Living like Crusoe.. Rich folks in Miami want to evict him

[SoCalDem]

This is a really neat story.. be sure to click the link and read the whole thing..
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8355631.htm


HOME SWEET HOME: Jose Montaner, 70, has lived with his terrier, Papo, in the small house he built on a spoil island off Coconut Grove for four years. He was previously homeless. RONNA GRADUS/HERALD STAFF

Posted on Mon, Apr. 05, 2004

Living like Crusoe

He made a home out of a secluded island. But some, who says it's public land, want him out.

BY SAMANTHA RIEPE

Herald Writer


A few hundred yards from Coconut Grove's luxurious Grand Bay Hotel, within sight of the shiny sailboats lining Dinner Key Marina, a social castaway has created his personal island paradise.Jose Montaner lives on a ''spoil'' island -- one of the small bodies of land lining Florida's coast -- in a driftwood-and-tarp house he built from other people's washed-up discards.A jumble of mismatched plywood, some pieces still bearing faded advertisements, has become his makeshift kitchen and bedroom, with a picture of Jesus tacked onto a mirror. A generator lights the single bare bulb dangling from the ceiling and powers the fuzzy TV.During his four years ''homesteading,'' he has cleaned the island of debris while creating a world of his own: a garden with fake and real flowers, a playground of old buoys and weathered rope and a handicapped-accessible dock that has become a favorite stop for disabled children learning to sail.

But despite his Robinson Crusoe-style survival skills, Montaner may lose his castaway status. Local regulatory agencies are pushing to remove the 69-year-old Cuban from the second island he has ever called home.

''This island was empty and dirty when I found it. It needs me and I need it,'' said Montaner, a sturdy man of 5-foot-3, who speaks only Spanish. ``I belong here in the water and I'm not going anywhere.''

The alarm was first raised by Stuart Sorg, a Coconut Grove resident and member of Miami's Waterfront Advisory Board, who said area boaters had voiced concerns over Montaner's island residency. The spoil islands are Miami park property. People aren't allowed to live there, Sorg said.''I have got to give him credit. He's assembled a way of life out there,'' Sorg said. ``But he needs to be out as soon as we can get him out. People don't have a right to set up their town house on public property.''

snip.....

''Every day I wish to go home,'' he said. ``For me, it is this island or Cuba -- that's it.''



PLACE IN THE SUN: Jose Montaner, 70, stands on the north side of the small spoil island off Coconut Grove he has called home for the past four years. RONNA GRADUS/HERALD STAFF

[izzie]

1. Rich people do not like a mess around, Kennebunkport did .........

something like this and that guy owned his home and land but he was messy.If a guy is going to spend two weeks in his home in Kennebunkport he does not want a mess around. Specially if the house he lives in cost millions.The fact is class does not come with money

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Probable reason for evicting now: prevention of adverse possession.

If you decide to set up a homestead on private or public property without the permission of the owner, maintain the property (cleaning it up, making improvements, build a home so to speak),live in an "open and notorious" manner (meaning your presence can't be avoided from notice) for a continuing period of time, say 10-20 years depending upon the state, you can legally claim that piece of property as your own.

If the "state" didn't make a formal motion to evict Mr. Montaner before the end of the time period, the property would permanently belong to him.

Not that I am taking sides against Mr. Montaner. If the island was abandoned and not being used by anyone, I don't see why he could not have been left alone for the rest of his life. The state would have eventually re-claimed the island (assuming that Mr. Montaner didn't outlive the adverse possession time period).

[AngryAmish]

3. Can't adversely possess public land

Plus, you should pay taxes on the land for a better adverse possession case.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. I stand corrected, thank you. I forgot.

[solinvictus]

5. An old man and his dog....

What a threat to society; an old man who keeps his place clean living quietly with his dog on an island nobody wanted or cared about to begin with. I understand that the property isn't his, but jeez, he's 70 years old and it wasn't like anyone in Miami had clamored over it before.

[SoCalDem]

6. and when he died, they would just go toss out his stuff

and let the refuse pile up again..

I think they were secretly "embarrassed" to have a "bum" visible to the "guests"..:(

[rumguy]

7. He sounds like a cool guy

"The Shake-A-Leg Foundation, which takes disabled children to his island during boating excursions, calls him the steward of the local environment. Even police are sympathetic to his case.

'We need to pull together our resources and come up with some sort of assistance for this man,' Eckert said. `I'm not taking sides. But we are willing to go the extra mile to approach this situation with compassion.'"