Showing posts with label Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Show all posts

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Garland Code Compliance Officer Ignores Violations of His Neighbors As Well As His Own

In May of 2017, I was unfairly targeted by an employee with the City of Garland, Code Compliance Department. I say "employee" because said employee was not licensed as a Code Compliance Officer with the Texas Department of Health. (Note: Code Compliance Officers were regulated by the Department of Health Services at that time. Regulation of Code Compliance departments was transferred to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in September of 2017.)

The now-Officer's name is Dawood Haq, also known as "Sal" Haq. Mr. Haq parked his pickup truck next to my 8ft privacy fence and proceeded to stand on the side of the truck bed to look over the top of the fence and take pictures of the back yard. The 8ft fence effectively blocked any angle where the yard could be seen from a standpoint of public view.

This article is not about the events that took place with my property rather, it is about the unethical practices of code compliance officer Dawood Haq. More specifically, how Mr. Haq does not abide by the Code of Ordinances with his own home that is located in the City of Garland and overlooks multiple violations committed by one of his neighbors, located just three houses away.
Several of those violations are listed below.

The violations were identified by using Google maps of the residential area that is published to the public online and therefore a matter of public information. No privacy rights have been violated with the collection of the information contained in this article.

The photo shown below is a screenshot obtained by Google Maps


Image by Google Maps
Multiple code violations of Inspector Haq's property
and immediate neighbors.



Image by Google Maps
View from public alley of neighbor of Code
Inspector Dawood Haq.



Image by Google Maps 2018
Public view of Garland Code Compliance Officer
Dawood Haq. Several visible Improper Storage violations.


The following is a list of violations by definition listed under the Charter and Code of Ordinances For the City of Garland located within the County of Dallas in the State of Texas.

Filth shall mean any matter in a putrescent state.

Improper storage shall mean the outdoor storage, for a period greater than 24 hours, in a residential district, as defined by the zoning ordinance, of articles and material subject to deterioration by the elements, including but not limited to furniture and appliances other than those customarily installed or used out-of-doors, boxes, vehicle parts, and paper; any material which is stored in a disorderly manner or in such a manner as to offer harborage to vermin; any cut wood, firewood, lumber, or other building material, except masonry, which is not stored a minimum of six inches above the ground.

Impure or unwholesome matter shall mean any putrescible or nonputrescible condition, object or matter which tends, may or could produce injury, death or disease to human beings.

Nuisance shall include stagnant or unwholesome water, sinks, privies, filth, carrion, weeds, rubbish, brush and refuse, impure or unwholesome matter of any kind, sewage exposed to the atmosphere, objectionable, unsightly or unsanitary matter of whatever nature, litter as defined elsewhere in this Code, harborage for rodents or parasitic insects, open wells, abandoned refrigerators, animal pen or enclosures which have become offensive, improper storage, graffiti, encroachment, substandard premises, junk motor vehicles, junked boats, junked off-road motorcycles or junked all terrain vehicles, poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac (within 50 feet of an occupied dwelling,) and potable water nuisances.

Objectionable, unsightly or unsanitary matter shall mean any matter, condition or object which is objectionable, unsightly or unsanitary to a person of ordinary sensitivity.

Refuse shall mean any homogeneous or heterogeneous accumulation of worn out, used up, broken, rejected or worthless materials.

Rubbish shall mean trash, debris, rubble, stone, fragments of building materials, mounds of dirt or rock and any other material.


Residents of the City of Garland are very familiar with the practices of city employees. I can personally speak about how stacked the odds are against residents for fighting back against unethical city employees. Code Compliance ignores State regulations regarding city employee conduct. They know they will not be held accountable because the Garland Municipal Court will back their actions knowing a resident is unlikely to invest thousands of dollars in pursuing a suit against the City. Without a pending lawsuit against the City, it is pointless to file an ethics and conduct complaint with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations. There is no motivation for the TDLR to hold the City accountable when they are not under investigation by the Texas Attorney General. It is easiest to just brush resident complaints aside while maintaining the attitude you would expect when facing the Mafia... 'Yeah? Well what are you gonna do about it?'

Residents who can't afford the time or money to defend themselves legally are left with only one effective tool to fight back against being wronged..... Tell the public all about it on the Internet because it is protected as free speech under the First Amendment.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

City of Garland Code Compliance V. Garland Homeowner Set For Trial By Jury on January 8, 2018.... Maybe

Photo taken on Dec. 6, 2017
Garland Code Compliance w/ Officer Sal Haq
Haq stopped in front of my house and returned on Dec. 7, 2017.
Trial upcoming so, Haq increasing his attention to my house.

I appeared in court this morning to begin the trial for the seven citations issued against me by the City of Garland Department of Code Compliance. Based off of previous experience with the court, I was expecting to talk to the prosecutor about a new plea deal they offer every time I have appeared and then wait until the judge calls me to the bench to inform me that they are overbooked today and they need to reset my trial date.
To my surprise, that didn't happen... Sort of.

The prosecutor in court today was a new one to me. His name eludes my memory but, he offered to dismiss two citations and reduce the fines for the remaining five. I told him that the offer was much worse than last time I was in court. He replied with a comment that I really wasn't even listening to and I declined the offer. He said they were ready to proceed to trial and I told him that I was as well. He told me to wait to talk to the judge and that was it with him.

While waiting for the judge to appear, I noticed the courtroom only had one other person waiting and I began to wonder if the trial would actually happen today. Garland prosecutors are known for delaying cases until they can't be bumped any further and right before the trial is about to begin.... The prosecutor will dismiss the case and avoid having to spend the time hearing the case.
The judge called the other person up and they agreed to a plea deal. That left me as the only remaining case.