Mike Nelson’s aluminum fishing boat rolled away in July 2006, confiscated by the city of Minneapolis because it was parked in his neighbor’s backyard. Nelson fought City Hall for almost two years over the resulting $522 fine, and last month, a remarkable thing happened.

He won.

Nelson, who’s 48 and works at the Minneapolis Central Library, told me his story last week, still chagrined that the ordeal took so long. Admittedly, the facts were a little strange.

Nelson likes to throw the “crappy little aluminum boat” in the back of his pickup and go fishing in the city lakes. But it’s too big to fit through the gate in his backyard in south Minneapolis. So his neighbor, who happens be blind, gave Nelson permission to keep it in his yard.

When the boat wasn’t in the water, that’s where it was stored, upside down, for about five years. But in Minneapolis, boats are supposed to live in garages or at least on pavement when they’re on land. Someone from the city noticed Nelson’s boat and an order to remove it was mailed to the blind neighbor.

The person who regularly reads the mail to the neighbor was off-duty, so the letter wasn’t noticed. Then, on July 25, 2006, the city towed the boat to the impound lot.

At first, Nelson thought his boat had been stolen. By the time he figured out that the city had it, the boat was on the brink of being auctioned off. He managed to stop that from happening, with the help of Council Member Elizabeth Glidden. But the storage fees had mounted.

To get his boat back, Nelson said, “I paid the ransom of $522.” Then, in January 2007, he filed a claim against the city to get his money back.

Now the city gets scads of claims from people who trip on sidewalks, collide with garbage trucks, hit potholes, get injured by police and otherwise incur damage they say is Minneapolis’s fault. Most of the cases are handled by the city staff. Those unhappy with the staff’s decision can appeal to the City Council.

Nelson was peeved that he never got a letter from the city, which is standard practice for people whose vehicles are impounded. He disagreed with the city staff’s contention that “the impound lot did not show the claimant as the registered owner of the boat.”

When Nelson appeared before the staff’s claims committee in September, the city wouldn’t budge. So Nelson appealed to the City Council’s claims committee, which meets only twice per year. In November, the city made an offer - they would lower to fine to $138.

Nelson had come too far to settle for anything less than total victory. On April 15, the five-member Claims Committee convened in the Council Chambers in City Hall. The case of Nelson’s impounded boat was No. 5 on the list. The committee spoke: Bonnie Barlage’s towing claim? Deny. Shayla Dower’s $1,200 claim for her daughter’s trip and fall on the sidewalk? Pay $450, as the staff recommended. Lamont Mays’ car damage? Deny. Natalie Morrow’s towing claim? Deny.

The council grilled Nelson, and then bandied his case back and forth. A motion to deny his claim was made. Could the city prove it put a fluorescent sticker notifying Nelson it was violation? Did the city do its job in trying to find the boat’s registered owner?

Lacking proof that either was done, the council moved to approve Nelson’s claim. The four claims that followed were all denied. Nelson was the only one who persuaded the council to overrule the staff.

The $522 check arrived today.

The lesson, according to Nelson: “You don’t really own anything in the People’s Republic of Minneapolis.”

If you’ve got a problem with City Hall anywhere in the Twin Cities, tell the Whistleblower about it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 12:32 pm and is filed under How to blow the whistle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.