Week of September 22: Didn't you get caught up in politics over a lawsuit with the City, something about your porch?

Councilwoman Patterson responds ...

Here are the facts:

I bought my home in 1987 from Norm Koerner. It is exactly the same today as it was in 1987 and 1980 when it was built. The front porch (landing stairs and such) is built on the 1880 former back porch to the Hastings victorian. The property belongs to me - there was no property title given to the city. There is no recorded easement to the city. The city could not establish according to law a "dedicated easement" because in 1880 the back porch was accessed by a carriage driveway on the parcel across from the current driveway - there used to be a slope down to the old backporch. The driveway has only been a driveway and not an alley - even I now have senior and historic uses of the driveway as the result of the legal settlement. My title company paid for the attorney services - it cost over $160,000.00. The city spent over $110,000 on outside attorney fees. The mail box, trees, porch and fence are exactly where they were in 1980, 1987 and 2000 all key dates. What did $270,000 buy?

Please read the following excellent background piece written by Dave Badtke in 2000...

"Well, I went to see her house, which is on West 2nd Street, and was amazed to find that the alley owned by the City, which runs very close to her house, is really a driveway shared by Ms. Patterson and her neighbor to the west. Removal of her "porch", which is, in reality, the front steps leading to her entrance on the second floor, would require either that she enter her house using a ladder, which obviously would be very hard on visitors . . . (click here for the full story).

By the way, my quality of life has not been the same - the trees, hillside of vegetation and mature shrubs are gone. In their place is the rental second unit across the driveway; a broken down truck that is never moved; railroad ties, garbage cans, trash and construction material, along with trash cans and a storage area.

Elizabeth