Widow Faces Eviction In Fla. City For ‘living Off The Grid’

The widow owns the house and has been paying her taxes, yet the City of Cape Coral has sent her an eviction notice without prior warning just because she is living off the grid? I'm glad that the story is out. It is utter absurdity if not injustice. She has to battle the oppressor city. Instead of them having to prove the house is unfit and uninhabitable, she has to prove to them that it is safe and habitable? Absolute madness! What gives them the right to dictate what is safe/unsafe without inspection? Is being homeless on the street deemed safer?

And what "international maintenance code" states off-the-grid living is unsafe? Never mind the Amish community, there are still plenty of them in third world nations without city water and electricity. The only probable clear and present danger living in her house I can think of seems to be the chemtrail at !:40 in the video.

STORY

reply to post by Kurius


It appears from the information provided the law has an issue with people being independent. This could be a problem in country which is still considered land of the free?

I read this story yesterday evening.
I could not believe they'd be so callous as to threaten to throw her out of her own home over some mad-up BS! It's made worse by the fact that nobody from that office has ever visited her or been inside her property.

I think cases like this are more to do with control than anything else. We are all supposed to be good little consumers and people like this, going off the grid, are a threat to the corporations. If more people started doing this it would impact their profits. The very idea though that they can threaten to seize your home is incredible!

At the end of the news video the reporter says:

The city of Cape Coral tells me: if she can prove that she can sustain her life, herself, and this home without electricity or running water then both parties might be able to come to a solution.

What kind of utter BS is that? She needs to prove that she can live without electricity and running water in order to keep a home she OWNS. This has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. I can imagine the court hearing now... "your honor, I present exhibit A: the archaic human. He lived without electricity and running water for thousands of years".

When you said off-the-grid I was thinking like that term usually comes to mean these days, she had her own way of supplying the necessary elements of modern life in a city. I was a bit surprised to see she figured she could live without the basics of modern code and regulation by just saying she didn't need running water, electricity, sewage or those other little things that make city life with neighbors.....tolerable.

Heck, there are rural areas all over the nation one can go live like it's 1899, but Coral Gables or MOST cities? Aren't it...

For what it's worth...my little city in Missouri said the same thing to everyone following the 07 Ice Storm. It really wasn't necessary, since no one here was trying to just 'do without' the bare basics of service and running water ...but it was made clear toward the end? No Power-No Water = No Residency. It's a public health and safety thing and it was here.

It's amazing some folks figure they can do it their way, and laws...regulations..codes..and decency toward those around them ( codes exist for a good reason ) just don't apply because they don't think it should. Well... She'll be fighting this one from a homeless shelter by the look of it, as I'm betting if we looked into city code enforcement for Coral Gables.....as she obviously didn't bother with?...we'll find extended camping inside a residence isn't acceptable.

reply to post by Kurius

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode in which Kramer tries to cancel his mail - he just doesn't want it anymore - and receives a visit from Wilfred Brimley who's playing the postmaster general.

This woman should be visited by someone from time to time, maybe even Wilfred Brimley, to see if she's doing alright or needs an errand run. But her home is her home and I'd say she can maintain her castle any way she likes.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

When you said off-the-grid I was thinking like that term usually comes to mean these days, she had her own way of supplying the necessary elements of modern life in a city.

Well she obviously does have some way of providing the necessities. She most likely uses a wood burner oven and has an old style outhouse or something (they don't stink, I know a guy who has an outhouse like that). You are making assumptions about her lifestyle affecting those around here, but it seems no one was complaining, and it's very disappointing to see your point of view on this. She only got targeted when this news station apparently did a report on her off-the-grid living, not because her life style was bothering those around her.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


Well, No.. She obviously doesn't or she wouldn't be sitting on a legal eviction notice for an uninhabitable residence.

As she is being educated, forcefully? City code and what people *WILL* follow to exist aside others in a city and neighborhood isn't open for a big debate of how creative people can get in modified camping (which is what she's doing.. Camping...not residential living).

We did wonders at Occupy for solving every problem we had and even had a fully operational field kitchen set up where nothing really should have worked to operate ... Improvise, adapt, overcome.

The line gets drawn, in my opinion, when the rights of the creative one violate the rights of others. She no longer HAS the right to play Outback-Jane with primitive camping conditions ...when she's in a larger neighborhood of people that didn't sign up for living in a big KOA with better conditions.

