Englewood Story

Link: http://s823.photobucket.com/albums/zz152/laurabartnick/?action=view&current=AWingedPrayer.flv

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CAUSE OF FAIR HOUSING AND EQUAL ACCESS ARE BEING TAKEN AT: 3029 S. Pearl Street, Englewood, Colorado 80113. Spend Responsibly.

Link: http://englewoodstory.com

Lost in memories full of feeling, Bill and I sit under our umbrella tree in the back yard of Poets' Rest, Pearl Street. A single candlelight flickers the darkness. Outlined in my peripheral vision stands our chicken coop, turned garden shed. The lines of it also help to evoke the flight of my imagination.

After a while, Bill says, “You are so quiet. What are you thinking?”

I tell him that once, years ago, I dined with the King of Vendaland.

“What did you say?” He’s not sure he heard correctly.

“Not alone, but along with my five band members from Youth For Christ. We had been asked to sing at some teachers colleges and had driven up from South Africa only to find ourselves situated at a dimly campsite. We didn’t have wood for a fire pit, so we cut up salad and rolls and ate simply.

“I remember that in the background, the crackling sounds from British Radio and other places accompanied our meal. Someone had brought us a short wave radio, and we cooked our evening meal to that and laughed and sang with the songs that aired telling memoirs about them. It was surprisingly peaceful, being left to our own devices in the open air.

“Our host brought us some pillows and sleeping gear, and we camped out.

“The next morning, we performed Christian music and testimonies at a teachers college, with an interpreter nearby. The college students danced and waved their arms in approval to the songs, even though, our music was of a very different beat and sound to their own. They were so welcoming.

“Afterwards, we were quickly hustled away with all manner of importance and taken to a hotel with a very long tribal table fitted with chairs waiting in a dimly lit dining room. As we were standing there, the King of Vendaland, decked in grand colorful robes, too hot for summertime, with one of his five wives, the choice flower for social gatherings, accompanied him to the table, and he welcomed us to lunch.

“We listened to the King talk about his Country. Then, we were brought plates of food, and all that I recall from that meal are the giant shrimp on each plate. I’ve never laid eyes on shrimp that size since. I remember all of our gasps and delighted laughter. The shrimp were each the size of a rock lobster tail, about the length of my hand. Fat, juicy, sweet,-- on a bed of rice.”

Bill is insanely jealous, not only because he loves shrimp, but he also wonders why I have never told him this story before. “I don’t know,” I say, “I always think of it when we sit out here like this.”

Link: http://EyeOnEnglewood.com

We decided to sell our precious historic home on Acoma Street in order to afford the home on Pearl, our “pearl of great price.”

We joked that it was a “pearl of a house" on a "pearl of a street”... or, it soon would be.

Lessons learned, we designed a home that would allow each member of our family (usually students) to have their own restroom, a study nook and an extra mini-kitchen in the extra den.

We utilized the buffer of our bank's Construction Loan department which acted like a trust in dispensing funds only after inspections and work was completed.

This way, there could be no funny pre-pay business like our last contractor had pulled.

Surprisingly, the City of Englewood agreed to accept our hand-drawn plans if the foundation and roof designs were drawn by a structural architect.

Over the years, we had admired the work of Welch Construction, in Englewood, and entered into a contract with Mr. Welch to have the house finished by mid-August, in time for students to occupy it for the fall semester.

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Link: http://EyeOnEnglewood.com

Hippie-Chick fumed and cried and told us she was leaving at the end of December. "Thanks, Englewood, for ruining my Christmas. I will never live in this town again." And, she left.

By this time our South Korean student had managed to arrange a guardianship for us. Our relationship was "legal" according to Englewood standards.

December 27, 2007, I wrote an e-mail to the City Manager telling him we were in full compliance with the City's definition of household.

Manager Sears didn't care about compliance after all. His aim was to boot us out of his neighborhood and make us suffer for living within eye-shot of his own home. He also wasn't keen on the fact that we had called him a spider weaving a web for us.

The City Manager's park side property with a private river running through it simply did not coincide with seeing mixed races living near his house. Where two were welcome, more might come. There was a slippery slope to consider.

Manager Sears continued to confer with City Attorney Brotzman and Building Department Supervisor, Lance Smith. Jointly, they determined how to refuse us an approval of our final inspections.

Nothing was illegal about not giving us a final inspection on our permits, except as to a breech of contract, and they could always claim they were looking out for us in a dangerous situation if we took them to court.

It would be hush-hush that it was the City forcing our mixed race students out of our home. We were the only one facing liability if any of the students complained to HUD or to Colorado Civil Rights Division about being tossed out of their home. As yet, nothing could be proven about the City's intimidation, threats, or refusal of City services.

