Things just got a lot worse-- I received a criminal citation in the
mail today---my neighbor (1*) made another complaint to the city, this
time the result is a fine, which can double every 72 hours. They can
confiscate and sell anything we have ( such as my husband's old back-up
wheelchair & lift under a tarp), they can actually take the house &
evict us onto the street. I have 72 hours from today (I think, or if
it's 72 hours from when they managed to take pictures from inside the
fence?!?---but I can't call city office to clarify since it's closed
till Tuesday) to remove everything from our yard (all of which is
already behind a 6 foot stockade fence & can not be seen by the
public). If I am arrested which will happen if I don't do anything but
pay the fine, it is a criminal complaint,....... my husband will die,
the police here do not call nursing homes, they would take him,
wheelchair, ventilator & all (maybe) and put him in the local
jail---there would be no one to suction his trach/ clearing his airway
every 15 minutes, no one to assist him in urinating----how soon do you
think he would die & can you imagine the worst case scenario and what
it would be like?? If I desperately try to do go outside and work on
this immediately, and if I can't hear his vent alarm because I am
outside, or if I fall down the stairs again because I can't see very
well,.... he will also die.
The last complaint was the end of August ( on our anniversary)-We
fought back by writing letters (2*) to the disability commission,
calling everyone in these city departments all the way up to the mayor.
I even begged the respiratory therapy vendor to leave a voice-mail
message on the city inspectors phone (that's all they would do for the
$15,000.00 + yearly rental business they make off of us). Would they
just
explain the complexity of my husband's condition- that he is immobile
in a wheelchair, on a vent with oxygen, he has to be suctioned to
breathe, he must have someone to help him do everything, he can't call
out for help, or he can't use a phone (we have tried every kind of
intercom/walkie talkie/ baby monitor on the market & they don't work
either because he can't move anything, or talk with a ventilator or
oxygen machine buzzing next to him or we can't keep it recharged with
only one usable outlet in the house). All of that doesn't matter, once
a complaint is made, the law is the law, the liaison for the city's
Disability Commission told me I can't possibly expect them to make
exceptions for every disabled homeowner out there! All I could do was
to I agree to keep working on the problem, which I did........but while
trying to put some of this stuff away l fell down the basement steps (
that was September) and although it was just a sprain that I taped up,
it scared the hell out of me that my vision was really this poor now.
Then I had a call from my primary ending with him hanging up on me-
something about a serious problem with the C-4 thru C-6 section of my
neck , I had to see a specialist and he didn't want to hear excuses
about me doing anything as dangerous as lifting or moving things. (I
need another primary-but that's another story) . Then this month, I
received news that the MRI of my painful knee showed a large cyst among
other things, requiring a call to the specialist next week. My
neighbor has seen me outside moving with a cane since the fall, yet she
has chosen to makes this complaint now. Another neighbor who she
tormented for years told me she has bragged about her ability to 'work
the system', an in-law being a cop or something. Anyway the citation
was delivered today, and predictably she has made herself scarce,
observations from the last nine years of having 8 feet between our
house. I am so tired of all this. All I wished & hoped for today was to
find 10 minutes to go to a dollar store so I could buy two 99 cent
'champagne' gl***** - just to impart a note of special-ness to share
with my husband, afterall we are unable to go out, so I have been
saving a $3.99 bottle of whatever sparkling wine since I bought it on
sale last spring--we had such a dreadful year, we needed this to start
2006 on a better note!
So it is New Years Eve, my husband is sitting here crying (feeling any
and all solutions are hopeless), and despondent enough to say " Why
don't the police just come out and shoot us both, it would be better
than the torture we will probably be facing when this snowballs into
the Hell it most likely will become." All I can do is hug him but this
breaks my heart.
PS-Sunday (Jan 1st) I went outside in the front yard & just cut down
everything (18" mums & all my other perennials) since notice said "tall
grass & weeds" with their picture of front of our house-----I was out
there about 30 minutes when I finally heard the ventilator alarm going
off (sound not adjustable), I rushed back in the house to find my
husband in a complete panic, he had been yelling out to me, he needed
to have his airway cleared but I never heard him or the alarm.
