Property Manipulation and Oppression

The thing about all levels of government is that there is all the time in the world for them. They are not like us individuals.. who have a finite existence, limited time in years to achieve our goals and ends. Instead, local governments can wait, persist, delay, repeat and take whatever actions needed to keep vital the purposes at hand. Property controls and zoning controls can outlast any individuals life. This is how the local governments win. They can delay so long that the individual gives up or dies.
Case in point: I have owned a small lot in San Bernardino City for over 25 years, acquiring it by deed in 1983. The property conveyed to me was two contiguous parcels, both residential zoned. The front parcel faced on I Street, right off Inland Center Drive, where a freeway cut through and on the opposite side of the freeway was a shopping mall. The front parcel had a small house on it which my husband and I rented for years. Then I sold that house / parcel to get cash to keep our import business afloat. The lot was in my name alone. I kept the back parcel, thinking that one day it would be worth a great deal more due to its closeness to a major California freeway, the 215 freeway. For years the city / county had prevented any improvements in the neighborhood, labeling it as a "no development zone". The only hope of gain in value was going to be due to any changes by the city or state as the years passed. I kept the lot in case of a rainy day, when I would be able to sell it and get cash out of it.
Well that rainy day is now... and coincidentally, the lot is indeed smack in the middle of development now. The state has in the past months widened and improved the freeway beside the lot, and reconfigured the on and off ramps near the lot. Surrounding my parcel, other parcels are benefitting. One group of parcels one parcel away from mine (about 60 feet) has been left zoned commercial, and was sold for $2 million this past August 2007. A car wash and convenience market has been approved to be built there. Another parcel, on the other side of my parcel, was sold by the moving company that owned it, to the state under eminent domain for the freeway widening. There is a well established but older restaurant on the left side of my lot, and on both sides of my lot is also lots owned by the Edison company. My lot and others, primarily the Edison company lot, were rezoned this past year to Industrial Light zone. I received no notice of this rezoning and learned of it by surprise when I recently tried to get a loan on the lot.
In fact, I also was denied the loan when a surprise negative came up on the title search. It seems that the city has tagged my lot as an unlawful division. There was no mention of such "unlawful" status when it was conveyed to me as two separate parcels. I did not create the division, I simply was the conveyee of the lots as such. Later, when I sold the front parcel with the house, there was also no notice of any alleged illegality. Title search came up with no such negative tag. I sold the house and kept the rear parcel. So.. 25 years have passed and now that the lot is worth more, with the current appraisal at between $100k to $125k, the city has declared it not a legal parcel. They want about $20,000 total to make it "legal".. that includes about $8000 in city fees for application of review of survey map, approval of final parcel map, and surveyor fees as well. That makes the costs to comply with the city demands to 20% of the lot value.
In the meantime, I am unable to sell or finance the lot at all. No lender, not even hard money lenders, will give loans on it without the city's "certificate of compliance" completed. The entire thing is nothing more than government extortion.
So, while property owners around me are receiving a benefit from the development going on, I am losing the entire value of the lot I have paid property taxes on for a quarter of a century. All these years the lot had its own parcel number and was taxed by the assessors office as a separate parcel.
Now I am in financial devastation: I have lost my retirement funds in the stock market fall, and am in foreclosure of the home where I live. I was counting on the resource I held in the lot, but now that has been denied me. The only path left to me is the help of an attorney, which will entail considerable cost and time. By the time I get this sorted out, I will likely already be tossed out of my home. Without any job or income, it is possible I will join the homeless hoards, all the while holding title to a lot made worthless by the city. What injustices are made possible under the damned outrageous system we live under !! Should I be so fortunate to happen into any funds again, I am leaving to live in another country and will never step foot in this one again.