Is this the same woman in this article?

www.cape-coral-daily-breeze.com...

The eviction notice doesn't really go into detail as to what the problem is with the home.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


using that logic should poor people who can only pay for rent and such but not water or electricity be evicted just because everyone else has these things? i mean you only need food, a home and a supply of water to be within code, electricity isn't a required service that is absolutely needed to live for most people or against any law not to have.

namehere
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

using that logic should poor people who can only pay for rent and such but not water or electricity be evicted just because everyone else has these things? i mean you only need food, a home and a supply of water to be within code, electricity isn't a required service that is absolutely needed to live for most people or against any law not to have.

You are forgetting sewer services. What would you have renters do, dig latrines in the property owner's backyard?

reply to post by Kurius


She is clearly a terrorist.

A God-damned freedom hatin terrorist.

Your government, at every level, is just awesome.

reply to post by InTheLight

LOL ... and that is why I read ATS every day. Star for your post!!

I guess the city simply wants to run her out on a rail. I'm sure we haven't heard the last of this person.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

Well, No.. She obviously doesn't or she wouldn't be sitting on a legal eviction notice for an uninhabitable residence.

Ok, after a bit of research I found the original report by FOX 4 NEWS:

Living off the grid

The report contains a video in which she explains how she is able to live off the grid:

* kerosene lamps for lighting
* portable propane cooker
* solar powered camping shower which uses rain water
* battery powered electronics (recharged with solar)
* non-perishable food for long term storage without fridge
* rain water powered toilet which can indeed flush

Snarl
reply to post by InTheLight

 

LOL ... and that is why I read ATS every day. Star for your post!!

I guess the city simply wants to run her out on a rail. I'm sure we haven't heard the last of this person.

Yes, it would seem she is on someone's radar.

How long has this lady lived without water and electricity?

How has she managed so far without water and electricity and remained not only alive, but also 'safe' and healthy?

After considering the above, what is the problem the authority suddenly has with the way this lady is/has been living?

If her lifestyle has been like this for years (it isn't clear in the link how long she's lived this way), why didn't the authority have a problem with her lifestyle before today?

If you check around most cities have ordinances about having running water. Most have no say about electricty, but not having running water is a health hazard. I lived next door to a mom & her daughter way back in the 80's. I lived in that apt about a year, in that year they never had electricity. I remember the day the came and shut off their water because of non-payment. By the next day, the apt management came to tell her she had 48 hours to have the water cut back on or face eviction. I had them over for supper that night, she was a single mom, and damn proud about not asking for help. I took it upon myself to get involved. I talked with apt management, and I paid the outstanding water bill of $ 68.00. Sounds as if Florida just wants her property. To think you would throw someone into the streets for a mere $68.00 bucks. Absurd at best.

Wrabbit2000
reply to post by ChaoticOrder

 

The line gets drawn, in my opinion, when the rights of the creative one violate the rights of others. She no longer HAS the right to play Outback-Jane with primitive camping conditions ...when she's in a larger neighborhood of people that didn't sign up for living in a big KOA with better conditions.

Hmm...How can you be so certain that regulations and codes are not written by and for those with selfish interests? Have you ever considered that your "ideal" wasteful, energy-hungry, high carbon-footprint, artificial community might be infringing on the rights of and does not exhibit compassion or the slightest decency towards the world community as a whole? If only we start thinking the norm is what this lady is doing, it might be a step towards a selfless society.

Just because nobody has yet to stop you from wasting resources and your little Missouri city is in full collusion of your apparent wrong-doing's, if not promoting it, it doesn't mean you are living a noble life, buddy.

If you had your way, would you evict everyone, including women and children of the Amish community? Yeah, you know...teach them a lesson... after all, you and your Missouri city are the all knowledgeable one when it comes to public health and safety, aren't you? LOL.

reply to post by Kurius

You don't like the regulations and codes ... move away. Better yet, never move in.

She's a criminal element and she's gonna get what she's asking for.

reply to post by openyourmind1262

If you check around most cities have ordinances about having running water.

She has barreled rain water which she purifies with a colloidal-silver generator. My old house had no connection to the town water lines, all the water we had was collected via our guttering system and funneled into a large collection tank (we didn't even bother to purify it but we lived in a very rural area with virtually no air pollution). I cannot remember a single time that we ever ran out of water and we lived there for several years.