Posted on 12/20/2013 12:17:05 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
KENNER, La. —A Louisiana homeowner watched in horror as city workers in Kenner, La. tore down the house she was rebuilding since Hurricane Katrina.
“I'm going to wind up in the loony bin. I've tried for seven years to get back home. This is my home. This is my corner. I own this piece of property, and Kenner does this to me,” said home owner Reba Tullier.
But the city of Kenner said it has a zero-tolerance policy on blighted homes.
Tullier said she had finally lined up help to fix her house, but it was too late.
“It's not fair, it's insane,” said Tullier.
Tullier and her family went from tears to screams and back again as they watched a bulldozer plow through their property Wednesday.
“I was on my way in today to do an $800 injunction -- had no clue this was happening today,” said Tullier. “I do not get a letter. I do not get a date when this is going to happen. I've called every single day to try to talk with somebody who could tell me when this was going to happen. Nobody could tell me anything because conveniently there's no one in the office.”
Tullier's house at 2001 Kentucky Ave. was damaged in Hurricane Katrina. She had to bulldoze it then.
She was rebuilding her family home while she lives in Mississippi.
The city of Kenner sent her a letter in April, saying her work permit had expired due to six months of inactivity on the property.
“All we were trying to do was come back home and they didn't want to give us time, the city just wanted this house down,” said Brittany Tullier, Reba’s daughter.
The city council voted on Oct. 17 to demolish the property after complaints from neighbors about safety and lack of activity. The city attorney said Reba Tullier did not appeal that decision but was told to get an attorney.
She said no attorney would take her case, she couldn't get a loan and a contractor ran off with her money.
But she now has a group of volunteers ready to help.
“You don't know what we've been doing. You don't know what we've been trying to do,” said Reba Tullier.
She said the house would have been done in about three months with all of the volunteer help she had lined up. Now she said she'll probably have to sell the property.
The city attorney said Kenner will put a lien on Tullier's tax bill to pay for the demolition.
“They're going to pay for this to be rebuilt. This is wrong. There is no court order filed in the system,” said Reba Tullier.
City Attorney Keith Conley told WDSU there is no court order required. A house can be demolished by council action, he said.
Conley said Tullier's house is one of 13 homes demolished in the last couple of months as part of a zero tolerance for blight policy.
sounds like they started working on a replacement structure and then stopped. After they had left the half built house there for a long time the neighbors complained.
How strange. My Google street photo was taken at a different time than yours.
And if you look carefully - you will see the reason why her house was bulldozed.
Shouldn’t there be some due process? Do we really want bureaucrats deciding to tear down houses, with no process for appeal, nor even notice to the owner when the demolition is to occur?
Was she compensated for the loss of her structure? If she was not living in it then I would not consider it her home. Even still it is her property and she should be compensated for the destruction (taking) of her property.
The ‘no lawyer will take her case’ is a red herring. Any judiciary corrupt enough to destroy property without compensation does not recognize or respect its claimants -or their attorneys. It may just as well mean this is a corrupt township.
She had no money and she was going to finish building with volunteer labor??? and this is 8 years after Katrina???
I can see why the neighbors were fed up with her.
Some people are happy living in a country where politicians can decide that your property is an eyesore and then call out the city’s bulldozer to tear down your house.
Somehow, I bet they feel a bit different if the politicians order the bulldozer crew to tear down their house.
Yes. Even if it was unsafe and she was a nutjob... it is still destruction of private property without due process (no court order).
Fed up neighbors is not justification to tear down your house.
It doesn’t look that bad to me. The area across the street looks much less attractive.
Looking at the house through the undamaged tree and underbrush, it shows disrepair, not wind damage. (IMO)
Failure to have it livable after 8 years sure is though.
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So, what happens when some elected officials decide that your home, the home that you own, does not fit the standards of a high class town like Kenner, Louisiana?
Will you also welcome the bulldozer to your home?
Everyone of these injustices perpetrated by the state against citizens to rob them of legally owned property always seems to start with some a-hole busybody who cannot seem to simply mind their own effin' business.
It depends on where your cursor is when you zoom in for the street view.
If you can look to the left (down the street) and see a taxi, then move back over to the front of the house itself. You should see a bad luck omen.
Sorry, I can’t screen capture.
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