HOA President Banned My Wheelchair Ramp — Then a Federal Judge Got Involved! — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00The demolition crew was already at my
2. 0:02gate. Two police cars, flashing lights,
3. 0:05and the HOA president screaming in my
4. 0:07face that my wife's wheelchair ramp was
5. 0:09illegal. I looked at her and smiled.
6. 0:12"Then tell that to the judge." I said.
7. 0:15She laughed until she turned around and
8. 0:17saw who was walking up my sidewalk. But
9. 0:20let me take you back 14 days. My name is
10. 0:23Hank Dillard. I'm 63, a retired
11. 0:26carpenter. My wife Marlene and I have
12. 0:28lived in Maple Ridge Estates for 6
13. 0:30years. It was supposed to be the quiet
14. 0:33place where we grew old together. Then
15. 0:35Marlene's MS took a turn. One morning
16. 0:38her legs simply would not hold her. The
17. 0:40doctors gave us a wheelchair and the
18. 0:42hospital gave us a discharge paper. We
19. 0:45came home to three porch steps that
20. 0:47might as well have been a mountain. For
21. 0:493 weeks, I carried my wife up and down
22. 0:52those steps in my arms. Every time she
23. 0:54whispered, "I'm sorry." Every time I
24. 0:58told her there was nothing to be sorry
25. 0:59for. But my back was not 25 anymore and
26. 1:02I knew I had to fix this for good. I did
27. 1:05everything by the book. I drew up plans
28. 1:08for a safe, code-compliant ramp,
29. 1:10attached a letter from Marlene's doctor,
30. 1:13and submitted it to the HOA
31. 1:14architectural committee. I even offered
32. 1:16to paint it to match the house. I
33. 1:18thought, "Who could possibly say no?"
34. 1:21Colleen Strathmore, the HOA president
35. 1:23for 11 years, answered personally. Five
36. 1:26days later, a letter arrived in my
37. 1:28mailbox. "Request denied. Ramps violate
38. 1:32section 14.7
39. 1:34of community uniformity standards."
40. 1:36Underneath she wrote one more line,
41. 1:39"Consider a lift chair or different
42. 1:41home." I asked for a meeting. She gave
43. 1:43me exactly 90 seconds at the board
44. 1:46meeting podium. I offered to landscape
45. 1:48it, to paint it, to hide every inch of
46. 1:51it. She tapped her clipboard and said,
47. 1:54"Mr. Dillard, rules are rules. Nobody is
48. 1:57above them."
49. 1:58That night, Marlene looked out the
50. 2:00window at the garden she couldn't reach
51. 2:02anymore. "Maybe we should just move."
52. 2:05she said quietly. I'd never seen her
53. 2:07give up on anything in 38 years. That
54. 2:10was the moment something in me decided,
55. 2:12"Not this time." The next morning, there
56. 2:15was a knock at my door. It was Gladys
57. 2:17from three houses down, 74 years old,
58. 2:21leaning on her cane. She pressed an
59. 2:23envelope into my hand and whispered,
60. 2:25"Don't give up, Hank. Ask her about
61. 2:28Walter." Then she walked away before I
62. 2:30could say a word. Inside was a photo of
63. 2:32Gladys and her husband Walter and a
64. 2:34denied ramp request dated three years
65. 2:37earlier, signed by Colleen. The back of
66. 2:39the paper said, "Walter fell on our
67. 2:42steps. He never came home from the
68. 2:44hospital." My hands started shaking as I
69. 2:47read it. I called an attorney that
70. 2:49afternoon. Beth Navarro specialized in
71. 2:52fair housing law and she listened to
72. 2:54everything without interrupting. When I
73. 2:56finished, she said, "Hank, this isn't
74. 2:58just an HOA rule. Federal law says they
75. 3:01must allow reasonable modifications for
76. 3:04disabled residents. Build the ramp. I'll
77. 3:07handle the rest."
78. 3:08I built that ramp in one weekend.
79. 3:11Pressure-treated lumber, a gentle 1:12
80. 3:13slope, sturdy rails on both sides. Three
81. 3:17neighbors quietly came by with tools,
82. 3:19but only after dark, afraid to be seen
83. 3:22helping. When the last screw went in,
84. 3:25Marlene was already waiting at the
85. 3:26bottom. Sunday morning, Marlene rolled
86. 3:30up that ramp by herself for the very
87. 3:31first time. She reached the top, turned
88. 3:34around, and burst into tears. Then she
89. 3:36laughed, the kind of laugh I hadn't
90. 3:38heard in months. For one perfect
91. 3:41morning, we were just a husband and wife
92. 3:43on their own porch. At 8:05 the next
93. 3:46morning, a hard knock rattled my door.
94. 3:49Colleen stood there with a clipboard in
95. 3:51one hand and a violation notice in the
96. 3:53other. "$500 a day," she said, "starting
97. 3:57now. You have 48 hours to tear it down
98. 4:00or my crew will do it for you."
99. 4:02I handed her Beth's letter instead, a
100. 4:04formal federal notice
101. 4:06quoting the Fair Housing Act word for
102. 4:08word. Colleen read the first line,
103. 4:11laughed out loud, and tore in half right
104. 4:13there on my lawn. "Federal law," she
105. 4:15said, "honey, this is my neighborhood."
106. 4:19The fine stacked up fast. Day one, $500.
107. 4:24Day two, a lien warning. Day three, a
108. 4:27certified letter arrived from the HOA
109. 4:29lawyer. Demolition of unauthorized
110. 4:31structure, Thursday 9:00 a.m. with
111. 4:34police assistance.
