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February 14, 2006

Built On Sand?

There was a demonstration outside the embattled house at 14 East Jasmine in Saint Paul today, as the owners, neighborhood activists and the City of Saint Paul traded claims and counterclaims...

...including some claims traded via the media. The Pioneer Press covered the story this morning:

From the outside, the Jessamine Avenue home appears to be in decent shape. Paul Shoemaker, who represents [owner Julian] Jayasuriya and may ask a judge to stop the demolition, said there is no point in tearing it down. Every time Jayasuriya does work on the house, the city changes what it wants done, he added.

"It's gotten to the point where it's become a contest of wills," Shoemaker said.

The city says it has given the owners numerous chances over the years to correct problems but that the house remains dangerous. Video taken Monday morning seems to support the claim. For example, it shows a hydraulic jack that is tilted noticeably to one side as it holds up a basement beam used to support the first floor.

Let's stop right there.

If you've followed the conversation on the Saint Paul Issues Forum, the pattern has gone something like this:

  1. The city will make a claim about the house's condition
  2. One of original owner Nancy Osterman's advocates will shoot the claim down
This has been a consistent pattern over topic after topic; the paper trail leading to condemnation (responded to with allegations of improper activities and violation of due process on the Housing Inspectors' part); the house's appearance (most of is neighbors look worse); the inspector's report (assailed by a truth in housing inspection that painted a better picture); the lack of power and heat (the City ordered them turned off), the possible spottiness of the internal repairs (contested, point by point, by people with at least feasible-looking but as yet unverified credentials) and so on, leading to this morning's PiPress report. The report reads, in my opinion, like the latest shopping list of city allegations.

On the Saint Paul Issues forum, William McGaughey - who has written on landlord/city relations for Watchdog - contested the "wobbly hydraulic jack" claim:

What we saw were two screw jacks supporting a beam in a crawl space at the front of the house. Evidently, this had been an addition to the main part of the house. The jacks, which were not hydraulic, did not appear to be tilted to one side (although I suppose it's possible to position the video cameras to give that appearance.) One of our people crawled into the space to take a closer look. The jacks were solidly placed on stable foundations. They did not tilt. Also, the main part of the house was firmly supported by permanent wood pillars.

In short, that statement in the Pioneer Press reflects an evident campaign of misinformation by the city. We took our own pictures and have our own witnesses. So the city can't count on erasing the evidence if the house is demolished. There are also expert witnesses who have given the house's foundation a clean bill of health.

The PiPress goes on to quote a "neighborhood activist":
[Neighborhood activist Linda] Jungwirth also said the house nearly blew up in 2004. She was walking by, smelled gas near the house and called Xcel Energy.

"About an hour later, there's five fire trucks, there's Xcel; they cordoned off the street," she said. "That basically set off, 'Why are we letting it sit here like this?' "

Unmentioned in the Pioneer Press piece; what did Xcel find? Was this a fluke, a symptom of neglect? Was is the sort of thing that warrants tearing down a house whose "perfectly good" status is the subject of considerable - not to say frenzied - debate as we speak?

And how does Linda Jungwirth's word become dispositive? While I'm sympathetic with people who want cleaner neighborhoods (and people in that part of the North End have their work cut out for them; put bluntly, the neighborhood is largely a wretched toilet, clogged with houses that give "distressed pieces of crap" a bad name), Jungwirth's claims - and the city's - are not scrutinized in the least.

But it's worth noting that Linda Jungwirth is not just a random neighborhood "activist"; she's a part time employee of Ramsey County Commissioner Janice Rettman, and active in city planning and zoning issues, with some background in pressuring government to intervene in neighborhood housing (PDF File).

Why did the Pioneer Press' reporter not feel it was important that the seemingly random resident and "activist" is in fact a well-placed insider to the local housing and zoning process?

Fact is, every neighborhood has someone like Ms. Jungwirth seems to be (and by the way, as I've never knowingly met Ms. Jungwirth, this is not a commentary on her personality); the kind who loves hanging out at city zoning meetings, quibbling over the arcana of codes and easements and variances, seeking a better world through more regulation; no stranger to power (works for government, for crying out loud) and not afraid to call in markers when needed. Does Linda Jungwirth have more mojo with local Councilman Lee Helgen than the average citizen? Or is Jungwirth a sock puppet witness, wrapped up and given to the PiPress' reporter with a big bow around her head to grease the skids of a story that essentially reprints the city's position verbatim?

Again, I'll await facts. But the city's story - and the Pioneer Press' - give me little assurance in and of themselves of the city's integrity.

Posted by Mitch at February 14, 2006 06:13 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Two thoughts. Does the house sit on land that someone else wants? Is there personal vendetta involved?

Posted by: Uncle Ben at February 15, 2006 12:05 AM

I used to love people like that when I worked at the gas company. "It nearly blew up!" Based on what? the smell of gas? The presence of fire trucks? Some hysterical lady calls 911 and reports the smell of gas and a house to about to blow up!!!! and I suspect they will roll some fire trucks. I remember one call I had where a jeep ran over the meter loop and broke it off at the ground. When I got there, the fire dept had made everyone in that block leave their house, and then blocked off the street a block away each way. I drove up to the jeep, crawled under it and shoved a plug down the pipe. Yes, you could smell the gas, no there was very little danger. I bet the people on that block still tell of the night the block nearly blew up.

Posted by: buzz at February 15, 2006 11:50 AM

This, Shot In The Dark, story by Mitch, supports facts pertaining to the issues at hand. I have received the Pioneer Press for over 30 years. I have been involved in the dialog at edemocracy, I went a step further, and visited 14 Jessamine the day of the protest. I am a handyman of 25 plus years. There was no bent post from the load of the home. The floors did not sag. The basement walls where resurfaced, and the floors where dry. Why didn't the Pioneer Press verify this story in light of so much controversy?

Posted by: Bob Johnson at February 15, 2006 03:11 PM

I met a few Jungwirth types when I lived in Minneapolis back in the '80s. They just happened to be city employees and carried more than a little mojo when it came to making your life tough. They were also complete tools of the city councilmember. It's one of the reasons I finally bailed on the city.

Posted by: Dave E at February 15, 2006 07:30 PM
hi