In Washington, DC, developers are not following permitting and zoning laws set forth by DC Ordinances. Homeowners are being effected by having to make substantial repairs when their property has been damaged. Further, other burdens such as lawsuits, attorney fees, and court cost is forced on the homeowner. This burden is forced on the homeowner who are mainly working families. These families have limited resources from the beginning and cannot assume this cost. The DC Laws that regulate illegal pop-ups are as follows: 104.3 Notices and Orders. The code official shall issue all necessary notices or orders to ensure compliance with the Construction Codes, and shall institute administrative and legal actions to correct violations or infractions, including actions pursuant to An Act To provide for the abatement of nuisances in the District of Columbia by the Commissioners of said District, and for other purposes, approved April 14, 1906 (34 Stat. 114; D.C. Official Code § 42-3131.01 et seq. (2012 Repl.)), and the Due Process Demolition Act of 2002, effective April 19, 2002 (D.C. Law 14-114; D.C. Official Code § 42-3171.01 et seq. (2012 Repl.)). 113.7 Illegal Construction. Without limiting any of the penalties or remedies for violations of the Construction Codes, or the Department’s enforcement authority set forth in this Section 113 or elsewhere, if a building or other structure or part thereof is being erected, constructed reconstructed converted or altered, or has been erected, constructed, reconstructed, converted, or altered in violation of the Construction Codes or the Zoning Regulations, said actions shall constitute illegal construction, and the code official is authorized to order ongoing work to stop and that the condition be corrected within a specified time frame deemed reasonable by the code official. Service of the order shall be made in accordance with Section 113.2.1. 113.7.1 Civil Fines. Notwithstanding the issuance of a stop work order or an order to correct, relating to the illegal construction, the code official is authorized to issue civil fines pursuant to Section 113.6 of the Building Code, and each day thereafter a violation goes unabated shall be considered a separate offense. Upon adjudication of the civil fines provided for in this section, the code official is authorized to assess any unpaid fines as a tax against the property on which the violation occurred, and to carry such tax on the regular tax rolls of the District and collect such tax in the same manner as general taxes. 113.7.2 Fire Safety Hazard; Public Hazard. Should the code official deem the condition to be a fire safety hazard or otherwise constitute a hazard to the public, the code official is authorized pursuant to D.C. Official Code § 42-3131.01(c) (2012 Repl.) to cause such condition to be corrected, to assess the cost of correcting such condition and all expenses incident thereto, including fees or charges authorized or imposed in the Building Code, as a tax against the property on which such condition existed or from which such condition arose, as the case may be, and to carry such tax on the regular tax rolls of the District and collect such tax in the same manner as general taxes. 113.8 Injunction to Restrain Use of a Building in Violation of Construction Codes. The Mayor may file a petition with the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for an injunction to restrain the use or occupancy of any building, other structure, or part thereof, in violation of any of the provisions of the Construction Codes or the Zoning Regulations. 113.9 Transfer of ownership. It shall be unlawful for the owner of any building or other structure upon whom a notice of violation or order has been served to sell, transfer, mortgage, lease or otherwise dispose of such building or other structure to another person or entity until the provisions of the notice or order have been complied with, or until such owner shall first furnish the grantee, transferee, mortgagee or lessee a true copy of any notice or order issued by the code official and shall furnish to the code official a signed and notarized statement from the grantee, transferee, mortgagee or lessee, acknowledging the receipt of such notice or order and fully accepting responsibility without condition for making the corrections or repairs required by such notice or order. SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 61 DCR 2782 (March 28, 2014 – Part 2). The District of Columbia Building Code (2013), referred to as the “Building Code,” consists of the 2012 edition of the International Building Code as amended by the District of Columbia Building Code Supplement (2013)(12 DCMR A). The International Building Code is copyrighted by the International Code Council and therefore is not republished here. However, a copy of the text may be obtained at: http://publicecodes.cyberregs.com/icod/ibc/2012/index.htm?bu=IC-P-2012-000001&bu2=IC-P-2012-000019 Harriet Frost

