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Woman living "off the grid" faces eviction

Montecresto

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The Declaration of Independence says Americans have certain “unalienable rights,” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Those words were written by a fellow that didn’t have running water or electricity in his home — Thomas Jefferson.

After Jefferson’s wells ran dry he began capturing rainwater that ran off the roof of his house, which is pretty much what a Florida woman, Robin Speronis, of Cape Coral, is doing.

http://blogs.ajc.com/news-to-me/201...grid-faces-eviction/?cxntfid=blogs_news_to_me
 
Saw this elsewhere and like there it lacks details. It's certain to rile many as written, but without all the facts it's rhetorical to judge. For example it is my understanding she doesn't use city water but collects rain water which I do as well where I live now. However I don't live near any city and she is in one or so I'm told. So when there is a fire at her house, and her rain water is insufficient to put it out and the fire truck opens up a hydrant....she should not have paid for the water lines and all?


The Declaration of Independence says Americans have certain “unalienable rights,” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Those words were written by a fellow that didn’t have running water or electricity in his home — Thomas Jefferson.

After Jefferson’s wells ran dry he began capturing rainwater that ran off the roof of his house, which is pretty much what a Florida woman, Robin Speronis, of Cape Coral, is doing.

Woman living ‘off the grid’ faces eviction | News To Me with George Mathis
 
Taxes paid cover the fire department and she is current.
 
Lots of people in the desert do this. They have huge underground cisterns to store the captured rain water. This is complete BS and the lady should have shot it out with these jack boot thugs.

We're just seeing crap like this with increasing frequency.
 
Not in CA. Property taxes in some states don't have anything to do with water, sewer, garbage, lighting, storm drain and in some places even fire protection.


Taxes paid cover the fire department and she is current.
 
Some years ago, the Colorado Springs City Council decided it needed money. So it imposed a fee on all homeowners for the use of a sewer system to deal with the rainwater that ran off their roof and property. But if someone tried to collect that rainwater to use for irrigation, they couldn't do that because the City also determined that the water rightfully belonged to the city.

They finally had to trash that fee because so many people just didn't pay it.
 
I think in Maryland they now have a tax on rain and stormy days.
 
I will give her this, she is pretty tough living in that house pictured with no electricity and thus no AC in Florida. I have always thought it would be cool living off the grid, or having an off the grid weekend cabin, but it sure would not be in Florida or the deep south.
 
I live in Oklahoma and it is illegal to store the runoff from rain on ones house. It's considered interfering in the free flow of water that should be going down thru the streams and into the rivers. I think that this needs to be changed but that is the law as it is now.
 
Not in CA. Property taxes in some states don't have anything to do with water, sewer, garbage, lighting, storm drain and in some places even fire protection.

Well this is Florida. :) So, how is the cost of fire departments covered in CA?
 
Some years ago, the Colorado Springs City Council decided it needed money. So it imposed a fee on all homeowners for the use of a sewer system to deal with the rainwater that ran off their roof and property. But if someone tried to collect that rainwater to use for irrigation, they couldn't do that because the City also determined that the water rightfully belonged to the city.

They finally had to trash that fee because so many people just didn't pay it.

I will give her this, she is pretty tough living in that house pictured with no electricity and thus no AC in Florida. I have always thought it would be cool living off the grid, or having an off the grid weekend cabin, but it sure would not be in Florida or the deep south.

She has electricity. She gets it free from the sun. Until Florida decides they own the sun and try to tax it. She may not however have a large enough solar system to run a whole house AC system but a window unit in one room. There were no panels on her roof in the picture so we must not have been looking at the south side.
 
I live in Oklahoma and it is illegal to store the runoff from rain on ones house. It's considered interfering in the free flow of water that should be going down thru the streams and into the rivers. I think that this needs to be changed but that is the law as it is now.

I live in Oklahoma and have 6,000 gallons of cistern capacity and catch every drop of rain that comes off my roof and have done so for 16 years, with no water bill.
 
The Declaration of Independence says Americans have certain “unalienable rights,” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Those words were written by a fellow that didn’t have running water or electricity in his home — Thomas Jefferson.

After Jefferson’s wells ran dry he began capturing rainwater that ran off the roof of his house, which is pretty much what a Florida woman, Robin Speronis, of Cape Coral, is doing.

http://blogs.ajc.com/news-to-me/201...I think a judge will probably agree with her.
 
The state doesn't want people who don't need them. How dare you go off the grid!

What makes me sad are the mountain men who live off the land but most of their efforts go towards trading meat/pelts to afford their annual property tax bill. No matter what they do they can't escape the grid or owing a significant portion of his efforts to the government.
 
If one is living off the grid, so to speak, then one cannot live on it while doing so.

The article does say that the code enforcement people didn't enter her home; she'll get her day in court. If she simply chooses not to use city water, I'd support her right to that. Many people don't drink tap water. If she has functioning plumbing in her home, I'd support her right to do as she chooses. And the town, if they think she's guilty of theft of services for using the sewer system, had better change the way it charges for it. Same for water service. One should not be able to simply shut off their water and avoid paying for the infrastructure. (Our town, for instances, charges sewer usage by a formula taking into account water usage.)

If she's pooping in buckets and throwing it in the backyard? She loses. Outside of that sanitary/safety concern, I think she has a right to live as she chooses. I think a judge will probably agree with her.

Maggie did you read the story? She's paid her taxes, she can utilize the sewage system. She is choosing not to use the city's water or electricity, she has her own.

