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Sunday, August 3, 2014

Starting up new resident's concern and action every Monday @ 6pm Belfast City Park Waterfront Pavilion beginning 8/4/14. www.moralmonday.blogspot.com This can be fantastic. It will take awhile to catch on. No problem, the view is spectacular, I'll be waiting with a smile.

8/23/14- converting over to Compassionate Cities, a movement by local ministries.

From: LAURIE ALLEN (laurieallen55@msn.com)
Sent:Thu 8/21/14 11:48 PM
To:ward2councilor@cityofbelfast.org (ward2councilor@cityofbelfast.org); minister@uubelfast.org (minister@uubelfast.org); LAURIE ALLEN (laurieallen55@msn.com)
Cc:ward1councilor@cityofbelfast.org (ward1councilor@cityofbelfast.org); ward3councilor@cityofbelfast.org (ward3councilor@cityofbelfast.org); ward4councilor@cityofbelfast.org (ward4councilor@cityofbelfast.org); ward5councilor@cityofbelfast.org (ward5councilor@cityofbelfast.org); mayor@cityofbelfast.org (mayor@cityofbelfast.org); jslocum@cityofbelfast.org (jslocum@cityofbelfast.org)
Dear Minister Perkins and Roger Lee,

The Compassionate Cities and the UU Church are connecting with me. I have wanted to volunteer and be part of the community of goodwill for a very long time. I didn't look into the CC until today. I would have picked that over Moral Mondays and I am converting. My involvement into the UU/CC is a conflict for some and I want to work on that. Starting with sharing how City Hall is actually abusive to many residents in their path of visions and greed. This isn't because of me. I am the first one to take them on and hold on. They tried and tried to send me to attorney and insurance land where I would be lost and broke for good. I didn't take their bait. I keep coming back and coming back. I'm all for peaceful saving of Belfast. Bring it on Minister, I will follow and help. I make good signs. I have protested peacefully for 4 years under great duress. 

I had fun in your kitchen on Thanksgiving. I had sent an email to ask if I could help and received a yes. When I walked in the door, I knew I made a mistake. I had thought I was coming to feed the homeless and poor. I did not know it was a sit down for the congregation.  I wanted to leave but a woman in a wheel chair was by the door and began chatting away to me. She was so kind. Now, I wanted to stay and maybe make some friends.  It was awkward for awhile until I got to peel potato's. and Marshall got me going.Then we were done, and soon people would be coming. I went to the hallway, started looking at the pictures on the wall and Roger was a member, the treasurer, his picture on the wall and I thought I was going to drop dead. I had to get out of here.  Roger may be walking through the door any minute. Then the realization that these people I was having so much fun with may know me. They may think I came here to spite Roger. The tears were coming. I couldn't tell them why I had to leave. I just said I have to leave. they must have thought I was some nut job.

I went home and shared peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with doggies, Stewie and Gordon.My children were in NJ. That is just the way my life rolls. Home is sanctuary. I was happy to be home. No one can hurt us here- except the City's forced water.

Tuesday's meeting was quite the poo poo platter. It had everything. Nice job, Minister Perkins handling Mary Mortier's condescending tone. It made my skin crawl seeing Councilor's Hurley and Hamilton so threatened by a Compassion Resolution that they can't control. Abstaining and voting against a mission for compassion and peace. 

Mayor Ash was stumbling and wrong. The City Manager was ready to sell of those tax properties. Roger stopped it. Hurley had just read that letter too. 

Forcing real estate agents to deceive and not disclose to unload these City damaged properties. Including the property inspectors. I never would have bought this property if the stream was disclosed, if any water issues were disclosed. I asked verbally and in writing and had the property inspection. No stream, no water issues, no banking issues, no flood zone disclosed because I paid cash. Maine Real Estate Commission dismissed my complaint even though other listings on Seaview Terrace with "stream" property disclosed a stream. Merrill's at 27 Seaview Terrace disclosed the stream when they put it up for sale in 2012. Mary Mortier, my council and a real estate agent won't give me a copy of that listing. The Commission won't give me the copy. No real estate agents will give me that copy. Maine is 4th in corruption. DEP Aho- corrupt. All those that enable and look the other way- make them just as corrupt. Governor, Attorney General, Senator Thibodeau, Erin Herbig... I reached out to all.