We the Undersigned Call Upon the U.S. Senate / U.S. House / U.S. Congress of the United States of America to Stop Parental Alienation by Making it a Crime Punishable by Law. "Parental alienation" refers primarily to the manipulation and brainwashing of a child that a parent resorts to in order to exclude the other parent from the life of the child. For more helpful information on Parental Alienation please visit our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/parentalalienationsupportandawareness/ PARENTAL ALIENATION: Is the process, and the result, of the psychological manipulation of a child into showing unwarranted fear, disrespect or hostility towards a parent and/or other family members. It is a distinctive and widespread form of psychological abuse and family violence —towards both the child and the rejected family members—that occurs almost exclusively in association with family separation or divorce (particularly where legal action is involved) and that undermines core principles of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Most commonly, the primary cause is a parent wishing to exclude another parent from the life of their child, but other family members or friends, as well as professionals involved with the family (including psychologists, lawyers and judges), may contribute significantly to the process. It often leads to the long-term, or even permanent, estrangement of a child from one parent and other family members and, as a particularly adverse childhood experience, results in significantly increased risks of both mental and physical illness for children. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_alienation Parental alienation is pathogenic parenting. It is a form of child abuse performed by a hostile aggressive parent against the other, targeted parent, using their child(ren) as a weapon during a child custody dispute between unwed, separated, divorcing or divorced parents. http://www.alienationischildabuse.org/ LOW PARENTAL ALIENATION: The “Low Parental Alienation” label applies to parents who direct negative behavior or comments at the other parent in front of the child, but who regret the outbursts, worry about their affect on the child, and take steps to explain the inappropriate actions. Many parents will occasionally engage in low-level alienating behavior, but these parents recognize that the child needs to have a normal, healthy, loving relationship with the other parent. These parents know their occasional outbursts are wrong, and have a healthy enough attitude to correct their mistakes. They may not always want to do the right thing, but they usually do the right thing without regret because they know what’s right is what’s best for their child. MODERATE PARENTAL ALIENATION: The “Moderate Parental Alienation” label applies to parents who mean well; who believe their child should have a normal, healthy relationship with the other parent, but who also believe that the relationship shouldn’t come at their expense or in any way interfere with their life. Parents who engage in moderate alienating behavior usually react to some real or perceived slight from the other parent. Moderate-level alienators have a hard time controlling their emotions and will tend to have more emotional issues than someone who falls into the low-level alienator category. The all out assault on the other parent usually lasts as long as their emotional reaction lasts. When these parents get over their anger, they stop the alienating behavior and move on. While they may not go out of their way to facilitate the child’s relationship with the other parent, at least they don’t sabotage the relationship. That is, until the next real or perceived slight from the other parent. Then the alienating behavior begins again. SEVERE PARENTAL ALIENATION: The “Severe Parental Alienation” label applies to parents with a mission – destroy the previous healthy and loving relationship between the child and the child’s other parent. These alienators are obsessed and relentless. They never get tired, stop scheming or pass up an opportunity to reinforce their destructive message to the child. They conscript friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers, the police and social service agencies into their battle against the targeted parent. When severe alienators are in the throes of an alienation campaign, the child is both a weapon to be used against the targeted parent and a tool to make them feel emotionally complete. They rarely stop to consider how their actions affect the child. If they do consider the child, severe alienators quickly address those thoughts with simple behavior-reinforcing platitudes such as, “I know best,” “Whatever it takes,” and “It’s the other parent’s fault.” Severe alienators are neither aware of, nor interested in, the confusion and conflicted emotions raging inside the child. These parents are only interested in satisfying their own unhealthy internally driven needs. Once the alienation is complete and the parent/child relationship is destroyed, unsatisfied severe alienators may continue using the child to exact further revenge on the previously loved spouse. Together parent and child can run up unnecessary bills aimed at leaving the targeted parent in debt. They can make false physical or sexual abuse allegations aimed at branding the targeted parent an abusive parent or sex offender. They can make false statements to the police in an attempt to get the targeted parent arrested and jailed. Severe alienating parents tap a bottomless source of creativity that only hatred, obsession and vindictiveness can fuel. http://afamilysheartbreak.com/what-is-parental-alienation/ STOP THE EPIDEMIC OF PARENTAL ALIENATION NOW! Make Parental Alienation a Crime Against a Child and Punishable by Law. Thank You for taking the time to address the issue presented. Your support in the matter is needed immediately and is greatly a...

It is in the interest of the citizens of the United States to know the entanglements and potential conflicts of interest that Donald J. Trump's businesses and investments have with his job as our president. We want to assure that presidential decisions are made in the best interest of our country and its citizens, not in the interest of Mr. Trump's businesses.

