Parking Ticket Leads to Home Foreclosure
Man, I've got to start reading the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel more often . . .
As an increasing number of property owners lose their homes to exotic mortgage products and falling home values, the city of Milwaukee has foreclosed on a resident’s house because he failed to pay a parking ticket.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Peter Tubic ignored a $50 parking fine in 2004, and on Monday, it cost him his $245,000 house.
In what city officials believe is the first case of its kind, the city foreclosed on Tubic's house on W. Verona Court after repeated attempts to collect the fine—which over the years had escalated to $2,600—had failed.
"Our goal isn't to acquire parcels," said Jim Klajbor, special deputy city treasurer. "Our goal is to just collect taxes . . . It is only as a last resort that we would pursue . . . foreclosure."
Tubic says he couldn't pay the ticket because of health reasons and the death of his father.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
According to the Social Security Administration, Tubic, 62, has been disabled since 2001. He has been diagnosed with psychological disorders that limit his "ability to understand, remember and carry out detailed instructions," according to documents from the administration.
In addition he suffers from chronic pain caused by degenerative diseases of the knees and spine, as well as chronic respiratory disease, diabetes and obesity, among other ailments.
But the authorities were having none of it.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
"If a violation exists, a violation exists," said [Ronald Roberts, a code enforcement manager with the Department of Neighborhood Services]. "We're going to enforce a violation."
"If someone says, 'I'm dealing with a death,' we're going to be reasonable and give them a 30-day extension," he said. "But $1,475, that's a lot of months mourning—not to be insensitive."
But it gets much worse. Tubic only received the ticket after someone complained that his vehicle had no license plates.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Turns out in this case the neighbors weren't the ones to complain. Tubic had not been getting along with his brother, and his brother made the call. His brother, Jovon Tubic, said he called at the request of their mother, according to a letter from Jovon to Peter Tubic.
Tags: foreclosures
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Reader Comments
For all the good Hitler youth
You clowns who proclaim that he did not follow the rules, living in a society were laws rule,etc.,etc. would have had an excellent career in the National Socialist party. You people are disgusting displays of humanity and to even condone this type of over-punitive response by an out of control govt. shows your lack of compassion and bizarre rationalization of a repressive and oppressive society and will someday feel the wrath of the govt you so proudly support. In fact it's all been done before "restore law and order" "just following orders" "the security of the fatherland" you idiots ought to read your history books instead of your parking and violation codes
the Leech strikes again
Yet another example of the greedy government wanting more money.
Just doing our job?
This seems to be a perfect example of an unyielding/inflexible government blindly adhering to the strict letter of the law. Any agency that blindly carries out orders without acknowledging the circumstances of the situation is no better than a machine making decisions based upon ones and zeros. We are humans, not machines, and we have a responsibility to act humanely. Laws were never meant to be unbending. They were meant to establish and maintain a social norm. But when circumstances arise in which a law violates moral and ethical codes of conduct, then the law must either bend to accommodate said moral principle, or be re-written all together.
I believe the excuse “we are just doing our job” has been used by groups and individuals to justify their wrong doing on many occasions throughout history. I am sure this is what Hitler’s followers used to justify killing Jews, how Ford managers justified putting the pinto into production with a faulty fuel tank design, what the managers of several formula companies said when selling their product to third world countries as a “better than breast milk” alternative, how advertisers justified selling tobacco products they claimed to be harmless, how Rosa Parks could have been prosecuted for defying unmoral and unjust laws of the time, and how many others throughout history have justified doing what they knew was wrong. It is a tired saying, and it hasn’t justified anyone’s actions yet, including trying to foreclose on this mans house.
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