A few days ago I was sitting on our couch when suddenly I heard a super-loud banging on our door. I mean REALLY LOUD!! It sounded as though someone was trying to kick the door in.
It was the Sheriff's department. The officer at the door informed me he was there to 'investigate' the vehicles I have on my yard. He did his best to try and intimidate me and treated me like a criminal. I don't like being bullied. He then informed me that he was there to check the VIN numbers on each of my cars and that if I didn't like it there was nothing I could do. His attitude was confrontational.
So, what could I do? Apparently nothing. I closed the door as he traipsed across the yard going from vehicle to vehicle recording the VIN numbers. I didn't see any point to talking further with him. The way he was acting I assumed I'd only get myself into trouble if I voiced any objection.
I knew what this all had to do with. The city council here is pushing to get rid of as many vehicles in town that they deem to be 'nuisances'. I guess that's what they consider mine to be.
They've changed the city ordinances here. It used to be that race cars were exempt from rules the rules they had. I guess that's no longer the case. Today I received a large envelope in the mail stating I have 7 days to remove most of our cars from our property or the Sheriff's department will confiscate them and charge us with misdemeanors for each one and charge us a fee for each one they tow away. They've now decided that any vehicle left on a person's property without being moved in the past 7 days constitutes an abandoned vehicle. Any vehicle that is inoperable does also. With the various car projects I have that are 'in process', I'm screwed.
If I read the copy of their statutes correctly it sounds as though businesses (car dealers) are allowed 60 days rather than the 7 they give to normal owners.
Now, I've gone through this a few times before. Each time they seem to modify their regulations after it was found that I was in compliance the time before. This time they've changed things to the point where I have to move all my cars out of town (other than the Sebring and the truck I just bought).
With all the problems as I've seen (and experienced) with thefts and vandalism in this area I'd think these A$$holes would have something more important to do than step on the rights of lawful citizens. Then again, I guess I'm not considered to be lawful anymore.
I try my best to keep my property maintained. I don't consider my vehicles to be a danger to anyone or an eyesore in the community. I bet if I had a handful of Prius's on the lot I'd have been left alone.