UPDATE (11/30): Your pressure is working! Since we first posted this petition, the House of Representatives has been feeling the heat. Last night, they took out the provision letting drug companies hide kickbacks to doctors, put some limits on Donald Trump's ability to hold opioid victims hostage to his political whims, and fixed the gun provision. These changes are disappointing the lobbyists, but they're still pushing for this bill, because it's still full of industry giveaways. Keep using your voices to tell the House and the Senate to say NO to this deal and keep fighting for a better one. ------- From the beginning, I've argued that any “cures” bill must include substantial new funding for medical research (NIH), or it’s not going to cure anything. Democrats and Republicans had agreed that a medical innovation bill would not go forward without substantially more money for NIH. But the Cures deal has only a tiny fig leaf of funding for NIH. 21st Century Cures doesn’t reduce crushing drug prices. It doesn’t really expand the invention of new cures. And it doesn’t increase access to lifesaving therapies. What does it do? • Legalizes fraud: It’s against the law for drug companies to market drugs for uses not approved by the FDA. You can’t sell a headache pill as a cure for cancer. Drug companies have paid billions in penalties for “off-label marketing." Instead of following the law, they’ve cozied up to Congress to have the Cures bill shoot holes in it. • Covers up bribery: Currently, drug companies have to disclose the buckets of money, gifts, giveaways, and free trips they give doctors and hospitals as kickbacks to use certain drugs. Once again, drug companies cozied up to Congress to gut that disclosure rule – allowing any gift related to “medical education” to be exempt. • Hands out special deals to GOP donors: A major Republican donor to Mitch McConnell’s Super PAC has big business plans to sell dangerous, unproven stem cell treatments before they have been approved by the FDA as safe and effective. Now that donor is collecting on his investment. The Cures bill creates a special deal so people can sell these treatments without meeting the FDA gold standards for protecting patient safety, undermining the integrity of the FDA and the safety of untold numbers of desperate patients. And there’s another scary thing hidden in this bill: for two years, Republicans have paid lip service to our nation’s opioid crisis while refusing to spend money on it. Now that Donald Trump has won the presidency, Republicans have agreed to set aside a few million dollars to address the crisis on the condition that the Trump Administration will have complete control over the money once he takes office. There’s more: Medicare cuts, making life harder for people with disabilities, raiding money from the Affordable Care Act, even a gun provision – but not even a 1% increase in funding for NIH. Not everything in the bill is bad. Republicans have included some bipartisan, non controversial provisions in this bill – and have declared that all of those good ideas will die, today, unless we also agree to make it easier for giant drug companies to commit fraud, give out kickbacks, and put patients' lives at risk. That's not compromise. It's extortion. On November 8, a majority of voters supported Democratic Senate candidates, and a majority supported the Democratic presidential candidate over the Republican. The American people didn't give Democrats majority support so we could come back to Washington to roll over and play dead. They sent us here to say NO to efforts to sell Congress to the highest bidder. They sent us here to stand up for what's right. We need to invest in medical innovation in America – but we shouldn’t do it by handing over control to Big Pharma and Republican donors. Tell the House and Senate to say NO to this deal and keep fighting for a better 21st Century Cures Act.

Seventeen Democratic members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee called on the panel's chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz to "begin reviewing [Trump's] financial arrangements in order to identify and protect against conflicts of interest." That request, according to the Democrats, did not receive a reply.

How are voters on any side able to believe in an election when there have been mention of fraud, rigged systems and millions of illegal votes cast in this election? President elect, Donald J. Trump is the individual reponsible for making these statements. There has to be a legal response, as this declaration creates a vote lacking in confidence. Sign this petition to declare your desire for a National Recall Effort or a re-vote as "millions of votes were cast illegally" as made public by Donald J. Trump. NO FAITH IN VALID/LEGAL ELECTORAL PROCESS!

It's about having a president who isn't dishonest.

According to the ACLU Minnesota has deployed over 40 law enforcement personnel to Standing Rock. According to MN Governor Dayton, this is in compliance with a compact between states in the case of a "state of emergency". However, this is not a "state of emergency". When police moved in with tanks and riot gear, using sound cannons, pepper spray, mace, rubber bullets and water cannons, this became a militaristic style police action in support of big corporate oil (Energy Transfer Equity) and against the peaceful protestation of the people of Standing Rock who are standing in protection of their treaty, sacred land and water rights (the Water protectors). (Hundreds of Native American protectors have gathered at the site since April to protest the pipeline’s construction on land they claim is tribal under the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie.) Tax funded Minnesota state resources: including Sheriff, Police, Fire and Equipment, should not be used to support a privately owned pipeline nor to oppress an indigenous people. This is one of the poorest counties in our nation, and they are being taken advantage of in leu of putting the pipeline near the community of Bismarck where it was originally planned.

Birmingham has had a large growth in construction in recent years, allegations of corruption tied to construction and Mayor Bell's brother is concerning in light of what kind of city we want to be and who benefits from revitalization.

