Barrett promises help after parking ticket foreclosure
By RAQUEL RUTLEDGE
rrutledge@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 4, 2008

Mayor Tom Barrett promised Monday to try to help a disabled man after the city foreclosed on his house to collect fines that resulted from a $50 parking citation, but the mayor stopped short of saying the city would drop its pursuit of the $245,000 house.



"It's before the courts right now," Barrett said.

Barrett said he plans to contact leaders in the mental health community to see if they could help.

"Part of what has made this case more difficult is he wants to fight this, but the difficulty is he's never gotten in the ring," Barrett said of the homeowner.

Barrett said that while the punishment seemed extreme for the crime, the case was too unusual to warrant a change in policy.

"Do I think we should get a house if someone doesn't pay their (car) registration? No, but this is unusual," he said.

The city foreclosed last week on Peter Tubic's home on W. Verona Court after trying for more than four years to collect on the fine, which had escalated to $2,645 and turned into a tax lien.

Public Investigator reported the story in Sunday's Journal Sentinel.

Tubic said Monday he had not heard from Barrett or anyone else from the city aside from Ald. Joe Dudzik, who also offered to help.

"I'm wondering if this isn't like Tiananmen Square, where they told the dissenters help was on the way," he said. "For days they told them help was coming. I knew it wasn't."

In several follow-up conversations on Monday, Tubic struggled with his thoughts. At one point he told P.I. he wasn't sure if he wanted the city to dismiss the case because "what happens to the next guy? . . . It's the principle of the thing." He then said he needed to find a lawyer and would welcome an offer from the city.

Dudzik said he wasn't exactly sure what he could do to help but would return roughly $150 in campaign contributions Tubic had given him if it is legal and would help Tubic.

"I was nearly in tears when I read this," Dudzik said. "He's a nice guy. . . . If there's some way of helping him, I think the city will and should."

Tubic, 62, got the fine in 2004 for parking his van with no license plates in the driveway of his parents' home - a violation of city zoning codes. The radiator had broken, and Tubic couldn't renew the plates without passing the emissions test. He said he couldn't afford to fix it and was overwhelmed with caring for his sick parents.

Tubic's mother transferred the home to him before she died in 2006.

The Social Security Administration has deemed Tubic mentally and physically disabled since 2001. He has a host of physical diseases and a personality disorder that limits his cognitive functioning, according to documents from the administration.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz technically stayed the judgment to give Tubic one last chance to explain why he hasn't paid the fine or even responded to the city. Tubic has until Aug. 14 to file paperwork with the court.

A court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 11. If the city retains ownership of the house, Tubic can remain there as a renter until the house is sold. After that, the new homeowners can decide if they want to continue renting out the house. Tubic can file a petition with the city to collect whatever money remains from the sale of the house after the city takes its cut.

On Sunday and Monday, Public Investigator received more than 100 e-mails about the foreclosure, a vast majority from people outraged at the city's action and offering to help Tubic pay his fine.

"Have the city pols gone crazy?!! Unbelievable," writes Claude Kellogg of North Carolina.

Reader Lisa Calhoun wrote a letter to Barrett and sent a copy to the P.I. Team. Calhoun told Barrett her family had scrapped a trip to Milwaukee next spring.

"I find the entire situation upsetting, and I'm disappointed in the way it's been handled," Calhoun writes. "We were going to visit your museums and breweries, but my desire to see the Harley-Davidson Museum, what caused us to choose Milwaukee as our destination, just doesn't seem important any more."

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