That being said, why can't one "One should not be able to simply shut off their water and avoid paying for the infrastructure." Why cannot one opt out of paying for something they aren't ever going to use? These are services you pay for by your levels of consumption of water or wattage.

If I don't drive my car this week, should I be paying the gas taxes on the gas I didn't use?
 
Maggie did you read the story? She's paid her taxes, she can utilize the sewage system. She is choosing not to use the city's water or electricity, she has her own.

That being said, why can't one "One should not be able to simply shut off their water and avoid paying for the infrastructure." Why cannot one opt out of paying for something they aren't ever going to use? These are services you pay for by your levels of consumption of water or wattage.

If I don't drive my car this week, should I be paying the gas taxes on the gas I didn't use?

I think that you missed Maggie's point. Water/sewer are a single utility bill, yet the billing is based only on the water usage. The home is using the sewer service but is avoiding any bill for it by supplying their own water to flush the toilet (into the city sewer).
 
Maggie did you read the story? She's paid her taxes, she can utilize the sewage system. She is choosing not to use the city's water or electricity, she has her own.

That being said, why can't one "One should not be able to simply shut off their water and avoid paying for the infrastructure." Why cannot one opt out of paying for something they aren't ever going to use? These are services you pay for by your levels of consumption of water or wattage.

I'm guessing every community has building/zoning laws that define habitability...running water most assuredly being one. Apparently, her decisions run amok of those laws in her community. If she doesn't want to abide by those laws, then she needs to move.

I have no problem with what she's doing as long as she is safely getting rid of waste water. And, for her area, that undoubtedly means having a functioning sewer system. And that means paying one's fair share.
 
I think that you missed Maggie's point. Water/sewer are a single utility bill, yet the billing is based only on the water usage. The home is using the sewer service but is avoiding any bill for it by supplying their own water to flush the toilet (into the city sewer).

First of all, they're not a single utility bill here, you see bills for separate amounts and there is no indication this lady isn't paying her sewage bill.

Second of all, I don't believe I did. The majority of these bills are paid for in taxes anyway, water is a heavily subsidized utility. Americans would be shocked and certainly consume less if they had to pay the true price of water.

Considering how much she pays in taxes and how little she uses, IMO she owes no one. In fact the fewer people using water the better for the infrastructure, especially given how many cities are experiencing water shortages.

I'm guessing every community has building/zoning laws that define habitability...running water most assuredly being one. Apparently, her decisions run amok of those laws in her community. If she doesn't want to abide by those laws, then she needs to move.

I have no problem with what she's doing as long as she is safely getting rid of waste water. And, for her area, that undoubtedly means having a functioning sewer system.

There is no indication that she is not paying her sewage bill. Running water doesn't have to come from a municipality, what laws do you believe she is breaking simply by not using theirs? How about people who use wells or tap their aquifers?

And that means paying one's fair share.

That term refers to paying ones taxes, which she does, not for services that you pay for by the drop or wattage.
 
I don't care about this all that much... but just for reference, citing Jefferson as an "off the grid" person and then talking about his home ignores this:

monticello1.jpg


If that's living off the grid, sign me the **** up.
 
I don't care about this all that much... but just for reference, citing Jefferson as an "off the grid" person and then talking about his home ignores this:

monticello1.jpg


If that's living off the grid, sign me the **** up.

Plenty of room on that roof for solar panels, a cell network node and plenty of property for wells and rainwater collection. But could you really live off the land, despite having all that square footage to go back to?
 
Most places in florida use a formula based on water consumption. so if you don't consume water then your sewage bill would be nothing as well.

also most places in florida have laws on collecting rain water. it is usually considered a public resource, but in FL it is legal to collect it in rain barrels.
although i probably shouldn't be used for consumption unless you have some kind of filtration system to run it through.

also she isn't evicted yet a judge has to sign off on the order and there is an attorney that is helping her for no cost.
local city government are getting out of control on their stupid code enforcement.

as long as you are paying your taxes not harming someone else's property then it is your land to do with what you want.
 
Also, rather than sewage should could also be using a composting toilet:
800px-Nature_Loo_Waterless_Composting_Toilet_Pedestal.jpg
 
First of all, they're not a single utility bill here, you see bills for separate amounts and there is no indication this lady isn't paying her sewage bill.

Second of all, I don't believe I did. The majority of these bills are paid for in taxes anyway, water is a heavily subsidized utility. Americans would be shocked and certainly consume less if they had to pay the true price of water.

Considering how much she pays in taxes and how little she uses, IMO she owes no one. In fact the fewer people using water the better for the infrastructure, especially given how many cities are experiencing water shortages.



There is no indication that she is not paying her sewage bill. Running water doesn't have to come from a municipality, what laws do you believe she is breaking simply by not using theirs? How about people who use wells or tap their aquifers?


That term refers to paying ones taxes, which she does, not for services that you pay for by the drop or wattage.

Care to supply a link for that bold assertion? I have yet to see a sewer meter or bill. I have a septic system, thus pay only for water.
 
Plenty of room on that roof for solar panels, a cell network node and plenty of property for wells and rainwater collection. But could you really live off the land, despite having all that square footage to go back to?

To be honest, the whole assessment that Jefferson himself lived off the land is absolutely ridiculous. He had 200 slaves who ensured he was well fed, had water, had a clean house. Comparing that to what this lady is doing is nonsense. Jefferson had a small Midwest village working for him. This lady is just collecting water. I see no problem with that. Rain water is free. It's a bit dangerous to collect rainwater (mostly for pollution reasons) but it's her beef.
 
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