I've taken such a beating in Belfast, directly affecting my children, the Compassionate Cities prompted me to share my history. City Hall has read this before, I've been blogging for 4 years. It's buried in one of them. So much City Hall corruption, so many blogs of proof. I'm still updating my history, but it's an interesting read. Dysfunction is not boring, I'll say that. It's down a bit from the top of the blog. www.boycottbelfast.blogspot.com 
To see a snippet of confirming emails of torture and Twilight Zone worthy- go to www.belfastliars.blogspot.com. To see intimidation letters from the City Attorney and City Manager, go to www.belfastbullies3.blogspot.com To see a streamline of version of my orginal blog- go to www.belfastbullies2.blogspot.com  The original is overwhelming- I had no idea it was going to morph into so much deception. www.belfastbullies.blogspot.com 

I'm sharing this with you Minister so you realize the scope of the mission. i am only one of many. Maybe you know this already and this is why you brought it to City Hall. That would be outstanding. I am sorry this is so long. I wanted to get it all out in the open. It took me a long time to do this. Thank You. 

Roger,

I tried for 8 months, to get an investigation prior to going public on 11/1/11. I made that map in November 2011 and presented it. I gave you all a packet of 21 pages including the map and pictures with water flowing through each culvert, mapping it's way down to me. I invited all of you again and again to come to my house, see the destruction, tour the paths I mapped. Bob Whiteley, City Tax Assessor is the only one who came. He was shocked at the severity and the range. The water was cruising all the way down- there was no way to hide it or deny it. 

He saw that it was not a natural outlet. He knew my neighbor Becky Gibbons (his wife is a school mate of Becky's) and she came out and spoke to us. She told Bob that this stream had been moved in the 70's. She told him, like she told City Planner Wayne Marshall in the street sham meeting in August, that in 2009, that huge culvert (4 ft in diameter) next to her house  overflowed violently. Almost taking her car away, wiping out her yard, leaving a huge gully. Joe Slocum said it could have taken her house off it's foundation. I wasn't here yet, but it must have wiped my back yard out. It was on the market even then. Slocum wrote in one email that my "predecessor's" altered that area. I bet they had to fill it and make it look like a drainage ditch, just like the ones on both sides of my house. Drainage ditches for my property only.

Slocum and Marshall lied again and again trying to make that drainage ditch a 100 year old natural stream.  The boulders are piled up on the opposing side. You refused to come see it so you could keep denying it. I told you all that City Hall was with holding the original development plans and information on Seaview Terrace and the Captain Albert Stevens School. Those documents prove the corruption. City Hall is "foolish" to make me go to such great lengths trying to save my home and neighborhood. I have a hands on master's degree in City Hall mostly Planning corruption. You, as a past planning board member are aware. You have refused to assist me. Until now. I accept, I forgive, lets make things right.

Seaview Terrace can go under any day. Subjecting us to delay after 50 years of providing free sewer runoff for an enormous section of developed Belfast where City Hall has done everything to destroy us is wrong. I campaigned for 2 years to get us into the Northport Ave TIF  via the Annex to open up funding for infrastructure. You voted me down and voted it to the downtown. I contacted EMA to get us into a mitigation plan, you brought in Dale Rowley director of EMA to speak. I spoke, giving the information again at open to the public, Mayor Ash was trying to stop me from speaking. Telling me to get an attorney. Then when Dale gave his presentation, none of you asked about mitigating Seaview Terrace, nothing about flooding, nothing. Hurley chit chat on the new building and radio's. A disgrace. Dale is an engineer and HE told me my map was good.

And Hurley is manipulating what I said to pit more neighbors against me. He is the epitome of The Hunger Games as The Flooding Games. Hurley- "to send HER water at other people's" I did not say that and it is not MY water it is the City's water- runoff is an infrastructure responsibility 101 with our property tax dollars. Per Maine Municipal Association. I said to channel it to City maintained property. The bypass/exit area by Janis Stone interiors is City maintained property. Hurley says the flow is low, so it can certainly handle it. Unless of course, Hurley is lying to save money for his downtown. Wayne Marshall stated in his Comprehensive Plan- the goal is get rid of housing in this healthcare area. 
I quickly proved the rezoning of Seaview Terrace to R3 was illegal and it was rescinded. But the rest of the plan remains. Taken from Marshall's summary for R3.