Exasperated , he moaned, "this is not going to work! , I almost choked
to death".
I'll have to find another way now?
(1*)August 2005
My next-door neighbor who has made no secret of the fact that she does
not like disabled people. She files frequent complaints against us with
City Agencies as her preferred method of harassment, but she does other
things as well. Here is a sampling of things she has done.
When we moved in, she filed a complaint we had "junk" in the
driveway, in fact it was things we staged for carrying into the house
(we were cited)
When we moved in the belongings of an aunt who willed them to us, she
complained about the truck, while we were unloading it, and almost had
it towed (we were cited)
She complained about a delivery of topsoil in our driveway which we
used up in a day (we were cited)
When the Abilities Center installed our ramp, she called the building
inspector and said we didn't have a permit (we did)
She called the police several times because our handicapped van parked
in the driveway "blocked her view" (it didn't)
She re****ted us to Adult Protective Services, saying my husband had no
one taking care of him
She's re****ted us several times with nuisance and property appearance
complaints (flowers as weeds; trashcans waiting for pickup, etc.)
My partner's ventilator has an alarm that signals malfunction. She
complains about it and plays her stereo at very high volumes early in
the day in retaliation
She moved her compost pile against our fence -- the flies are so bad we
haven't been able to use our backyard in years
Our tires have been flattened
She planted shrubs at the end of the driveway, right to the curb,
including the public right-of-way, to block my view when I exit and
enter
She routinely throws her lawn clippings, weeds and lawn & garden debris
in our yard
(2*)August 26, 2005
To the Mayor's Commission on Disability:
I am writing to the Commission because your goals include:
Advocate for public policy change, systems change, and community
acceptance of all people with disabilities and their families.
Promote inclusion, informed choice, and independence among all people
with disabilities including those with most severe disabilities and
their community neighbors, coworkers, and friends.
The problem I am about to describe involves these issues specifically
and I respectfully request that you read the entire letter before
drawing any conclusions.
I am a functional tetraplegic from having Becker's Muscular
Dystrophy. I have resided in my home in the Polish Village neighborhood
for nearly ten years. In that time I have been continually harassed,
insulted, harangued and denigrated by a neighbor. This individual has
made repeated, do***ented comments regarding her dislike of disabled
people, including espousing her belief that when a disabled individual
moves in, a group home is inevitable. However, these are only words.
The reason I'm writing you is that her words have repeatedly turned to
action. Most disconcerting is that often she uses the City of Toledo as
her unsuspecting accomplice. How? Her M.O. has been to regularly and
continuously file malicious complaints about my activities and the
appearance of my property with any City Department that will take them.
Truthfully, some have had merit. Just this week an inspector showed up
from the Economic and Community Development Department because I had
been re****ted as having "trash" in my back yard (not true). However,
the vast majority have been trivial nuisance complaints -- minor or
"technical" violations of City property, nuisance and building codes.
Unfortunately, these Departments make no allowance for nuisance
complainers, thereby becoming an integral part of a pattern of
harassment against the disabled and, most likely, other vulnerable
minorities. I believe you, as a Board, should make it a priority to
work with code inspectors to ensure they are aware that they can be
used as instruments of harassment.
In addition, you should take measures to make them sensitive to the
fact that the disabled have special needs which should be respected.
Some leeway should be given in terms of deadlines and what can
reasonably be expected from the disabled in terms of immediate
compliance with City orders. There must be some flexibility regarding
the ability of the disabled community to comply with city directives as
to property appearance standards. I am not saying the disabled should
be exempt, only that City officials take a lenient approach and be
given the flexibility to work with a disabled individual to
constructively correct a problem instead of the status quo, which is
issuing impossible orders to people who lack the ability to immediately
comply, i.e. those who must depend on family, friends or, in my case (I
have no friends or family here), expensive tradesmen whom I cannot
always immediately afford. Some times all that is needed is extra time.
Have we become so bureaucratic that we've lost our heart? They might as
well order the disabled to stop being disabled within 72 hours or face
a fine. No exceptions! I don't think anyone would go for that.
The City of Toledo should be dedicated to stomping out all forms of
discrimination and harassment, not helping people carry out such
practices.
Sincerely,
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