AS A Registered Voter I am tired of People Speaking For Me And Telling Me That I don't Trust That My Vote Didn't COUNT When It DID. Tired Of The BS That The Other Candidates Like Jill Stein and Hillary Clinton Are Imposing Their Will On US Americans! WE HAVE SPOKEN ALREADY! STOP TRAMPLING ON OUR VOTING RIGHTS AND TELLING US WHO TO VOTE FOR~

I'm so tired of the change for no reason.

The Palm Springs Vacation Rental Subcommittee (consisting of Councilmembers JR Roberts and Geoff Kors) has completed the draft ordinance changes and will be presenting the proposal to the rest of the City Council this Wednesday, November 30th, 2016 at 5:00pm at the Palm Springs City Hall, Council Chambers. Please attend this important meeting if possible. There are MANY changes being proposed, and I advise all parties to review the document link at the bottom of this petition. After reading the lengthy list of new suggested changes, if you disagree, I suggest you sign the petition to let the City Council know you are dissatisfied. Some of the more controversial changes include (but are not limited to): - Limit the number of contracts to 28 per year. - Non owner occupancy is considered a contract, even if no monetary compensation occurs (i.e. friends and family using a vacation rental will count against the 28 maximum contracts per year). - Only 1 financial interest in a vacation rental allowed per natural person, or trust of a natural person (i.e. only one vacation rental allowed per natural person or trust). - No corporate ownership interest allowed. - EXISTING owners who own multiple vacation rentals and/or corporate owners will only be allowed a 4 year period, to Jan. 1, 2021, to terminate use as a vacation rental (i.e. the grandfathering clause has been given an expiration date!). - Maximum of 2 occupants per bedroom, up to a maximum of 8 occupants per vacation rental. It appears the "plus 2" provision for couches will be eliminated. - 1 car per bedroom, up to a maximum of 4 cars per vacation rental. - Annual building and safety inspections upon renewal of permit. - Increase in annual fees from $234/year to $900/year. The city plans on the formation of a Vacation Rental Enforcement Department, which will have a budget of approximately $1,700,000/year. This will be paid for by the increase in the annual fees noted above. A list of applicable fines is also included in the 48 page document. Additional specific enforcement changes are likely. *I encourage everyone to read the ordinance changes themselves, at the link provided below. My interpretation of these proposals may inadvertently differ.** It is unlikely the City Council will end up with an ordinance change that pleases the entire community. There is rare consensus on this topic as it relates to improved enforcement methods to help reduce noise and associated complaints. Most appreciate the extensive efforts to examine this topic and search for long overdue improvements for families and neighbors negatively impacted. However, many of the provisions included in this draft could be changed in order to reduce the economic and socio-economic threats that will likely accompany this change in policy. Also, many in the community have expressed serious concern that a third party economic impact study, which was shared with members of the City Council during the public comments portion of the recent study session, is not being considered. This economic impact report is set to be completed in December, and yet the City Council is electing to move forward with a potential vote without examining the last but very important aspect of this issue - the economic risks to residents and businesses associated with this possible decision. Contractors, landscapers, housekeepers, pool maintenance persons and many others will see their work levels diminish, yet the city has not provided any documentation of the proposed effects of this ordinance change. Analysis has also not been shared that estimates the short term and long term consequences on the real estate values as a result of increased inventory of sellers choosing to leave the market. Many feel such a study would be the responsible way to wrap up several months of hard work that the Vacation Rental Subcommittee has dedicated to this topic. Lastly, the city appears to be sending mixed messages on its course for the future. Ten "Vacation Rental Objectives" were created the past several months, in which the Subcommittee attempted to vet many of the possible changes through. However, what is the "Mission Statement" or list of objectives for the future of Palm Springs? How do the proposed vacation rental changes match with the long term vision and goals for the city? Does the city have one? The city has succeeded in attracting visitors through the fantastic efforts of events such as Modernism Week. However, how does this change in policy affect our overall brand? Has the Subcommittee examined any studies into how many people visit Palm Springs for the sole reason they can stay in a mid century modern home? Many questions remain, and further research efforts should be made before drastic changes are enacted. Here is the link to the 48 page document/ordinance change created by the city: http://ci.palm-springs.ca.us/home/showdocument?id=48863 If you feel compelled, you can email the City Councilmembers with your specific concerns or suggestions. It is suggested you do so well before the Wednesday night meeting, to give them a chance to read your correspondence: Mayor Robert Moon [email protected] Councilmember JR Roberts [email protected] Councilmember Geoff Kors [email protected] Councilmember Ginny Foat [email protected] City Clerk James Thompson [email protected] Regards, Brian Wilson