City Levies 150k On Elderly Lady’s Home, Man Voluntarily Makes Repairs, City Not Satisfied

Sarasota, Florida:  Marie Louise Sikorski has called her house home after having lived in it for most of her life. Her humble abode on Webber Street is full of life-long memories. The nosey neighbors called the city to ask for help so she could get some minor repairs done, but instead the code enforcement folks wrote her up for a handful of victimless violations.

So now they’ve levied a mountain of fines on her property that she says totals close to $150,000.  With her fixed income at $1,000 a month, and her only family members living on the west coast, she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. Sikorski says, “Our daughter started the 6th grade when we bought this house, I can’t see any reason it would be condemned, it’s still a good house.”

Marie Louise Sikorski – WFLA.com

Then with a stroke of luck another neighbor, 30-year-old Miles, came to her rescue with another example of Voluntaryism.

He said. “I saw a situation that looked desperate, she didn’t have any help, and it didn’t feel right. I couldn’t just walk away from it.”

After learning about her dilemma he started repairing her home which included frequent 16 hour days, all voluntarily and no out-of-pocket expense for Mrs. Sikorski. Fast forward 2 and a half months, her home is transformed into a remodeled beauty, but officials in the big bad city are still frowning upon her property and have imposed a $500 a day fine.

The rule in many cities, including Sarasota states that remodeling work be completed by a “licensed” contractor, unfortunately Miles does not have a permission slip from the state to repair houses. The city spoke up and released this statement, “At this point we will continue to see that the code standards are met, there is no “harassment” occurring.”

Just outside Dallas, Texas there is a small unincorporated town called Sand Branch which hasn’t had running water for decades, the city has come in and condemned homes left and right. There have been many volunteers that have offered help to repair their homes to prevent the city from seizing them. But with the same oppressive fashion, the Dallas planning and development mentions at the end of this report that they are not allowed to perform any repairs to improve their homes and if they do they will lose them.

Miles did his duty by defying what the city has said and erected a few signs to place in Sikorski’s front yard to educate the public about the local tyranny.

Miles reiterated his disgust with the city, “The letter of the law says to fine her 500 dollars a day, but then when you look at the reality of the situation, a 90-year-old widow doesn’t have any help or family. There should be a program in place for people like this.”

Mrs. Sikorski emotionally exclaimed, that she’s forever thankful for all the work that Miles has done and will never forget it. “I can’t say all the things that he’s done, I mean he’s helped so much, I hate to see him leave.”  Instead of issuing demerits and stealing people’s money with the threat of violence, just draw up a public notice asking for volunteers to assist her, it will work and the peace and unity of the community will grow stronger. Just like this story in a town near Waco, Texas, where four brothers voluntarily mowed the yard of and elderly woman so she wouldn’t be arrested for unpaid fines for her grass being to high.  Strong arming citizens into draining their bank accounts while using the threat of property seizure as a remedy for homes that are less palatable or an eye sore for the tactless city officials, is an instant way to gain enemies and ignite resistance.

By Andre’ Gabriel Esparza – DontComply.com