"While the Hospital is the primary use, housing remains a significant type of development in the area. Sea View Terrace is a long established urban neighborhood, and single-family residential housing remains the predominant use on Wight Street. Publicly supported housing, such as Penobscot Terrace, Coastal Enterprises, and Huntress Gardens, also is located in this area. While the City believes much of the current housing will remain, in the longer term, more of the current single family houses likely will be converted into professional offices, and some of the limited amount of available land may similarly be used for offices. The City believes it is appropriate to allow new housing in the area, and there is a limited amount of land along Wight Street to accommodate such, but it wants current and future residents in this area to recognize that a health care office or facility likely could become their neighbor."

For  years I came to meeting after meeting, request after request telling you Wayne Marshall was with holding public documents- giving full files and claiming they were in there. I was too stupid to know what I was looking at. You flat out refused to validate receipt of true documents. Stating "I do not validate documents" Wayne removed every storm water document, engineers reports. abutters communications, DEP. Army Corp- volumes of information from the CASS files prior to my counterside inspection of 4 huge files, 4 hours of grueling stressful page by page, waste of my life. The "boys club" Slocum, Marshall, and Rosenburg, smirking and making me sick. I came back the next day. Wayne was out of the office. I asked the secretary, Marie, to see the files again, and voila, Wayne put all those crucial documents back in. There were so many, it was overwhelming. I broke down in tears at the evil corruption and torture of it all. Marie was at a loss. I panicked that Wayne would walk back in, I yanked out the planning boards Conditions of Approval, and a few other's. I begged Marie for copies on the spot. She did it.

 I knew these conditions were not met, and so did you. For 2 years, request after request for this impact study and engineer's inspection approval. All of you took the 5th and Slocum refused to respond. Until statutes ran out- he said 11.1 and 11.3 were not done. CASS was built in corruption of compliance because those conditions would have stopped the illegal forced water slaughter to water shed residents. My property gets 100 fold of this after you add in all the other sites and  highway coming to me. You did nothing. Now residents are going to pick up the tab for another shady engineer investigation that will buy more time to have the big one take us out. And that tainted report will also go into Wayne's abyss.


A. Per WBRC Architects Engineers letter dated 11/7/2002 to Mike Morse, MDEP Project Manager
RE: 2941.10/Belfast Community Elementary School 
      L-21070-22-A-N Response to comments
#6 Two Steps have been taken to address comment 6. First, the City of Belfast had assessed a stormwater impact fee to new developments within the unnamed stream's watershed to assist in funding an offsite drainage study.The Belfast Elementary School watershed will be included in the offsite drainage study of the overall unnamed stream's watershed will be included in the offsite drainage study of the overall unnamed stream's watershed, which drains through the "24" culvert beneath Congress St., east of Priscilla Lane.

B. Per :Belfast Community Elementary School Site Plan & Use Permit 
        Adopted Conditions of Approval
 Final Approval of November 20,2002 & 
Amendment #1 to Approval of January 15,2003 
Amendment #2 to Approval of April 9, 2003

1. Description of Project: SAD#34, applicant proposes to construct the Belfast Community Elementary School, a school which can accommodate 340 students. The project also involves demolition of the existing Robertson Elementary School and the conversion of this former school site to an athletic field....

11. Storm water Management: The applicant shall construct all stormwater management improvements to specifications identified on the approved Site Plan prior to issuance of an occupancy permit. Further the applicant shall maintain all stormwater facilities in good working condition. 

11.1 The applicant shall either : a) Provide the City a letter from a licensed civil engineer certifying that the stormwater improvements were constructed in accordance with all City specifications and in accordance with Site Plan requirements; or b) Pay the City the cost to employ a City inspector to inspect construction of the stormwater improvements.

11.3 The applicant shall pay a stormwater impact fee of $5,000 to the City to better enable the City to conduct an analysis...

We need a on the City books City Engineer full time for accountability like Belfast USED to have. And to put the final approved site plans back into the Deeded Public Registry where they were free to public access at any time like the USED to be,  until Wayne Marshall came on board and stopped the public access. Hello corruption.

