Posted on 05/09/2019 9:55:45 AM PDT by Ken H
Institute for Justice sues Dunedin, Fla., over the $29,000 in fines imposed without due process over Jim Ficken's unmowed lawn.
The city of Dunedin, Florida, wants to foreclose on a private home because the owner, Jim Ficken, owes the city over $29,000 in fines. The crime for which he is threatened with home loss? Having his lawn grass be too tall (over 10 inches) for a period of eight weeks last summer. The city fined him $500 per day of violation, with no warning.
Ficken was out of town at the time, settling his mother's estate. Ficken hired a handyman to deal with his lawn while he tended to his dying mother and then to her estate, but in a cruel twist, the handyman also died during the Fickens' ordeal, leaving the lawn uncut.
Ficken is 69 years old and lives on a fixed income. He was unaware that he was racking up the daily fines, but cut his grass within two days of finally being informed by a city code inspector that there was a problem. In a sane world, Ficken's explanation for neglecting his lawn and the fact that he remedied the problem as soon as he learned of it, would seemingly resolve the issue. No harm, no fine.
But the Dunedin government is apparently not sane. Because Ficken was also cited for overly tall grass in 2015, the city—unbeknownst to Ficken—classified him as a "repeat violator." This classification doubled his daily fine from $250 to $500 and relieved the Code Enforcement Board of providing him notice. Because Ficken cannot afford the fines he didn't know he was accumulating, the city of Dunedin insists that it can now take his home to pay off his debt.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
“Florida City” that’s a new one.
Did the famous code enforcement officer, the BTK killer, get an early release or something?
No mitigating circumstances are to be considered. This a back-door approach to eminent domain, a doctrine that in and of itself is at best questionable.
Seizure and forfeiture are the tools of a command-and-control regime.
Slanted one sided news (left or right) is never an accurate representation of the truth.
There’s always more to the story.
So it’s not just “Florida Man” who has problems in this state, it’s also regular, decent folks who happen to live in Florida getting in trouble through no fault of their own.
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson
Government at all levels has become rapacious. The tree of liberty needs attention.
Well, in this story, the “Florida Man” appears to be the victim, not the perp.
I hope a solution is found, without him losing his house or his life due to stressing over this.
If he was my neighbor I would cut his grass every so often for free.
That’ll teach the old criminal not to hire someone who will die unbeknownst to him while he was away- Serves him right for such a hardened crime!
Now all he has to do is self identify as an illegal islamic pregnant female alien- all charges will be dropped
would be nice if he had a gofundme page that brought in $129,000+ for this man
Been looking at various articles on this and, boy, sure looks to me like the elderly gent is getting screwed.
But discovery will tell the tale.
Bet the city backs off ASAP if anything hinky is going on.
My father taught me, as a child, to choose where I live wisely. Don’t live where floods can come. Don’t live where tornadoes and hurricanes are prevelant. And don’t live where the government can exercise control over how you live on your property.
I’ve never, EVER owned a home governed by an HOA and I ensured that my home I expect to retire in will be minimum risk - It’s on a knob, rather than in the valley. and it is in unincorporated county area. I don’t even need a permit to build a house.
The downfall of the American Republic began when we abandoned the practice of Tar and Feathers.
Zoning is one of the worst programs in this country.
It takes away a huge amount of property rights with no compensation.
There must be a reason the city wants the property. Is it a site that can be developed with a higher tax rate such as business zoning? Is it a hold out SFR parcel keeping a developer from going in and building something like a strip mall?
eminent domain, a doctrine that in and of itself is at best questionable.
I sprained both ankles a couple of Sundays back and am fairly mobile now.
The grass at the old house is knee high, mostly dandelions. I plan on mowing Saturday. I really can’t justify a yard person right now.
A rider isn’t practical due to layout. I can push mow it ok.
Where I am now, very little yard to speak of. I have it mowed and weedeaten in about an hour.
Anyone want to buy a home not far from Ft Jackson? It’s in a nice area of the burbs. A little paint and some other cosmetics and finally ready to be on the market.
The rest of the story is that it is two blocks from the Gulf. The house is a very small old style Florida home. Probably originally built as a vacation cottage.
Thank you Florida, for being a public records state.
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