How one Sacramento homeowner is calling out city hall after a city tree fell on his house

By STEVE LARGE

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    SACRAMENTO (WBBM) — It’s a creative way to call out city hall. A frustrated homeowner is launching his own PR campaign by hanging a banner on his home with the message written in big black letters.

“I just wanted to bring attention to it,” homeowner Juan La O said. “It says ‘City tree smashed my house on January 8th, 2023. Still no permits.’ “

“The beauty of the sign is it’s the facts right,” La O added. “Nobody can argue any of it.”

Photos show La O’s home with an uprooted city tree on top of it, smashing through the roof during the January storms.

“This is a city tree hitting my house,” La O said. “It wasn’t me forgetting to trim a tree that was in my front yard.”

Inside the home, there is still a gaping hole in the ceiling. The storm’s water damage inside the walls can’t be determined until construction crews can begin demolition.

A city spokesperson issued a statement reading, in part:

“At this time the city is waiting for the applicant to submit revised plans addressing correction notices including unpermitted work done on the house located on Capitol Ave.”

“Be your own judge on that one, but for me, it’s like ‘Hey, a city tree smashed my house. I just want to build it the same way it was. It’s been seven months, eight months almost,’ ” La O said.

The house is located in Sacramento’s Capitol Mansions, a historically designated neighborhood.

Permit plans must go through both the planning and preservation departments of city hall.

“I’ve just obviously reached the point of frustration where I felt like I had to be a squeaky wheel in order to get something done,” La O said.

Now, he has this message to everyone who passes by.

“It’s just like one thing after another,” he said. “It’s almost like the whole system is set up to make it as slow as possible.”

Will this banner calling out city bureaucracy help get him back inside his home? La O said right now, the city is asking for correction notices on unpermitted work done before he ever owned the house. He bought it six years ago.

He said he will keep this sign up until his permits are approved.

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