Woman evicted and house condemned for using solar power

www.azcentral.com...

Stevens, 47, was trying to make ends meet by powering her home with solar panels and batteries for several months before Avondale code enforcement officials visited her on Dec. 10.

"We explained to her that the panels weren't enough to sustain a quality of life there," said Pam Altounian, code enforcement manager for Avondale.

Stevens said she was not given adequate notice before officials gave her 24 hours to contact Arizona Public Service Co. to reconnect electricity or her home would be condemned.

i dont know what to say about this, but i feel everyone needs to see this

i mean this is one of the most absurd things i have ever read


a woman trying to make ends meet, who cant afford the electric company prices, uses solar power and other alternative means, and is told thats not good enough, that if she doesnt purchase power from the company she loses her home?


how in the world can this be legal, how is this actually taking place today when there are all these green movements


more people need to know about this


try to go green, but be ready to lose your house

yes the excuse in the story says that the solar power was not enough

and no it does not specify what type of solar power it was (how much it provided, etc)


but still, today times are hard, many people struggle to pay their utility bills

and now, if you dont pay the bills, and it gets turned off, if you dont turn it back on, you get thrown out of your own home


something needs to be done

That is horrible. At the same time did she make them? To buy them would mean you are making more than ends meat. We have had alternative energy for a long time. But you can bet the government doesn't want us to have them. This seems to prove it.

[edit on 28-1-2010 by ventian]

Avondale officials said Stevens was in violation of the city's building codes. The city requires homes to have enough electricity to power a refrigerator, cool a residence to no higher than 88 degrees and heat a residence to at least 68 degrees.

Seems like she has broken this law. Stupid bureaucracy IMHO.

Originally posted by Dramey

how in the world can this be legal, how is this actually taking place today when there are all these green movements.

try to go green, but be ready to lose your house

It's not about legality, it's about money dummy.

The dummy electric companies here in arizona were peddaling solar to the dummy consumers here in arizona as a benifit to them, the citizens. You know the usual bullshi* was applied (Thumb screws, ball gags, whips and chains, etc) . It was almost free becuase the government was gonna pay for it all. )

Can you say bull[SNIP]?

They don't want change, they want war.

How about total freakin annhilation of the reptillian and human race!

Take that and stick it up your Pandora's box.

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[edit on 28-1-2010 by Gemwolf]

i must say they sure do make it hard for anyone to present a case to begin to argue thats it not just all about money


the power of the almighty dollar has actually become a quite powerful weapon, the most powerful one humans posses

The utility companies just want to monopolise.
Here in France, you can put as many solar panels as you want up on your roof or in your garden. However, you may not disconnect from the grid and you must sell any electricity you generate to the power company. Then, you can buy it back at their prices.

I am sick and tired of the big corporations forcing us to buy their products.
They will not let you become self-sufficient.

Another example. We have a well in our garden. Now, the French government is considering taxing all households that own wells as it is diverting money away from the water company.

Damn them all, damn them all to hell.

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


That story is just Sad . Hopefully now that her story is out some kind hearted people hearing about it will maybe come to her aid . .....

The thread title is misleading. She was not evicted for using solar power.

The city has codes for housing in order to prevent slum conditions. For instance, a landlord could rent a place to you with no electricity. That is not good. So the city has these codes in place. It is about maintaining a decent dwelling that is not too hot or too cold. Plus you need to be able to refrigerate certain foods so they don't spoil.

Also think about children who might be subjected to bad conditions.

If she did things according to code, then she could have solar power all she wants.

And living in a convertible Mazda Miata? What is that about? Is she mental? The photo makes her look bitter. Why wasn't she in her house?

reply to post by Cabaret Voltaire


Stop Looking at Me with that Puppy Dog Eye ! ...................



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[edit on Thu Jan 28 2010 by DontTreadOnMe]

Originally posted by Cabaret Voltaire
The thread title is misleading. She was not evicted for using solar power.

The city has codes for housing in order to prevent slum conditions. For instance, a landlord could rent a place to you with no electricity. That is not good. So the city has these codes in place. It is about maintaining a decent dwelling that is not too hot or too cold. Plus you need to be able to refrigerate certain foods so they don't spoil.

Also think about children who might be subjected to bad conditions.

