Posted on 04/06/2015 5:10:21 PM PDT by Cowman
Jeremy Trentelman’s cardboard fort for his kids came with windows, trap doors and a green slide. Then the city of Ogden, Utah, gave him 15 days to take it down.
With the help of their kids Max, 3, and Story, 2, Trentelman and his wife, Dee, cut and taped the cardboard to build two towers, trap doors, tunnels, and a slide. They built the whole thing last week with the help of their friend, Byron Owens, and his two kids Satoria and Oliver in Ogden, Utah. His friend’s daughter also wrote a sign on the door of the fort reading, “Everyone can come in.” “We all had a blast putting it together and we’ve had tons of fun with it since,” Trentelman told BuzzFeed News. Trentelman has few choices. He can pay $25 to dispute the citation, or pay the $125 fee if the fort doesn’t come down within 15 days. That means, Trentelman said, he’s got 14 days to milk the fort for all its worth. According to the letter, the fort violated the city’s code prohibiting, “waste materials or junk on premises.” “It’s an awesome fort,” he told BuzzFeed News. “It was just kind of silly and ridiculous.” He was angry at first, he said, and even pictured himself going to the city council meeting. He’d walk up to the podium and fight his cause if he had to. But he doesn’t want to turn what has been the center of joy and happiness for his kids into something negative.
The truth is the fort has seen a couple of days of rain, the elements are beating down on the cardboard and he would have probably taken it down, had it not been for the city’s notice. BuzzFeed News could not reach Ogden city officials Saturday because of the weekend. Now, Trentelman wants it to last, and he wants other kids to be able to enjoy it.
His kids love the fort, he explains. For him, it was a way to spark their imagination and getting them excited about playing outdoors and away from the electronics of the home. “As soon as we get home from the sitter, my son is like, ‘Can we play in the fort?’” he said. It was super cheap to build, and completely awesome.”
Trentelman now plans to keep the fort until day 14. He’s collecting cardboard to reinforce it, and to fix worn down pieces. If a friend or neighbor wants to borrow it and have their kids play with it in their yard, Trentelman said he’s more than happy to make it happen. He and his kids can draw dragons and unicorns on the sides, and pass it on to another family as a traveling art project. “It be great if it continues to live in another home,” he said. “Just because of the stupidity of the situation.” As word spread of the city’s notice, some members of the community have aired support for Trentelman and the fort. One has reached out to the rest of Ogden, and asked residents to build their own forts in their front yards.
Cardboard? citation? huh?
Cardboard today?
igloos tomorrow.
Why couldn’t they just put it in their BACKYARD?
FWIW, it is an eyesore.
We used to build these forts as kids, but we didn’t build them in the front yard? We built them on empty lots and backyards.
He should have built it in the back yard.
And so castles made of sand slips into the sea,
Eventually
Five will get you ten it was a neighbor who ratted him out behind his back.
The obvious choice is to convert it to a homeless camp.
Then the ACLU will pay his legal bills to fight the city.
Tell the city that it is a sustaneability project to teach the kids how to live without electricity. Dip the cardboard in epoxy resin.
Looks like recycling at its finest, “repurposing” junk that would have been added to some landfill. Where are the libs when you need them?
I rarely run against the flow but pile of card board is a total nuisance. What if there are 30 mph winds or RAIN? Give me a break. Go buy a real fort for your BACK yard or take your kids to jump and jive but get that crap out of sight!!!
These kids have awesome parents. Let them play for 14 days, then after a few weeks build a new one. LOL
It was put up to last only a couple of days. They are NOW leaving it up the 14 days because of the citation. I would probably do the same. People need to lighten up. It’s not a permanent structure...it’s cardboard.
Wasn’t worth my time. Yours?
Hey, Didn't the Simpsons do something like that when they found out they could get free boxes from a moving company?
When I was a kid, some of the neighborhood kids and I would get a cardboard refrigerator box(the appliance store was only going to throw it away anyway) and roll down hills inside of them. Good times.
About the fourth trip down the powerlines we realized we forgot brakes — and steering
Long live cardboard forts!
Down with spoil sport neighbors.
Perhaps not. But I have a personal policy that if I’m going to reply to an article with outrage, I read the article first.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.