Woman, city in battle over property damage

Mathis Winkler

Friday, March 15, 2002 | 10:43 a.m.

Jo Ann Jackson's North Las Vegas home is a mess, no question about it.

It has been an eyesore for the past eight years, ever since a neighbor who was fleeing Metro Police officers crashed his car through her front yard, damaging her car and her house in the process.

That's not in dispute. What Jackson and city officials are fighting over is who's responsible to fix the damage.

City officials say Jackson needs to pay for a new fence, cover her damaged car and remove litter that's accumulated in her back yard. In December they issued her three citations for code violations, which carry maximum fines of $3,000.

A pretrial hearing in North Las Vegas Municipal Court on Wednesday will decide whether she will face fines.

Jackson, 54, who is unemployed and gets by on $120 a month from her mother as well as food stamps and an occasional job, claims city officials cited her to discourage her from pursuing a 1996 lawsuit against the city.

"They're making me pay for what somebody else did," Jackson said, adding that she doesn't have the $8,500 she estimates it would cost to fix the problems.

Among other things, Jackson's lawsuit claims North Las Vegas police officers have failed to protect her against abuse from neighbors and children in the area. In six years the city has spent about $16,475 defending itself in the suit, which was dismissed by a district judge but reinstated by the state Supreme Court.

Jackson, who serves as her own attorney, seeks unspecified damages for physical, mental and financial harm cause by the city's negligence to protect her rights. She said she can't put a dollar amount on the time she has spent suing the city, but said she has paid at least $5,000 for paralegal assistance.

The citations issued against Jackson came as part of a larger effort to clean up the neighborhood near Las Vegas and Lake Mead boulevards, not as a result of Jackson's lawsuit, Nielsen said. She declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit, because it is still pending in Clark County District Court.

City officials maintain it's Jackson's property and her responsibility.

"We're not the bad guys," Chief Deputy City Attorney Leslie Nielsen said. Jackson could have sued the neighbor who crashed into her home to recoup the cost, he said.

In addition, Jackson refused help available to poor people who don't have the money to deal with code violations, city officials said.

"We've given her a million chances to take care of this, but she doesn't want to do anything," Sheldon Klain, the city's code enforcement manager, said.

City officials gave her the phone number of a nonprofit organization that helps the poor with home improvements. When she called that office, office workers told her they didn't do yard work, Jackson said.

Even if the code violations are dismissed or fixed, Jackson said, she will not drop her lawsuit.

"It's ruined my whole life," she said. "I'm not crazy and I definitely know how to leave people alone. But (city officials) are the ones who are bothering me."