Saveitforparts

Last year I regretfully had to sell my sailboat, the Pagoo. Originally a moldy derelict in Elfin Cove, I’d spent several years refurbishing, rebuilding, and sailing the 24′ Bayliner Buccaneer around northern Southeast Alaska. Since my life had taken me to Minnesota more or less long-term, and transport cross-country being cost and time-prohibitive, I decided to pass the boat on to someone else who could make use of it locally.

After posting an ad on Craigslist and some flyers around town I found a buyer. I carefully explained all the faults I could think of (and there were a few, it was a work in progress), and turned over the Pagoo along with a literal boatload of spare parts, equipment, books, and other extras.

Fast forward a year, and I get an email from someone else who had looked at buying Pagoo in 2009. They had noticed the boat tied up in Auke Bay, accumulating tickets (supposedly the new owner had secured a slip in Douglas harbor).

A quick call to the Auke Bay harbormaster confirmed it. Pagoo is apparently abandoned, the new owner unable to be reached. The dinghy is sinking at the dock, there is apparently some kind of mechanical problem (did he manage to kill BOTH outboards? Finicky as they were, they could always be persuaded to run eventually). The harbor staff indicated they were close to impounding the Pagoo, at which point it would be auctioned or, if they thought it was in bad condition, “sent to the crusher”!

I’m sure the boat is in good enough shape to have value to SOMEONE, although whether the harbor staff recognizes that, I don’t know. Even if the new owner has stripped and neglected it, it’s definitely in better shape now than it was when I got it! The rigging and hardware alone ran me almost a grand in parts. I’m hoping that someone manages to save it if it comes to harbor impoundment!

In addition, I came across this photo from March showing Pagoo parked behind the classy yacht. It looks like someone didn’t even furl the main sail properly!

I tried to contact the new owner by phone and email, with no response. What happened? Where is the owner? Why isn’t he at least trying to sell it to pay off the harbor fees and tickets?! What is going to happen to my boat? Even though it’s not “mine” anymore, I still feel bad for its sad abandoned state! If I were still in the area I’d be trying to do more, but I’m at a loss for what more I can do from the Midwest. I don’t even have much left from the sale, due to some recent medical bills.

I am kinda bummed out 😦

I sent the following to a number of St. Paul officials earlier this year. It pretty much sums up my experience with trying to find an affordable house here.

To whom it may concern,

I’m a former St. Paul resident who is interested in buying property in
the city. As a younger first time homebuyer with some construction
experience, I’d like to find something affordable in the “fixer upper”
range. However, while searching for property in St. Paul, I’ve been
frustrated time and again by the Vacant Building Registration and
Category system. I’ve had the same experience reported by friends
interested in St. Paul property. To me, the VBR system seems to run
counter to St. Paul’s goal of maintaining affordable owner-occupied
housing and a stable tax base. This system appears detrimental to the
future of St. Paul, especially in our current housing market.

For those not familiar with the Vacant Building system, here’s how it
looks to the average homebuyer. A house in St. Paul is either
“occupied” (which can mean it’s maintained by owners living
elsewhere), or it is “registered vacant” (foreclosed with occupants
evicted). If a house is “occupied”, you can buy it as-is with
disclosure of a Truth in Housing Report. If it is vacant, it falls
into one of three categories.

“Category One” is a house that city officials are relatively happy
with. It has few if any problems, but buyers may have to do some
repairs before being allowed to move in.

“Category Two” usually means the house is boarded up or has multiple
problems. To the buyer, these properties are a huge turn off. Category
Two requires a buyer to bring the property up to code (modern code,
not the code of the construction date), before being allowed to occupy
it. In practical terms, this means owner-occupants are unlikely to buy
a Category Two home, since they have to make major renovations and
live somewhere else until the city is satisfied with repairs. If the
city’s requirements are too expensive for any buyers, the house
eventually degrades into a Category Three.

