You'd think it'd be unlikely that anyone would want to demolish the house after the improvements we've made but they're still not backing down from their threat.
Last Fall they required us to appear before them to temporarily forgo having the house burnt down. At the meeting they made their stance clear. They say they declared the property a nuisance and therefore have the authority to decide what will become of it. They also stated that they have the right to enter the property whenever they see fit.
Our counter-argument was that we had re-started working on the house several weeks prior to 'their declaration' and that it had been our intent to totally renovate it. We further explained the setbacks with my 2 heart attacks, thefts, vandalism, and the deaths of all 4 of Teresa & my parents. We listed the thousands of dollars worth of improvements that we'd already made during those past few years.
I never would have believed that the members of a government officiating body would have ever reacted the way they did. They openly mocked us at the meeting. It was like dealing with very badly behaving spoiled teenagers. As we left the meeting Teresa was practically in tears. They jeered at us and laughed as we walked out. I'm sure that it is hard for some of you folks to believe my description of the event but I'm truly not exaggerating any of it.
I've said before that there are a lot of nice people that do live in that town. There are. - And we've started hearing from several of them that are outraged at what's been going on. Right now local public opinion is on our side. How much weight that carries with the mayor and council is yet to be seen. I'm of the belief that they'll back down if they start to perceive this as a fight they can't win or if enough of the townspeople speak up. We're not the only property owners that have had a conflict with the mayor/city council. Others have stopped by as we've been working and related their own ordeals to us.
This particular house that we've been working on has a history that many residents are aware of. It was built in the early 1900s by an elderly banker who married late in life. He had it built for his new bride and wanted it to be a show piece home. At the time it was considered the nicest house in town. Subsequent owners made some really crappy modifications to it and the house was not properly maintained. Vandals & thieves did further damage. When I bought the house it was in sad shape but I believed that it had the potential to once again become one of the nicest houses in town.
Unfortunately the vandalism and thefts remained a persistent problem even as I worked on improvements. Despite the setbacks we've still made progress. What pisses me off is that the city officials have gone out of their way to shield the vandals from prosecution and instead consider the property owners to be at fault. In some cases we know that some of the offspring of council members were doing the vandalism.
I'm sure that if we did move in there's a good chance the vandalism would go away. - But my cars and shop are elsewhere and I am so sick and tired of the concept of having my life and lifestyle controlled by lawbreakers and arrogant government officials. I think that if I had a reputation for being one mean (don't F with me) S.O.B., I'd have a lot less problems. Maybe I should rent it out to a biker gang.