14 E Jessamine A City Out of Control
Hi All,
If you own a home in Saint Paul, this could happen to you. Please find links below to the A Democracy files. You will find photos of the Jessamine home there. Please click onto the comments for my opinion.
Exterior photos
Interior photos
Demolition photos
You can click onto the title of this post for Nancy Ostermans blog the owner of 14 E. Jessamine
If you own a home in Saint Paul, this could happen to you. Please find links below to the A Democracy files. You will find photos of the Jessamine home there. Please click onto the comments for my opinion.
Exterior photos
Interior photos
Demolition photos
You can click onto the title of this post for Nancy Ostermans blog the owner of 14 E. Jessamine
posted by Bob at Wednesday, April 11, 2007
17 Comments:
This home and Nancy's tragic story is what catapulted me into this fight.
I was a new member of Saint Paul Issues and Forums when this matter came up back in January of 05.
I witnessed city representatives lie to the media to win public perception to cover up their wrong doing over the demolition of this home.
I witnessed City entrenched bureaucrats defending the City's actions at Saint Paul Issues and Forums.
I seen evidence of less than ethical actions by the City on many fronts in their goal of demolishing this house.
So much has transpired since this time in January of 05.
I have learned of one tragic story after another concerning the evil deeds of the chosen few within City government to relieve people of their homes.
It was only a few short months ago I found out the City was the catalyst to the demise of two people very close to my heart.
Some bureaucrats felt their home was not pretty enough for the President of the United states to drive by so code enforcement was ordered to give them hell.
It didn't seem to matter that there was 2 very large buildings along this same route that are extremely blighted. Wealthy developers had stakes in these buildings.
Code gave them hell alright. My friend was in poor health and she succumbed to the pressures of code enforcement writing her home up and she died. her significant other of over 35 years committed suicide.
Nancy, I thank God you and your family did not reach these depths of despair over your home.
I have a ton of photos folks, if you would like to see more let me know.
I even have a photo of that construction workers truck the City hired to demolish the home loaded with the material he had stolen from the garage.
Bob and Nancy,
I also remember this story well and I really questioned the city's actions.
I can also remember a few photos of a city inspector, Steve Manger who was caught in Nancy's garage taking items. Bob, are city inspectors allowed to take items from a property that is going to be demolished? I never heard if Steve Manger was ever charged with taking these items.
If I remember correctly the city council member in that area is Lee Helgen who is up for reelection. I also remember him posting on SPIF with great joy that this house was being demolished. This is very troubling to say the least. What Helgen should have been doing was working with the owners and the city to put some resolve on this thing instead of pushing for the home to be demolished. It seemed that the homeowners put a lot of time and effort into this house to fix it up. Several other homes in the neighborhood were is bad shape and in looking at the property records not one complaint against them. Why was Nancy’s house targeted?
There have been other homes in the city that have been demolished that were good, but just needed some work. They were not to the point where they should have been demolished. There was one in the Mac-Groveland neighborhood that was demolished. It was a good home in need of some minor repairs, but due to a tiff with a city council member the home was demolished.
I have also seen the city to go after particular people due to behavior issues. In the end the property gets the blame, but the city should have held the individuals responsible for their actions, not the property.
What should be done is set up a citizen review committee to review all homes before they are demolished. A committee like the citizens review committee that the police department uses. All too often these decisions to demolish a home are made by one or two individuals.
On April 12, 2007 some district councils are having their annual meetings to elect their board members to these district councils. This is a perfect time to get involved and have your say in local politics. I encourage all of you to attend so it does not turn into a Liberal-Progressive DFL show where these individuals feel they can take away your property at will or ban things for your own good.
Macalester-Groveland Community Council
Date: April 12, 2007
Time: 6:30-8:30 PM
Location: Immanuel Lutheran Church, 104 Snelling Ave S
Highland District Council Meeting
Date: April 12, 2007
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Hillcrest Recreation Center, 1978 Ford Parkway
I hope to see you all there.
Looks like it was a nice home.
I am glad I get along with my neighbors.
Wow! Do I tell my neighbors about this or not. information like this can go both ways.
Looks like it was a nice home.
I am glad I get along with my neighbors.
Wow! Do I tell my neighbors about this or not. information like this can go both ways.
OH MY GOD! I cannot believe it! Now I know what people are saying when they tell me to be careful of purchasing a home in St.Paul. That house looks in better shape then most of the homes I have been looking to buy. If the city tore that house down then I could stand to lose on my investment if I purchase a home in my price range. Thanks for the update, I can't afford to take a risk and buy in St.Paul.
I guess I am kind of lost on this one, why would the city tear a home down that is in such good condition? And to make matters worse I am reading that the council representitive for the area announced the demolishion like it was a celebration of an event! This whole story about this house with the threats, city officials breaking into the home, stealing the building materials it all seems like it would be against the law. Isn't there any type of action the family could take to get something back from their investment? Was the owner allowed time to remove the new windows, doors and other fixtures before the city took the home down?
