Man protests with patriotic paint job
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Man protests with patriotic paint job
Bradenton homeowner Brent Greer has painted the American flag on his home to protest local code enforcement officers At first glance, it may appear Bradenton homeowner Brent Greer is filled with patriotism, but there is much more behind the red, white and blue paint job
on his home.
"[I] decided to paint the American flag in order to show this is still America" Greer explained.
He added that he did to show he won't just lie down in the face of what he feels is unfair treatment by his local government.
"They're threatening me and my family," he said.
It started with a dead Christmas tree outside of his house. Someone reported it to code enforcement, prompting officers to investigate his property.
They ended up reporting other violations, like issues with the paint, missing window screens and loose railings. Trash was also reportedly on the property.
"There was a debris pile, he said....show it to me," Greer said.
Facing a $250-a-day fine, Greer became fed up and started painting the flag, which is not a violation.
"Code compliance is all we're looking for," said Code Compliance Manager Volker Reiss.
A code enforcement hearing has been scheduled for later this month but officials hope it doesnt come to that.
"We have 3000 cases a year and less than a 100 go to a hearing, Reiss said.
Still, Greer says he wont back down.
"I'm not going to pay them," he said.
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Rats...the picture of the house didn't show up, sorry. It looks pretty cool though.
hmmm...interesting. So they are more concerned about appearance than anything else I take it.
House Rules
Claim: Photograph shows a house painted in protest by its owner after he was barred from displaying a U.S. flag in his yard.
INACCURATE DESCRIPTION
Example: [Collected via Facebook, May 2013]
This guy was told by his Homeowners Association that he couldn't fly the American flag in his yard ...
Origins: Recent years have seen a number of "viral" news stories about homeowners (often military personnel or veterans) who have run afoul of local ordinances or homeowners association (HOA) rules that prevented them from displaying U.S. flags on their property, such as the 2009 case of Van T. Barfoot
and the 2013 case of
In May 2013 a photograph (displayed above) of a home with its exterior painted in the pattern of an American flag (white stars amidst a blue field adjacent to red and white horizontal striping) was circulated on the Internet, with accompanying text identifying the paint scheme as one the homeowner resorted to after being told by his HOA "that he couldn't fly the American flag in his yard." Although the picture is real and the unusual paint job it depicts was something undertaken as a form of protest, the true backstory had nothing to do with a homeowner's being barred from displaying a U.S. flag in his yard.
The American flag house pictured above is located in Cambridge , Maryland, and its owner, Branden Spear, gave it that distinctive paint job after being angered that his restored Victorian property was declared by building inspectors to be non-compliant with historical code: