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.
Yeah for this dad and for building something with his children. This family would be right at home in our neighborhood where kids are always building something and mostly out of odds and ends. These children’s memories of their dad doing something constructive with them will last a whole lot longer than any cardboard fort.
Perhaps if other neighborhoods had activities like this going on with fathers we’d have less Ferguson’s.
That'll be interesting. I tend to agree with those commenting that it should have been in the back yard, but hey, what's a little civil disobedience between neighbors?
Get the alcohol out of gasoline first. Its an 0bamanation.
What would the Ogden gestapo have done with Occupy Wall Street?
Mrs. Kravitz probably called the county. I have one in my neighborhood.
he needs a high fence. good fences make good neighbors. kids should be able to play in their yard. front and back anywhere there is grass. city should go take a hike.
Welcome to obama’s Fascist America where fun is outlawed and a tyrannical government is everywhere.
http://www.amazon.com/Christina-Katerina-Box-Patricia-Gauch/dp/1590789156/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428373299&sr=1-1&keywords=katrina+and+the+box
He should’ve put it in the backyard, especially since his children are only 2 and 3 years of age and shouldn’t be playing by the road. However, this didn’t rate anything but a warning.
“Five will get you ten it was a neighbor who ratted him out behind his back.”
That’s my guess as well.
That is an awesome fort!! And indoors, so it will last a while. Very cool.
Thanks for posting the fort picture. It shows this isn’t exactly a McMansion neighborhood so it’s even more of a travesty that Mrs. Kravitz is getting in the way of kids using their hands and minds while working with their father. That whole scenario is rare enough these days while the code violations in “those” neighborhoods can’t even be numbered.
That fort was not as “awesome” as I was expecting..... Tearing it down isn’t much of a loss.
Reminds me of when my boys were young....maybe 3,5 & 7-ish. I had spent hundreds on their Christmas gifts. Really.
Got hubbie a BBQ grill, it came in a huge box. He opened in on Christmas morning and the kids were so distracted by it.....playing in and out of it...that they forgot all about their presents under the tree.
I coulda saved a ton of money by going to the local appliance store and getting a few refrigerator boxes. Heh.
He cries, “Oh, girl, you must be mad! What happened to the sweet fort you and me had?”
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