So, when we called for final inspections on January 3, 2008, the City inspectors came together saying they'd planned it that way.

The correction notices they left with us asked for caulking a bathroom toilet, correcting a shower's water heat by one degree, and instructing us to put a handrail return at the top of our stairway. Inspector Charles Petty penned, "refused" in the "final inspection" column.

Inspector Craig Daly wrote a memo to the file stating that everything appeared in good condition, but that the original plumber on the permit had not finished the job. There was no danger or safety concern mentioned.

But, Lance Smith immediately called Roger at Castle Plumbing and made a deal with him, not to hold him liable for any dangerous issue that might arise at the Bartnick's house, if he would immediately write a letter for the City files that he hadn't done the finish plumbing at the house. Of course he complied because it relieved him from liability as a plumber who had abandoned his job.

Then, on January 7, 2008, Lance refused not only finals on the final inspections, but also refused to give us new permits. He said City Attorney Dan Brotzman had ordered him not to. I showed him our correction notice from the final, and said, "I'm here to comply with your inspector's request to buy yet another permit." I told him we had finished the corrections on the inspectors' Notices, but he refused to perform a final inspection. I asked him to back up his refusals with a written policy or law, and he said he would ask the City's attorney and get back with me.

I went that evening and addressed City Council, asking them to right a wrong happening at the City Staff level regarding our home, and also asked them face to face to investigate where the City's right to plan or map out proposed zoning divisions ends and where a homeowner's right extends as to private uses of the inside of their home.

At the end of the meeting, Councilman McCaslin ranted against us saying, "You can kill more flies with honey than vinegar." My experience with the City's one and only "brick wall" posture was beginning to support other residents' claims of injustice.

On January 12, We received Mr. Smith's letter refusing to perform a final inspection or grant us a new permit, or to write a letter of completion. He carbon copied the letter to City Manager Sears and City Attorney Brotzman. He cited a half of a sentence of code that aroused my curiosity. The code mentioned R-3 Group. Perhaps we were some kind of group home?

I looked up the code and law unfolded like tulip petals. The first thing I noticed was that under Englewood's Group Home code, we were in full compliance to host unrelated people in our district.

The City's term R-3 was listed on our permit as a kind of single-family style of home. Mr. Smith had written a memo to City Manager Sears telling him there was no difference in the building standards between single-family homes and boarding houses.

In fact, if we wanted to, we could have shared the house with 8 unrelated people, 2 per bed-room. This law showed not only that we were within our rights, not outside them, but also that we had not abused our rights. Ours was a home for study and reflection. No dangerous issues of too many people had ever occurred here.

The City called it a "boarding house." With a huge sigh of relief, we decided to be a residential boarding house. We looked over State codes and health codes and found that no permits or licenses were required because we were still only a private residence. This suited us fine and we decided to rely on it whole-heartedly. But, why hadn't the City Manager ever let on to us about it? Surely he knew about the codes enacted during his tenure as Manager?

On January 15, 2008, City Manager Sears was responsible for serving us with a Summons and Complaint, in layman's terms, it was a groundless and malicious prosecution. We were appalled. Didn't there have to be some correlation of facts behind a City's Complaint?

I complained about Gary Sears to his professional management association that he was depriving us of due process and had broken trust with us as to our building permits also. I complained to the Supreme Court about the City attorneys' involvement.

We wrote a Motion to Dismiss and another for Summary Judgment. Nothing happened. We were forced to hire an special zoning attorney for the conference at ten times the amount my husband makes working at Craig Hospital. At pre-trial, we conferred with the City's special prosecutor and told him that our research showed we had found our affirmative defense in the City's Boarding House code.

I also asked the City for an Appeal of Lance Smith's refusal to perform the final inspection. The City refused using a flimsy excuse that I had waited too long to request an appeal. It was later that I found out that Inspector Craig had closed out our plumbing and mechanical permits without further claim against us.

Soon after, Special Prosecutor Alan Katz, whom the City had hired because of our complaints against their own attorneys, wrote his own Motion to Dismiss, and I discovered on my birthday that the Judge had approved it. Nothing could have made us happier.

An attorney for Cherry Hills later told us he had never seen an attorney get a municipal case dismissed before, much less by a regular person. We celebrated that evening at a local Englewood eatery with friends, cheers all around and unanimous congratulations.

Poets' Rest is now accepting donations for our legal defense fund so that we can finish the course set before us. 3029 S. Pearl Street, Englewood Colorado 80113. Won't you drop by for a mid-day cup of tea?