Raise the Hammer

I own a small commercial business with a small simple building and employ 20-22 people depending upon the timing. We have very low customer traffic. We emit no fumes and make no noise.

I pay $22,000.00 in tax on about a $700,000.00 assessment give or take. (I paid half that for the building but don't get me started on that.) I think if it was a residential property the taxes would be between 7 and 8 thousand dollars.

After I bought the building the neighbors, without my knowledge, complained to the city about "their" street. Their complaint had nothing to do with me or my building. The issues pre-date my purchase of the building. It related to an increase in borders and renters who drive cars and the shortage of street parking. (I have separate off-street parking for my staff.) About 60% of the residents are in publicly subsidized houses. The City acquiesced to their demands and changed the parking to permit only.

When the signs went up. I was surprised but went to get a permit. I was told I was not advised of the potential change as technically my building was not part of the area covered by the change due to the specific location of my building. They then told me that because I own a commercial building I do not qualify for a permit.

I have a parking spot on my land that I pay taxes for, but often the "borders" and such use it leaving me to park temporarily on the street while I call the city to ticket the person in my spot. Also there are other times when I just need to park on the street. Accordingly I have received a multitude of parking tickets. I suspect some of the people living on the street call the enforcement officers routinely, maybe because they have nothing better to do, maybe because they want to ensure the law is strictly enforced, maybe because they are just very unhappy people - who knows.

I must tell you that I feel like a second class citizen in this situation. It is frustrating and it appears that the by-laws prevent me from doing anything about it. These types of situations are not very conducive to business.