Racial Discrimination in Shawano Continues

SIST owns the building located at 143 South Main Street in Shawano, Wisconsin, USA. At the time SIST bought the building, a prominent realtor handling the transaction portrayed to SIST that it would only take $200 to fix up the roof. Unfortunately, what some may call a sales pitch turned out to be an outright lie, and since its acquisition of the building SIST has had endless problems with the roof.

Consequently, SIST recently hired a contractor from Chicago to repair the roof. The contractor checked the Shawano building code to ensure that Shawano was like all other parts of the country where he works which do not require a building permit to repair a roof. Suddenly, on Friday, October 31, 2008, Mike Miller, the Shawano building inspector, appeared out of nowhere and told the contractor that he was going to order all work on the roof repair to stop unless the contractor came in and got a building permit. The contractor told the building inspector that the building code does not require a building permit to repair the roof.

The contractor went to Mike Miller’s office and asked the building inspector to point out in the code where it said that a building permit was required to repair the roof on a building. The inspector admitted that it was not in the code book. When the contractor asked for copies of the code book, Mike Miller disappeared into the office of Jim Stadler, the City Administrator, and shouted that he did not have time to deal with this.

Eventually, Mike Miller emerged from Jim Stadler’s office and ordered the contractor to pay double for the bogus building permit to repair the roof. He then returned to Jim Stadler’s office, and from there shouted at the contractor, “Either pay the fee or I’m shutting the roof repair down.” The contractor paid the fee and obtained the permit. Eventually, he returned to work, frustrated and ready to leave town.

This incident was just another example of the outright prejudice and discrimination that occurs every day in the City of Shawano against SIST and its businesses. Nowhere in the code does it mention that a building permit is needed for repairs. This contractor does work all over the country and never has he been required to obtain a building permit to repair a roof.

For years the City of Shawano has criticized SIST for having vacant buildings. The vacant building excuse has been touted around for years by the City’s mouthpiece, a tiny paper called the Shawano Leader and their hired gun, Rick Ross, and used as a weapon against SIST. At the time the buildings were purchased, they had been vacant for many years. SIST had a very specific purpose and vision in mind, a particular business venture they planned to operate out of each and every building. They hired architects from around the country to draw plans and renderings for renovating the buildings.

In fact, the plans, several for each building, were shown to the previous mayor for Shawano officials to select the design they wanted. SIST took the plans to show city officials out of respect for their choice for the City of Shawano and to show cooperation with them. The renovations of these buildings would have made Shawano famous for the most beautiful and intricate historical buildings.

Unfortunately, while SIST awaited a response and subsequent meeting with the City, the worst tragic event in the history of Shawano occurred: the current mayor took office. Had the status quo been maintained, the buildings would be bursting with light and bustling with activity.

Subsequently, SIST has attempted on numerous occasions to begin remodeling the buildings. Without fail, as soon as they begin any work, someone shows up to stop it, someone contacts the contractors and discourages them from doing any work for SIST, or getting a permit for anything becomes a difficult process.

This is just one example. It is outright prejudice and discrimination. Does the City of Shawano ever do such things to anyone else? No. The world needs to know what is happening in the City of Shawano, State of Wisconsin, USA. So, when the citizens of Shawano are ready for change and to have all the vacant buildings in Shawano bustling with business, you know what needs to be done.

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