Young Neighbor Couple Are Behaving Badly

I woke up late on a gentle, rainy Sunday, and dozed in bed listening to nature's music of raindrops. Then I picked up my tablet from the nightstand to check my emails, catch the news, and maybe watch a movie or Youtube.com. Big mistake. I got another gut-stirring email from the Young Neighbor Couple who recently purchased property adjoining on the north side of my property. They are a young husband and wife whom I would like to refer to as Young, Stupid, and Selfish, but will settle for just Young Neighbor Couple. Their latest email riled me up as follows:

Notes: I was already out of sorts with Young Neighbor Couple because they have the habit of emailing me instead of talking face-to-face with dignity. Their yard is untidy. And especially I was out of sorts with them because when I told them that their new fence along our property line would cause all of the leaves and paper trash, from the upwind schools and shopping centers, to pile up along my side of the fence instead of blowing along into their yard as it does now, they carelessly suggested that they could recommend a youth group from their church whom I could hire to rake it out. When I quietly complained that would cost me energy and money, Young Neighbor Couple turned away from me and forgot about it.

Day 46. My email to Young Neighbor Couple.

RE: your drug-addled, manipulative friend

And you have a lot of nerve, to make yourself feel like a big toot, to refer your manipulative, drug-addled (still actively doing drugs) friend to me. He no longer works for me and he took a lot of my strength as I tried to keep him on task. He worked poorly but I paid him well in hopes of improvement which never came. You should NOT have referred a homeless, drug addict to the home of a seventy-year old woman. That was irresponsible of you.

Annmarie Throckmorton, M.A.

1313 Towanda Avenue, Bloomington, Illinois 61701 | (309) 531-3381 | annmariethrockmorton@outlook.com | inthetide.com, Blog flotsam and jetsam

Day 46. My email to Young Neighbor Couple.

RE: Not Reasonable

So you would "feel more comfortable" ignoring my feelings and property rights? What I hear you say is that you refuse to come to an agreement with me, a seventy-year old woman, about where our shared property line is, instead you intend to bully me with a fencing company who will put your fence in where they want to for you without advance notice to me. The City of Blooming has told me several times that the only way to know for sure the location of our shared property line is to hire a professional surveyor or find the property pins. Since the pins are nowhere to be seen, and a surveyor costs too much, the honorable way is to come to an agreement with your neighbor, me, on where the property line is, before the day you install your fence. You know that I am ill and unable to protect myself from the arguments and intentions of a team of workmen. I am very unhappy about this, especially as you plan to put your fence between our houses which is already a very small space. All of this is very unkind of you and a cheating way of installing your fence.

And stop yelling in your backyard in the evenings as if this small neighborhood was a sports arena or I'll call the police.

Day 46. Reply From Young Neighbor Couple.

RE: _

Thanks for sending this to me!! After thinking about it a little bit more and talking with (my spouse), I would feel more comfortable if the professional fence agency that we hired map out the property line (instead of us finding the mid-point). They follow the regulations/ guidelines for installing fences to a exact protocol.

Thanks for understanding my change of mind!!

Day 38. My email to Young Neighbor Couple.

Dear Young Neighbor Couple,

The Assessors Office-City of Bloomington Property Database indicates that both of our properties have Lot Depth of 70' and Lot Front of 135'. The link to that information is:

http://www.wevaluebloomington.org/propertydatabase.htm

I attached screen captures of that information:

Assessors Office-City of Bloomington Property Database-1313 Towanda Ave.jpg

Assessors Office-City of Bloomington Property Database-1315 Towanda Ave.jpg

Talk to you when we get temperatures below 80º (as per our phone call when Young Neighbor Couple offered to help me measure our yards to determine the property line between us.)

Day 36. My email to Young Neighbor Couple.

RE: a little more information on space between our houses

Kacy & Noah Anderson

Just for your information, I attached a photo of the earthmover that installed a French drain to the north side of my garage, so you can see how much space it takes for equipment to move between our houses. If you do work in your backyard that requires large equipment you might need that space.

Your friend and neighbor,

Day 27. NOTES: I talked to City of Bloomington, residential building inspector. I told him that Young Neighbor Couple told me (lied) that the City of Bloomington told them where their property lines are. He said the city does not provide property boundaries. He suggested that I use Goggle maps, which will tell me within five feet. (The distance between our houses is about fifteen feet.) He said that Young Neighbor Couple can put a fence right on the property line that we share without getting my permission. I told him that my self-serving Neighbor Couple have told me "not to worry about it" but I am worried about their putting a fence between our houses in such a small space. He repeated that the City does not delineate property lines. He said to know the location of the property line, I would have to (1) hire a surveyor, or (2) find the property pins which are usually buried 6-8" underground. I do not see any pins, and I cannot afford to hire a surveyor.

Day 6. I called Young Neighbor Couple and told them about discrepancies in the brochure/code that I emailed to them. I wanted to know their plans. Young Neighbor Couple deflected our conversation by referring a guy, who had lived with them for a while, to do mowing and yard work for me. I hired him on their recommendation that he was a "good guy." He turned out to be homeless, a drug addict, and highly resistant to showing up to do good work.

Day 6. My email to Young Neighbor Couple.

RE links to City of Bloomington fencing code and FENCE BROCHURE

Kacy & Noah Anderson,

Good luck with your project, and let me know if I can help.

The attached brochure on installing fencing in the City of Bloomington code is from City of Bloomington, Community Development. If you have any questions, call their residential inspector.

Below are some links that might be helpful for your fence project. When I bought my house I wanted to install a fence, but the City of Bloomington had too many restrictions so I didn't.

City of Bloomington code on fencing:

http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=21501

City of Bloomington

Zoning Ordinances

Chapter 44

9-10 Fence Regulations

For summary of a few easements and variances in the past few years in Bloomington:

http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/search?q=fence

Best wishes,

Day 5. Reply from Young Neighbor Couple.

Thank you for the information! I greatly appreciate it!!

(When we talked on the telephone, Young Neighbor Couple carelessly said that access to utility lines in our backyards was not their responsibility, utility workers could go in between houses three, four houses to the south—which are occupied by people even more elderly than I am. (What a stinker this Young Neighbor Couple is—meaning difficult to work with and unpleasant.)

Day 5. My email to Young Neighbor Couple.

RE: a little more information on space between our houses

Young Neighbor Couple,

Just for your information, I attached a photo of the earthmover that installed the French drain to the north side of my garage, so you can see how much space it takes equipment to move between our two houses. If you do work in your backyard that requires large equipment you might need that space.

Your friend and neighbor,

Day 1. NOTES: I exchanged phone numbers with Young Neighbor Couple who just purchased the residential property adjoining the north side of my property. I sent them an email with this link: https://nextdoor.com/news_feed/ (Fairway Knolls Neighborhood Assoc.)

Young Neighbor Couple keeps offering to help me "in any way", but does so vaguely and obviously it is just something they say to get their way.

Caption: 1313 Towanda Avenue Bloomington, Illinois, USA

my yellow brick home 2007-2019