The Cat-House Controversy: One Man's Fight Against Local Politics Through Architecture

The Cat-House Controversy

"It's been one of the biggest mysteries in one Mid-Michigan town for years and has become the center of controversy as of late.

It's known as the cat house in downtown Corunna and looks as strange as it sounds. Despite countless complaints from residents, the city can't really do much about it." -WNEW News 

I grew up the small town of Corunna, Michigan. With a population of 3,400 people, news of a political rebellion against the the local government by a single man made headline news for weeks. The themes of this weeks readings sparked discussions of large masses of people rebelling against their goverment or a social problem in their time and taking great action to fight against it, which inevitable affected the fabric of their cities and communities. But what happens when the fight isn't hundred or thousands against their government...what happens what its the fight of a single person? Can it still make an impact.

This is what happened in my home town back in 2014 when the owner of used car lot objected essentially abandoned his property when the business went under and violated local laws by not maintain the property (cut grass, trash pick-up, maintaining side-walk ect). After numerous requests by the city council and mayor himself to clean up the property that went unanswered by the owner, the city decided to come in and clean it up themselves but at a price to the owner. The owner was furious at the local government and decided to rebel the only way he knew how. By turning his abandoned lot into this...

A crudely painted building with very suggestive innuendos now stands in its place. 

The owner's..."renovations"...do not technically violate any city laws therefor the local government can do nothing about it, regardless of the number of complaints from residents. This small act of rebellion caused chaos in my town for weeks. The town was polarized between support and appall over the owners reaction. As small as his act was, it made a huge impact on our town and actually sparked interest and discussions of the role of local politics. It represented one man's fight against government interference. Others saw it as a crass response to a small lawn mowing bill.  While it was not at the scale of a large revolution, a single person's act of rebellion sparked the largest political debate my small town had ever seen. Last I checked...the 'Cat-House' is still alive and well.