“Category Three”, to the buyer, is usually a write-off. The city
considers them dangerous, and the threat of demolition hangs
constantly over the property until all work is completed. In the worst
case, these may be obviously-collapsing rotten wrecks, but sometimes
they’re simply foreclosed properties that have sat for a while and
deteriorated past Category Two, perhaps by having the copper stolen or
the windows broken. Even if repairable, these houses are avoided by
everyone, and typically torn down at the city’s expense.

To the outsider (the typical homebuyer), the formula for categorizing
vacant houses is a mysterious and arcane process. Information on
specific properties is available in a city database, but can be
confusing or meaningless out of context. Common things like “partial
basements” or “poor handrails” can apparently decide a house’s fate.
Interior items like rusty furnaces and cracked plumbing fixtures,
though not structurally part of the house, might tip the scales
between categories, suddenly requiring an otherwise sound building to
be completely modernized to today’s standards. Code Compliance can
mean everything from larger windows, higher ceilings, and new wiring,
to a complete rebuild of major structural elements. Due to the
difference in building and housing codes over time, Code Compliance
can be impractical and cost prohibitive for historic homes. It can be
a death sentence for any house over a certain age.

What does this mean to the St. Paul home buyer? Essentially, a large
percentage of vacant properties are not worth considering. The VBR
system is a frightening and incomprehensible thing.  Non-savvy buyers
could purchase a home and then find themselves facing unaffordable
repairs or imminent demolition. Even informed buyers can find a
property has slipped from one category to another between purchase and
closing, as seen in recent news articles. Properties in the same
condition can be found in more handyman-friendly municipalities as
“Fixer Uppers”, where the buyer can purchase, live in, and repair the
house at their convenience, not on the city’s schedule. For the first
time homebuyer like me, looking for a deal or a “handyman special”,
these factors make St. Paul quite unattractive. Anything affordable in
the city is treated with suspicion, or ignored completely.

What does this mean for St. Paul? Intentional or not, the city is
preventing many vacant properties from being re-occupied. With a
number of nearby cities to choose from, some with less stringent
requirements, there’s no reason for anyone to buy a Category Two or
Three house. These houses will eventually be torn down at city
expense. The land will either sit vacant, be taken by the city for
delinquent taxes, or be bought for a few thousand to expand a
neighbor’s yard. In any case, there is little to no income for the
city. Not just the property tax, but also the sales tax and economic
activity from potential residents are gone. The city can hope that
someone will eventually build a modern home on that lot, but this is
unlikely even in the best of economic times. Builders and buyers of
new homes do not like city-size lots. They don’t like “problem areas”
with high numbers of vacant or demolished buildings. During economic
boom times, new construction happens in the suburbs. During economic
downturns, buyers choose cheaper existing properties rather than
expensive new construction. The city can finance or subsidize projects
on the land, but these come with their own financial burden. This
results in a lose-lose situation, a house demolished or categorized
out of affordability today might never profit the city again.

I can see three supposed benefits of the Vacant Building registration
system, but I feel that they are empty benefits, already provided by
other programs. For one, homebuyers may be saved by the VBR from
buying an unsafe or dangerous house. However, they are already
protected by the Truth in Housing program, which requires informed
consent through independent assessment and disclosure of property
condition. Secondly, the VBR and Code Compliance requirements may
prevent the spread of substandard rental property. However, there are
already separate rental licensing and fire safety programs to prevent
this, each with its own inspections. Thirdly, required repairs may
keep people from neglecting dilapidated or ugly houses. Again, there
is already a program for this, the city can and does levy assessments
against properties for anything from trashy yards to decaying
exteriors, so a buyer cannot simply ignore repairs. In all three
cases, major repairs also require licensed contractors, and there are
state and federal codes covering safety and quality standards. As
such, there is really no reason for the VBR and Category system to
exist. It is redundant, it does nothing to protect buyers, and it does
nothing to mitigate the spread of vacant housing. If anything, the VBR
and Category system encourages the neglect and eventual destruction of
vacant homes.

