Why is Fresno’s code enforcement putting the screws to this 91-year-old? ‘It’s abuse.’
Editor’s note: After online publication of this column Tuesday morning, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer met with Maria Mogan and her son Mike Mogan at City Hall and agreed to rescind the $781 fine and refund the $250 they had submitted under duress. Dyer also apologized to Maria Mogan for the stress caused by the ordeal.
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At 9 a.m. Tuesday, during a public hearing inside Room 2165-A at Fresno City Hall, city officials will put the screws to a 91-year-old widow with one eye and a heart condition.
Pay the balance of a $781.46 fine, one inflated by unfairly levied administrative fees and late charges, or else a $901.46 assessment will be tacked onto your next property tax bill.
What did Maria Mogan, a woman who made a career of helping the less fortunate, do to get herself in such a bind with the city she’s called home since the 1960s?
Get this: Mogan allowed some palm fronds growing in front of her northwest Fresno house to obscure the address number sign.
Gasp!
“I don’t think I deserve to be in this situation,” Mogan said. “It’s abuse to an elderly person.”
When Mogan first told me about her predicament, I had a difficult time believing Fresno’s Code Enforcement Division would treat an elderly resident in such a heartless, callous manner. A few snips with some pruners and the problem fronds are taken care of, right?
But after talking over the particulars with Mike Mogan, Maria’s son, and reviewing the city’s numerous invoices — most of which the Mogans didn’t receive until months after they were issued — I am forced to amend that view. Never mind heartless and callous. The city’s actions border on contemptible and deserve to be called out.
And what of the $781.46? The fine should be revoked immediately — and Mike Mogan refunded the $250 he submitted a few weeks ago in good faith.
“We feel like we’re being railroaded,” Mike Mogan said.
My hunch: As soon as they’re done reading this, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and City Councilmember Mike Karbassi will agree.
As if code enforcement officers employed by California’s fifth-largest city can’t make better use of their time and effort than picking on 91-year-old widows for ticky-tack violations.
Inspectors issued the initial citation (for $250) for the obscured address digits on July 7, 2021. But instead of mailing the invoice to Mogan’s actual home, the city sent it and subsequent invoices to a post office box in Biola that she hasn’t leased since 1999.
Mogan never saw those invoices. But that didn’t stop the city from tacking on a litany of administrative fees, late charges and even a lien release fee on her house until that $250 swelled to $781.46.
‘It doesn’t make any sense’
At some point in early December, the city must’ve realized the invoices weren’t being received and began sending them to Mogan’s home address. Giving her quite a shock when she checked her mailbox and opened their letter.
“I don’t know why they are doing this to me,” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
As soon as they found out about the citation, Mike Mogan trimmed back the overgrown palm fronds. But when that remedy didn’t satisfy the city inspectors, he made up another set of address numbers and hung them in a more visible location on the front of his mother’s house.
Still, the city’s invoices never stopped — and Tuesday’s hearing is the reckoning.
“It’s kind of scary that one bush can cause the city this much trouble,” Mike Mogan said.
“I am only surviving on half of my heart,” she said. “I must be pretty strong to be able to live like this for a year now.”
Why was Maria Mogan targeted in the first place? According to Mike, a neighbor called city code enforcement to complain about her overgrown backyard. But the inspector couldn’t gain access and found something else to write up instead.
In the meantime, despite her being unaware of the complaint or the actions against her, Maria Mogan hired crews to remove two trees from her backyard and clean up weeds.
“I don’t think I deserve the treatment I’m getting.”
No, she most certainly doesn’t.
This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
