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By
Missy Stoddard
Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
Published June 22, 2004
Steven
Grossberg acknowledges that going to court over a pair of $12 plastic birds
from Kmart is a bit ludicrous.
"This could be the most trite (thing) that's ever come across a courtroom
bench," said the 55-year-old writer and photographer, who lives in the
Indian Spring subdivision west of Boynton Beach. A trial on the issue of
whether the plastic birds should stay or go began and ended Monday.
Trite
or not, Grossberg said he is fighting for the right to keep the birds -- one
green, one brown, each measuring about six inches long -- affixed to the
mailbox post of his townhouse. He says the plastic perchers keep real birds
from defecating on his mailbox.
Grossberg and his attorney, Cathy Lively, think Grossberg is the victim of
selective enforcement of the Indian Spring's Oakdale II town home community's
covenants. Retaliation, Grossberg says, for his vocal objection several years
ago over Indian Spring becoming a 55-and-older community.
The community's homeowners association says the phony fowl are eyesores that
violate bylaws prohibiting altering the appearance of a mailbox. Though the
issue seems trivial, Indian Spring attorney Gregory Scott argued, its purpose
is to prohibit discretionary decorative alterations to one's property.
"If you permit these birds, then what's next? The floodgates are
open," Scott argued.
On the witness stand, Grossberg insisted he never touched the mailbox -- the
birds are attached to the mailbox post. Besides, he said, his mailbox is much
more aesthetically pleasing than many of his neighbors' mailboxes, which are
filthy and covered in bird excrement.
Grossberg first received a letter notifying him of the violation in June 2001,
according to testimony. That letter also included a warning about a U.S. flag
attached to the mailbox post.
Property manager Donald Chamberlain testified Monday that American flags
displayed in a respectful fashion are acceptable. A month after an initial
warning letter from the homeowners board of directors, the community filed a
lawsuit seeking an injunction forcing Grossberg to remove the birds. Lively
said Grossberg was never given an opportunity to appeal the board's decision.
Grossberg said he eventually did remove the birds, in February 2003, but not
because of the lawsuit. He was paying homage to the crash of the space shuttle
Columbia and the loss of the seven astronauts aboard. Removing the birds was a
symbolic gesture that "the artificial birds had disappeared," he
testified.
Grossberg calls his case a prime example of abuse by homeowners boards.
"They've ruined the last 31/2 years of my life."
Retired Judge Bernard Jaffe will issue a ruling later.
Each side seeks to have the other pay its attorney fees. Grossberg said he has
spent between $10,000 and $20,000 defending the case. |