I realize that city politics move slowly, and change may be unpopular.
However, as a frustrated homebuyer trying to become a contributing St.
Paul resident, I feel that some reform is needed. Eliminate the VBR
and Category system. Eliminate the threats of Code Compliance and
demolition for all but the very worst properties. Allow buyers to live
in and repair properties as their time and finances allows. Reconsider
the Code Compliance requirements so that older properties don’t need
to be fully modernized, OR, offer and publicize incentives for the
average person to afford Code Compliance. Relax the restrictions and
eliminate some of the hoops that homebuyers have to jump through. Work
to attract people who are dedicated to improving old homes, and thus
improving neighborhoods and the city as a whole. We can keep St. Paul
beautiful, livable, and free of neglected properties, but it doesn’t
have to be done by tearing down half the city and driving away
residents. Give the handymen and fixer-upper buyers a break, and give
the tax base of St. Paul a break.

Thank you for your consideration,

-Gabe Emerson
Minneapolis, MN

I’ve been working off and on to finish this little sailboat hull I picked up on Craigslist. So far I’ve waterproofed it and built seats and a mast step. Have also bought parts for a mast and various other additions. I’m tempted to name this the SS Shoebox. So far it’s doing a good job of taking up half my friend’s garage…

I think the sculptor has captured their essence quite well, you can almost see them looking back at you… longing to run free in the wild with their styrofoam brethren.

What have I been up to lately?

I bought and modified a storage trailer (on the projects page).

I bought ANOTHER boat (small kayak, shown below):

And we’ve been playing Settlers of Catan every week:

Thanks to Craigslist and some guy not having enough space in his garage, I now have yet another project boat! This one is a homemade sailing design, somewhat boxy but pretty stable and roomy. It’s partly done but still needs interior waterproofing, seats, gunwales, and rigging! I actually got this about a month ago, but haven’t had time to do any work on it. I’m also trying to get rid of some other boat stuff like a project outboard, so have been busy with that as well.

Speaking of boats, I have moved all (or most) of the content on my sailboat over to its new home on this server.

Megan the pirate!

I dug a few pictures off my cell phone recently. I’m too lazy to sort these into actual pages or anything, or even to put them on Facebook (now that’s lazy!)

OhYes!

The Monarchmobile!

Rachael's cat Wobbler after we caught him as a stray kitten in her garage.

Even Catan gets boring sometimes.

Don't do drugs?

More plywood kayak construction

I miss my sailboat 😦

As a former commercial salmon crewmember living in the Midwest, I get asked frequently, “Is it like the Deadliest Catch?” (The TV show). My response is usually something along the lines of the following, which I sketched during a particularly boring class a while back:

I should start my own webcomic, I have literally several jokes about fishing! Also I can’t draw very well, which means I’d make a great web cartoonist! BTW, I’ve also heard salmon trolling referred to as “The Stonedest Catch”, Drunkiest Catch”, etc. I’d usually just read 5 trashy sci-fi books per day to cope with the boredom of “The Drag”, but some fishermen turn to, ahem, “other” solutions 🙂

Here we go, switching over to the WordPress version of Saveitforparts.com…. hopefully this all works, stay tuned!

Incidentally, I’ve “sort of” migrated my photo page to this site, and also updated the project pages on computers and potato cannons here, they’re slightly different than the old versions.  I’ll be working to get my other content moved over from the old host bit by bit.

I am currently in Mariposa, CA, a town whose police blotter is so ridiculous that it’s apparently been featured on Leno. The highlights from recent issues:

•There was a horrible odor in a house on Buckeye Road.

•There were rocks on Highway 140.

•A red-tailed hawk was in a house on Yosemite Oaks Road.

•A fence was vandalized in Coulterville.

•A tree was across Triangle Road.

•A lawn was on fire on Red Cloud Mine Road.

•There was a cow problem on Highway 49 South.

•A person was reportedly disoriented on Indian Peak Road.

•Someone found a tent on McMahon Road.

•A burning smell was reported on Coyote Court.

The link to the current issue is here: http://www.mariposagazette.com/current/For_the_Record