Anyone with eyes can see that all this water forced to Seaview Terrace is illegal. We are NOT a natural outlet. The City has no right, no rights of ways, no easements, we are flood plain, flood zone that you are ethically bound to divert water from and protect residents. This was sent to you in March 2013, a year of requesting zoning conditions on all these sites illegally stock piling snow, melting to us and wiping us out. Never to be fulfilled. Chief McFadden didn't believe me when I filed complaints that the Annex and CASS were in violation of code. I was at the Annex site when Planning Member Diane Beck asked Mike Hogan what he was doing with plow-able snow. He said taking it offsite of course. That is how I knew and then saw it wasn't enforced. Then I knew why Seaview Terrace got wiped out in 2009 and 2011. The Chief was able to get access to those zoning conditions. He confirmed I was right. Slocum later threw him under the bus, saying the school is following THEIR maintenance plans. And you accepted that. 

Laurie,

I did some research, first the Zoning Conditions of Approval document indicates that the CASS school is responsible for snow removal. Any potential violations of this document would be a zoning issue handled by the board or by the code enforcement office. We as Police would have no authority over this issue unless a state law or local ordinance was violated. There are no state laws or ordinances enforceable by the Police Department which would prohibit the school from removing snow from the parking lots or events/sporting fields in the manner in which they are currently doing it. (from Chief McFadden)


Per Local Ordinance, the Code Enforcement Officer is not issuing violations that are flooding our floodplain, flood zone neighborhood of Seaview Terrace. We have confirmed the CASS and Annex are in violation and the other sites need confirmation so that police power may protect the flood plain as our local ordinance dictates
.

Drainage. Adequate provision shall be made for stormwater, with particular concern for the effects of any effluent draining from the site. Erosion resulting from any improvements on the site shall be prevented by landscaping or other means (see sections 102-1123 and 102-1124 and chapter 98).
j.
Snow removal. The plan shall provide for storage of snow accumulation or removal from the site. 
Floodplain and floodprone area mean any land area susceptible to being inundated by water from any source (see definition of "flood" and "flooding"). 
Floodplain management means the operation of an overall program of corrective and preventive measures for reducing flood damage, including but not limited to emergency preparedness plans, flood control works, and floodplain management regulations.
Floodplain management regulations means zoning ordinances, subdivision regulations, building codes, health regulations, special purpose ordinances, such as a floodplain ordinance, grading ordinance, and erosion control ordinance, and other applications of police power. The term describes such state or local regulations, or any combination thereof, which provide standards for the purpose of flood damage prevention and reduction.

Belfast Ordinance (it is certainly is polluted on top of not being a natural outlet- Rte 1 runoff- may even be coming from the airport, huge roof tops, parking lots- maybe the EPA will help)
Stormwater and all other unpolluted drainage may be discharged to such sewers as are specifically designated as storm sewers, or to a natural outlet approved by the city. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process waters may be discharged, on approval of the city, to a storm sewer or natural outlet, if in accordance with regulations of the state department of environmental protection.

(Ord. No. 45-1999, § 600.2, 2-1-2000)



 Per 1987 investigation by Belfast City Engineer, Neil Finlayson of Seaview Terrace flooding:

"3.  Dr. Caswell has mentioned that after heavy rains the brook can flood and create problems for all owners whose lots back up to it. He suggests that the City clean it out to reduce this tendency.  I have a feeling that this brook is NOTHING MORE THAN A DRAINAGE DITCH PUT IN BY THE DEVELOPER OF THE TRACT. "

inverse condemnation
n. the taking of property by a government agency which so greatly damages the use of a parcel of real property that it is the equivalent of condemnation of the entire property. Thus the owner claims he/she is entitled to payment for the loss of the property (in whole or in part) under the constitutional right to compensation for condemnation of property under the government's eminent domain right. 

And finally the 1939 map- quad 40- farmhouse still standing on the corner of Norhport Ave and Seaview Terrace. No stream. The ditch running through there in later pictures were man made. Perhaps to handle runoff from the airport? Planning for the bypass runoff. 



Sincerely,
Laurie Allen


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