’s Rules of
Order. When someone from the audience
has their turn at the speaker’s podium during open forum, Mayor Fogg leans over
his podium, holds a stopwatch in his hands, stares steadily at it and interrupts
their speech to give updates on their time.
He appears to ignore what they are saying. When they finish speaking, he and the council
members usually ignore their comments and he says “Next,” to hurry the speakers
along usually without answers to their concerns or questions.
Mayor Fogg and others, if he is absent, have been known to
gavel down speakers if they don’t like what they are saying especially if it is
about apparent illegal acts or incompetence on the part of City Officials which
is precisely what these meetings are supposed to bring out: problems in our local government which need
to be fixed.
In some instances, I have seen the Chief of Police and other
officers standing by, apparently at the ready, to subdue speakers who want to
finish their presentation after being gavelled down which is a violation of
Robert’s Rules of Order.
I attended the Pensacola City Council meeting on September
23, 1999. The minutes of this meeting
can be found at ci.pensacola.fl.us.com under government, city clerk records,
city council meetings, for 9/23/1999.
On page 10 of the minutes of this meeting, Mayor and City
Council Communications, Councilwoman Jones discusses the correspondence I sent
to the Mayor and all City Council Members expressing my concerns about the
illegal activities regarding the Certificate of Occupancy. Neither the Mayor nor any City Council Member
had answered my correspondence.
Mayor Fogg told Councilwoman Jones that I had submitted a card to speak during
open forum.
Starting at page 43, I speak during open forum and discuss
the illegal policies of the City Officials requiring a Certificate of Occupancy
on change of tenant when this practice is forbidden by the Standard Building
Code, the City’s official reference for construction.
On page 47, Mr. Bonfield states, “It’s my understanding that
the current building project that Mrs. Mead has under way now is not affected
by the issue that we are evaluating.”
This is a false statement.
Our professional Property Inspection Report stated that only minor
repairs and improved maintenance were required for our building. The building was being used when we bought it
and could be used immediately, planning these minor repairs as we went, but
City Officials demanded that we hire Mr. Miller who I later found out was a
career criminal and who should not have been issued a contractor’s license in
the first place as he had unpaid judgments related to construction, had been
arrested for writing a bad check for thousands of dollars related to
construction and had never completed a construction project in Pensacola or
Escambia County.
City Manager Bonfield, City Attorney Caton, Building Inspection Director Wilkinson and the contractor, Mr. Miller, demanded that I do extensive
unnecessary and unwanted construction, mostly involving removing irreplaceable
historic artifacts built exclusively for the house in 1883, which Mr. Miller
then stole. Even though Mr. Miller
confessed to taking our property to City Officials and to a County Official, the Pensacola Police Department refused to
arrest him and refused to return our stolen property to us. The Pensacola Police Department sided with Mr. Miller committing grand theft against us and appeared to be a partner in the grand theft of our historic artifacts and the grand theft of $300,000.00 which included all of our life savings and put us deep in debt.
We bought the property in July, 1998, and City Officials refused us the use of our property until we obtained a “new” Certificate of
Occupancy even though one was on file which was all that was needed according to the official construction regulations.
They repeatedly falsely stated that we were required to get a new CO but they stated we would not get one, so we could open,
operate our business and receive income from our investment property until we
did everything they illegally required.
City Officials ignored the Declarative Statement issued by
the Florida Building Commission in November, 1998, stating that I was right and
they were wrong that a “new” Certificate of Occupancy was not required. City Officials ignored this ruling and
continued to force us to work toward getting a “new” Certificate of Occupancy.
Mr. Bonfield and the other City Officials had kept us from
the use of our property for a year and two months even though Mr. Bonfield
falsely stated that were not holding us up.
The following pages took place near the end of my turn at the
podium.
Mr. Bonfield stated on page 51 of the City Council Minutes, “One is it’s a complicated issue.” This is a false statement. The issue is straight forward and clear. According to the official construction regulation, the Standard Building Code, a new Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant is not appropriate when the classification stays the same and ours did. That is clear enough.
The only complication comes if public officials want to require a new Certificate of Occupancy on change of tenant to defraud property owners out of their life savings by requiring unneeded, unnecessary and unwanted construction. City Officials defraud property owners of historic buildings by requiring their artifacts be removed from the building so the artifacts can be stolen. They keep on refusing a new Certificate of Occupancy, even if the owners comply with their illegal demands, to deny them an occupational license so the owners cannot operate their legally authorized business in the City. All of these actions are illegal, according to City Ordinances, the Standard Building Code, Florida State Statutes and the U.S. Constitution.
