Free Talk Live

Today's "cop shoots dog" brought to you by the Clearwater Florida Police.

"...government regulations are requiring that their headquarters on the beach be made handicapped-accessible, even though the only people who ever use the two-story building are the lifeguards."

The Cathedral of Junk goes far beyond the "sofa in the lawn" code violation with a massive 3-story 60-ton building made entirely of discarded and donated items. The city is giving the owner two weeks to clean-up, get architectural permits and otherwise make a structure made entirely of junk up-to-code or have the whole lot bull-dozed.

It all started when Espey decided to re–shingle his roof after discovering a leak.

Espey says, "The building inspector came along and told me I couldn't do it. He told me I had to quit and take off the shingles and start over because they have a code. I was kind of getting disturbed a little bit, somebody telling me what I can do on my home."

Nevertheless, on March of last year he was found guilty of four counts of violating building code and two counts of violating a stop work order, fined over $2000 and sentenced to 90 days in jail, 60 with good behavior.

Hundreds of delinquent taxpayers clogged into the City-County Building on Monday, creating delays for people who work at the building and others.

Warrants were issued for 7,000 taxpayers, and many of them showed up at the same time, eager to set up payments on overdue state taxes to avoid arrest.

Last year, Nancy Krohngold’s lunchtime parking lot barbecue business was shut down by the state. Although she kept catering, she wanted a permanent retail spot to sell her fragrant pork. She thought she found it at the former home of Kay’s Bar-B-Q in the Rosemary District. Sadly, after dumping money into the building for equipment and remodeling, the property went into foreclosure. Since then, Krohngold has continued her "stealth" barbecue lunch sales (along with the catering), and even set up a semi-permanent stand on a vacant lot in downtown.

Eugene Swartz Sr. saw a sign on a building at a brick warehouse in the West Bottoms that advertisedBut on Tuesday, he was forced to abruptly move out, along with up to nine other tenants after the Kansas City Fire Department determined the building was illegal and unsafe., “Space for Rent: loft, office, storage, studio.”

Tampa, Florida -- It is one of Tampa's most famous building complexes, dating back to 1886. Ybor Square, which houses the Spaghetti Warehouse and Creative Loafing newspaper, is owned by the Church of Scientology. As a religious building, the church will be exempt from paying almost $75,000 in property taxes.

Venture near the Black Sparrow Pub in downtown Lafayette and you might notice colorful, geometric shapes adorning the front of its building.

Owner Paul Baldwin said the pieces are the creative products of local artists. City officials said the work amounts to a historic preservation ordinance violation.