112. 4:36Marlene read it twice and went very
113. 4:38quiet. That night, my phone buzzed with
114. 4:41a number I didn't know. "Meet me at the
115. 4:43hardware store lot. Come alone. Don't
116. 4:46tell anyone." It was Al Fenwick, the HOA
117. 4:49treasurer,
118. 4:50the quiet man who sat next to Colleen at
119. 4:52every meeting. He was shaking when he
120. 4:54pulled a thick binder from his trunk.
121. 4:57"Colleen has denied every ramp request
122. 4:59in 6 years," Al whispered. "Four
123. 5:01families, but look at this."
124. 5:04He flipped to an invoice. "She told
125. 5:06disabled owners to use her
126. 5:08brother-in-law's company instead,
127. 5:10Ridgeline Access Solutions. $11,400
128. 5:14for the same ramp you built for $1,400."
129. 5:18I called Beth at 11:00 that night. She
130. 5:20went silent for 10 seconds, then said,
131. 5:22"Hank, this changes everything."
132. 5:25By midnight, she was drafting an
133. 5:28emergency federal motion. "A judge has
134. 5:30to see this before Thursday," she said,
135. 5:33"because if they tear that ramp down, we
136. 5:35may never get it back."
137. 5:37Wednesday afternoon, we stood in a
138. 5:39federal courtroom. The HOA's lawyer,
139. 5:42Preston Gale, called me a rule breaker
140. 5:44who ignored the process.
141. 5:46Colleen sat him with her arms folded,
142. 5:49smiling. Then Judge Raymond Altis looked
143. 5:52up from the evidence and said quietly,
144. 5:54"Mr. Gale, I have a few questions."
145. 5:57At 4:52 p.m., the judge signed the
146. 6:00order. The defendants are forbidden from
147. 6:02touching, removing, or altering that
148. 6:04ramp until further order of this court.
149. 6:07Beth turned to me and whispered, "It's
150. 6:09done, Hank." But across the room,
151. 6:12Colleen was already whispering something
152. 6:14to her lawyer. A U.S. Marshal delivered
153. 6:16the signed order to the HOA office
154. 6:18before dinner. A property manager signed
155. 6:21for it at 5:10 p.m. That should have
156. 6:23been the end. But that night, Lyle
157. 6:26texted me one line. She said, "Judges
158. 6:28don't live here. She's going ahead
159. 6:30anyway."
160. 6:31Thursday, 8:40 a.m. A demolition truck
161. 6:34rolled onto my street, followed by two
162. 6:37police cruisers. Sergeant Dale Kimmel
163. 6:39got out first, then Officer Troy Pace.
164. 6:42Colleen climbed up behind them,
165. 6:45clipboard in hand, wearing the confident
166. 6:47smile of someone who had never lost. I
167. 6:49stood in front of the ramp, holding
168. 6:51Marlene's hand. I gave Sergeant Kimmel
169. 6:55the signed federal order. He read it
170. 6:57slowly, then looked at Colleen. "Ma'am,
171. 7:00this is nobody touches that ramp."
172. 7:02Colleen snatched it, glanced at it, and
173. 7:05said, "That's fake. Proceed."
174. 7:08The crew foreman raised a crowbar and
175. 7:10put it against the first rail. "Stop!" I
176. 7:13shouted, stepping between him and the
177. 7:15ramp. Colleen pointed at me. "Arrest him
178. 7:18for interfering with HOA business."
179. 7:21Officer Pace reached for his handcuffs,
180. 7:23and his hands were trembling. Then a
181. 7:25soft voice cut through the noise. Gladys
182. 7:28or stepped out her house, cane in one
183. 7:30hand and a framed photo in the other.
184. 7:32She walked straight up to Colleen. "You
185. 7:34did this to Walter," she said, her voice
186. 7:37shaking. "And now you want to do it to
187. 7:39them."
188. 7:40Neighbors started filming. Colleen's
189. 7:42face turned red. "That ramp is illegal!"
190. 7:45she screamed so loud the whole street
191. 7:47heard it. I looked her in the eye, calm
192. 7:50as a Sunday morning, then "Tell that to
193. 7:52the judge."
194. 7:53She spun around to laugh at me, and a
195. 7:55man in a black robe was already walking
196. 7:58up the sidewalk. "Ms. Strathmore," the
197. 8:01judge said, his voice leveling cold, "I
198. 8:04signed an order yesterday at 4:52 p.m. A
199. 8:07marshal served your office at 5:10. Yet
200. 8:10here you are with a crowbar and a police
201. 8:12escort." No one on that lawn made a
202. 8:15sound. "In 22 years on the bench, I've
203. 8:18never walked to a house myself until
204. 8:20today."
205. 8:21The judge held her in contempt on the
206. 8:23spot and ordered her to his courtroom at
207. 8:252:00 p.m. That afternoon, Beth laid out
208. 8:28Lyle's binder line by line for denied
209. 8:32families, a hidden contractor, and
210. 8:34$11,000 kickback. HUD investigator Anita
211. 8:38Rosales sat in the back taking notes. By
212. 8:42the time Beth finished, Colleen was
213. 8:44crying. The court ordered Colleen to pay
214. 8:46$50,000 personally. The HOA board was
215. 8:50removed, and every denied family
216. 8:52received compensation,
217. 8:53including Gladys. A month later, the new
218. 8:57board built free ramps for any resident
219. 8:59who needed one. The first plaque on the
220. 9:01new ramp program reads, "The Walter or
221. 9:04Access Fund."
222. 9:05And Marlene rolls down our ramp every
223. 9:07morning to check the mail, smiling. If
224. 9:11you enjoyed this story, don't forget to
225. 9:13like, subscribe, and tell us where
226. 9:15you're watching from in the comments
227. 9:16below.