Battling code enforcement?

A South Florida woman was cited for a code violation and another and another Specific were legit several were not So she solicited to see who filed the latest complaint The answer left her looking for answers from Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser Pembroke Pines with various beautiful neighborhoods Peaceful peaceful the greater part of the time Ruby Freire I would like to know what s going on Ruby s problems started with her next-door neighbor who was a Pembroke Pines police officer Ruby s dog nipped his dog Ruby Freire Nobody came to investigate nobody came to ask us questions and we were cited Ruby thought it was strange the city would only interview the officer and not her but she didn t complain and paid the fine Things were quiet for a while till Ruby and her husband s roof leaked and they put a tarp on it while they battled the insurance company Ruby Freire And we start getting code violations for the tarps Not legal Ruby described code enforcement Patrick Fraser The tarp was OK Ruby Freire Right because it was under litigation But code enforcement wasn t done Ruby Freire I got a code violation for my windows a pergola and a supposed concrete slab on the side of my home Ruby removed the pergola and got a permit for the windows which she took the blame for Ruby Freire My husband was about to be deployed for a year so I took it upon myself in order to secure my home and feel safe Ruby also removed the strip of concrete that was used to anchor her artificial turf but Ruby Freire Then it became about Your artificial turf is eroding his yard ' By now Ruby had had enough and wished to know who was filing complaints about her property She requested the turf complaint from the city Ruby Freire And they reported Well we can t give you that information It s redacted ' The city declared the person who complained was a police officer Ruby suspected it was her neighbor who was no longer a Pembroke Pines Police officer Ruby Freire You have to disclose who the complainant is so come to find out it was him When the redaction was removed it revealed Police Officer complainant Timothy Cockrell Now a former officer who is employed by a company that works for Pembroke Pines Ruby Freire It s targeted enforcement is what it feels like to me It s not just random Turns out the artificial turf her neighbor complained about is legal but Pembroke Pines believes rocks were installed underneath it making it illegal Ruby Freire You ve elevated the ground on your side so now this is going to have to go to engineering And I m thinking Well when does it stop ' Particular violations were legit Ruby says a few were not Howard what can she do Howard Finkelstein First of all Pembroke Pines did not follow the law that forces them to reveal who filed the turf complaint against Ruby They have to do it even if it s a cop or a former cop As for the violations you can t do anything if they are legit But how do you prove the city is targeting you for non-violations It s darn near impossible I spoke to the head of Pembroke Pines Code Enforcement Larry Diaco narrated me they were not targeting Ruby and her husband that his officers were doing their job When I petitioned why they redacted the name of her neighbor and claimed it was a current police officer Diaco announced it was a mistake and they corrected it Ruby s next-door neighbor the former officer Tim Cockrell commented I don t care about their violations I only care about the artificial turf and the water flowing into my yard Ruby then got a third property survey showing their yard had not been elevated The city then declared they were in compliance Ruby Freire It s a big relief to in the end be at peace in my own home With everything cleared up Ruby hopes her battles with her neighbor and the city are over permanently Ruby Freire It s taken a long time for us to get here and it shouldn t have taken that long Hopefully no more headaches for Ruby And if code enforcement won t tell you who filed a complaint against you contact the city or county manager or attorney If that doesn t work contact us Feeling violated Got no enforcement ability Come over to our turf cause we have the codes for solutions With this Help Me Howard I m Patrick Fraser News CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD Email helpmehoward wsvn comReporter Patrick Fraser at pfraser wsvn comMiami-Dade - -WSVNBroward - -WSVN