Minnesota man thrown in jail for not siding his house, following code enforcement essential

A Minnesota man was arrested and thrown in jail after failing to complete the siding on his home.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/real-news-from-the-blaze/

Property rights? The encroachment on your property now has an avenue for disruption! Codes enforcement! Annexation! Eminent Domain! PUD regulations! Zoning! International code enforcement! Environmental laws! All are now being used as tools to take or tell you what to do with your property rights!

I spent another glorious morning with the Comprehensive Growth Planners last week! I was pleased to see that at least they had put some goals and wording about property rights! No final goals but at least a start!

I sat across from one of the Non Governmental Organization (NGO) appointees, a self appointed leader of this expensive and expansive growth plan! I will not quote him directly as not to misquote and their were plenty of witnesses to this short debate!

He spoke up when the plan was being looked at and we started discussing HB 1554 and Brownfield development which was brought to us by our 24 th District State Representative!

A great portion of this bill is to enforce codes, levy new taxes, benefit a few and use eminent domain to basically clear out about 90 acres for downtown development while restoring older buildings at the inconvenience of home owners!

This gentlemen interjected, unprovoked and said I have no problem going on to your property and mowing your yard if it needs it! He also went on to say he took a small lot from a little ole lady in the Knoxville area who abandoned her property and their were whore houses and a red light district around it! I had no problem with taking that property! Wow! I said!

This is everything I see wrong with this plan and have been verbal about for years regarding this plan!

After a little more debate and many failed attempts to get the “meeting back on track” he says ok, then I rescind the last statement and let’s act like I never said it!

Readers, we are no different than this man and his family I am reporting below! Our property rights are in jeopardy and the stage is being set to treat you the very same way in Bradley County! Get ready! It’s coming! After you read this, walk around the property and see what they could throw you in jail for! Some of you could be spending a long time in there!

Mitch Faber spent two days in jail before a judge released him for electronic home monitoring. (Image source: KSTP-TV)

A Minnesota man was arrested and thrown in jail — all because city officials said he had not properly put up siding on his house.

Officials in Burnsville, Minn. cited Mitch Faber with “having an unfinished exterior” when, nearly four years after he started it, his home’s stucco project was not complete, Fox News reported.

Faber told Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP-TV he always intended to finish the project, but that he ran into financial trouble when the economy took a turn.

His first encounter with the city happened in 2007 when he got a letter saying the siding needed to be finished.

“We were in the process of finishing,” Faber told the station. “This wasn’t something that we were trying to avoid doing.”

There were two more letters in 2009 and another in 2010, which required Faber to appear in court. That’s when, he told KSTP, he was instructed in no uncertain terms: Finish the siding or go to jail.

In order to comply, Faber and his wife spent $12,000 to put a stucco facade over their house’s plywood exterior. It wasn’t enough: Last November, Faber was arrested after city inspectors concluded the work wasn’t up to code.

According to a statement on the city’s Facebook page — posted after the story made local headlines — a judge issued a bench warrant for Faber’s arrest after the inspectors determined the work was not complete. He was arrested during a routine traffic stop.

“I’m walking around in a green and white jump suit, I had to shower in front of a sheriff, I was shackled, my wrists were handcuffed to my waist — for siding,” Faber told KSTP.

After two days, a judge released Faber but still required him to submit to electronic home monitoring.

In a statement to KSTP, Burnsville communications coordinator Marty Doll said the city provided Faber “ample opportunity (nearly four years) to remedy the situation before issuing a citation…the city’s practice is to only issue citations for property maintenance issues (such as this one) as a last resort.”

Still, he defended the city’s actions, albeit admitting the situation is “unfortunate.”

“Code enforcement is an important part of making sure all neighbors can take pride in their neighborhoods,” he said in a statement to Fox News. “The city agrees it unfortunate that this situation was not able to be resolved in typical fashion.”