Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin E-News Update for August 2003, 2nd Edition
Opportunity to Erase Traffic Warrants
This Saturday, August 23rd, will mark the first attempt at an innovative
new effort: the Hennepin County Restorative Justice Initiative. A one-day
event will be held at Pilot City in North Minneapolis that will allow
Hennepin County residents to perform community service and have their
misdemeanor traffic warrants erased. The program hopes to tackle a few
related problems at once. While open to all Hennepin County residents, the
initiative is targeted at young African American men, through the efforts
of the African American Men Project. These young men and others will be
able to erase any misdemeanor traffic warrants, while simultaneously giving
back to the community through community service. This process drastically
reduces costs incurred by the court, such as booking and processing fees,
and lifts the cloud of the warrants from the participants. As part of the
event, family court legal services and information regarding chemical
health, housing, and employment will also be available to participants.
This event will provide residents with an opportunity to clean their slate
and move on with their lives.
Meanwhile our clueless city is proposing to imprison it's citizens for criminal possession of peeling paint. Peter, if you're reading this, could we perpetrators of crimes against the code of tasteful home improvement be included in this restorative justice initiative? Given Hennipen County's tradition of providing seniors the option of working off their taxes on county jobs that suit there abilities I'm sure they can find some work for those of us that can't paint trim twenty feet up.
Back to todays peeling paint progress report:
Today was time to do the numbers. The first option, rehabbing my house, was viable with city help. Without city help it would be possible to keep the house at least liveable for a few more years. With a steady stream of city harassment, fines, etc.. it's a lost cause. It's thusly time to cut my losses and sadly abandon my house.
That leaves the question of alternatives. One can park an RV up to 25 feet long on one's lot in Minneapolis, but one can't legally occupy it. One can also park said RV behind a fence. So unless the housing inspectors get a helicopter and peer into the RV's windows with night vision video cameras they're not going to be able to prove the forbidden "occupancy". RV's start at about $10,000 and 15 grand will get you a decent one. My home needs at least 15 grand in rehab, and when the gangbangers take over it's a lot harder to move.
There's also my garage. Built only a couple years ago and in excellent structural shape compared to my 116 year old house's questionable foundation and tweaked structure. Fully insulated it's never been warmer than 82 degrees or colder than zero degrees inside, It should be easy to heat with woodstove, and their's no city code that bars the installation of a shower, toilet, sink, etc.. in a garage. I note that the housing inspectors flee my 'hood before nightfall, so I don't expect they'll spend all night spying in the window to prove "occupancy".
Of course, there is a way you can live in a nice riverfront location in an environmentally friendly manner, and the city would have no jurisdiction whatsoever... I'll save that one for another post.
In serial possession of peeling paint in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.)
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