Please excuse me for asking so many questions I am new to this blog I happen to recieve a newsletter about it and thought I would check and see what all the town talk here on the East Side of St.Paul is about for myself. I just don't understand how something like this can happen in America.
OK Bobby boy.....I'm glad to took my advice on the photos. Now I have some more demand to make. I know you have more photos of this home. I'm right here and now calling for you to keep this htread on the toip of the ,list and make a series out of this thread for as long as it takes to show each and every photo of the inside and outside of this home so people see what is not good enough to live in within the city of St Paul.
But first, lets see the truth in housing inspection report where the only things listed as problems are the things the city caused by ordering the electricity and water turned off. Maybe we could also see the "red tag" where the city ordered the workers to stop working on rehabilitating the property.
Finally, maybe you could finidh it off with a "repost" of the famous proclamation by Lee Helgen about how happy he was aboput the place being torn down. Can you lift Helgens photograph out of the Coty Council web page and "photoshop" it so he is standing on top of the torn down reamins of the home?....next to the bulldozer would be my choice if you don't mind!
The head guy of the vacant buildings department is Steve Magner. I have personal knowledge of him and one of his vacant home builder buddies putting the pressure on property owners with a code compliance and then buying it when its under that pressure for pennies on the dollar.These guys in the lawsuit should check into this corrupt St.Paul official.The informations out there.Just ask some of the building inspectors, they know.
Whatever happened to Steve Manger. He was photographed taking Items from a house that was about to be demolished.
Does he still have a job?
Was he ever prosecuted for taking these items?
Interested on the Eastside.
I really appreciate all the support I have had through people that never even knew me that could see what city officials were doing and were caring enough to come forward and stand up for me. It is people like you that I thank along with god for me being able to stay strong and move forward with my life. I knew what many officials did was legally wrong even before I started studying criminal justice in college.
One thing I am sure of is that I am proof that a person can overcome addiction and become a productive citizen once again as I was prior to my problem, the only requirements are; a supportive group of people and the right tools! Just as I hear Bob speak of frequently that the city should focus on mentoring programs and arresting the offenders instead of destroying homes of families. That is indeed what I would see for a safer, more successful community. Invest in the future of the citizens and their children, the children are our future.
Ordering a complete code compliance on my home was ordered as a punishment to me for not doing dirty deeds for the law officials, I did have the choice. Now if my home was such a hazard why did I have the choice? I could become an informant and recieve no code compliance, no snitching the consequences were a complete code compliance ordered beyond my ability to comply with.
I would state this under oath or through a polygraph test... But I would like to invite a couple of officials to join me also to see just who holds the truth.
The end results are still a blessing in my eyes, that is because I have been drug free for almost 3 years now I have my children back after spending $25,000 in attorney fee's to fight all the way to the court of appeals in which I am still paying for... By the way the child protection worker must of been part of the consequences package with the city/county because he also lied under oath to terminate my parental rights! But guess what I fought that battle with proof and witnesses and the end results were the child protection worker ended up under investigation and took early retirement.
So I know how officials can retaliate on a person to show their power and I know with the statistics on substance abuse in population everyone one of us knows of at least one person that is suffering from addiction whether you want to admit it or turn your head and pretend its not happening, reality is it is happening.
Again Thank you to those of you that have been supportive of my family and I by understanding how this nightmare with the city has affected my life and done the same to many other families as well.
Don't count on any officials fron the city of St Paul steping up to give you any help in discovering any truth. St Paul's interest is in covering this thing up so the public never ever sees it. In case you don't know it, the city is being sued for this kind of crap and rather than do any kind of investigation on nay of it, they work overtime to cover it up. Hell they wouldn't even answer any questions about it. Rather than have their depositions taken so people could get at the truth, the City Counil goes to court to try and keep on hiding the truth. I'm delighted that the Judge did not go along with them and ordered them to testify.
When a Federal Judge has to order you to come and give testimony regarding the truth of an investigation someone is conducting so they can uncover the corruption you refuse to investigate, that tells me all I need to know about the allegations at hand.
I have a question for Nancy, how did you manage to hold your composure and remain drug free with so many city people causing you stress at everything you were doing? As in with your issues of the law, child protection and then the housing code department that was also taking what appeared to be a nice home and tearing it down. I give you a lot of credit for all you have been through, you would be a good role model and example to use to help others that are suffering from the illness of addiction. You should be used by the city to help with some programs for others to show that a person can do what you have done and beat the odds. Congrats at what I would call success on your part!
You beat the odds and cheated the system Nancy. Congratulations, they never want a person to change because then they lose control of you and that is what it is all about is the Government's ability to control people.
Geez - Any one besides me notice how hot Nancy is?
2:41 Thank you for the compliment...
She is hot....probably much too hot to handle and that fuels the jealousy with these neighborhod busy bodies that are more than just anoyed that their husbands would even look at Nancy....and how could you help not looking?
I wonder if Helgen felt intimidated by her. Guys that look like Helgen usually don't do well with a woman that looks like Nancy because they come of as such simpletons.
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