If she did things according to code, then she could have solar power all she wants.

And living in a convertible Mazda Miata? What is that about? Is she mental? The photo makes her look bitter. Why wasn't she in her house?

i apologize if it is misleading, but i interpreted as being over solar power

nowhere in the article does it state how much power she was generating, nor does it say they investigated that

they said it wasnt up to code because she didnt have the electric companies electricity


sure i understand if the living conditions are bad, but it seemed she was getting by as good as someone who is struggling for money can, and the story seems to be that because she used solar since she could not afford the companies, that she was evicted

something that just clicked in my mind that should have earlier


even if its not about solar power

its about the fact that she could not afford the power companies power

and because of that, her house was condemned

so she went from "poor living conditions" of having a house with little power

to living in a car with even less power


seems to me the last thing you should do to a person who is down on their luck is to throw them out on the street



whether over solar power or not, its definitely about greed, even with children involved, id rather a child be in a house without power then on the streets

I've been out of electiricity for weeks up in NY in sub zero temperatures...
wonder, could I be evicted out of my house, because the electric company failed to recreate the area's power line system in an adequate amount of time??
would they dare impose any kind of penalty against them?

in the area I live in, the power company had just forced another interest free loan from their customers just before we got that cold snap. what I mean by interest free loan is that they chose to increase their fees, which, well, technically they can't do till they get approval from one of the comissions, not sure which. but well, the lawmakers somewhere along the line decided that they could go ahead and do the increase, but if the commission doesn't agree, then they have to pay the money back...
last year's increase didn't go through, they paid the money back...think they did they same thing the year before..
well, the cold snap and the increase didn't jive too well for anyone, not the consumers, not the power company, and not the lawmakers in Richmond who have gotten tons of calls from angry constituents from the area, who now have about six or so laws up for consideration aimed at this power company.
how much were these bills?? our's was around $500 (and we heat with both fuel oil and electricity), but I've heard stories of $700 bills!! in the next four months we got a tax cut that we've got to pay back to the fed gov't that will probably be well over a thousand, we've got property taxes on cars and the house, along with our monthly bills, and now these high electric bills??
if we couldn't pay it, and some fool decided to evict us because of it, I would more than likely tell them where to go! and well....they'd have one more home in foreclosure to boot! why not, Morgan Stanley and a few other big wigs have decided to eat their loses and shafted their lenders on some billion dollar properties... what's good for the goose, is also good for the ganders of the world! who knows, I might even go on a nice spending spree and max out all the credit cards before I hit the bankruptcy court!!

if this lady could truly have afforded the electricity, then well, maybe, the eviction was right, but then, one should be able to chose how one wants to live.....that's what freedom is....would they making her pay the electric company if she was amish?
but, if she truly couldn't afford it, then well, they are being rather callous, cruel, borderline insane!! if she couldn't afford the electric bill, then she wouldn't be able move, and ya, it will be real safer for her to be out on the streets, and hey, depending on where she lives, well.....honey, it's snowing outside! did it mention in the article anything about them referring her to a charity or something that would help her with the bill....

If they can't take everything you own and control your life with taxes they'll do it with "zoning codes."

that old farmer who exploded a wagon in front of city hall way back in the day had the right idea. There's nothing funny or cute in the phrase "you can't fight city hall." it's no less than a call to arms.


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reply to post by Dramey


This is illegal. I have an uncle in southern Ohio who has a Navy surplus generator, he runs it on Brown's gas. The power company there gave him a lot of guf, but finally let him hook it up. the power company is required by law to buy any extra power he creates. I have a cousin in Indiana, he lives in a house trailer. My cousin built a wood furnace that sits outside, he has an automatic feed on it, it is controlled with the house thermostat, and he gets a check for $98 a month from the local gas company. This woman needs to get a good attorney and sue for all she can get. How is this Nation going to go "Green" with crap like this from local officials? Wish I were there, I would help her out.

And ya know what's going to happen.

Absolutely NOTHING.

Because no one really cares. It didn't happen to them, so, so what...

The world as you know it USA is falling down around your feet and all you do is pick up your feet higher as not to stumble. You're already goosestepping people, just look at yourselves.

peace

reply to post by Dramey
Thanks for putting this up! Our governments, state and local have too much power. Where are our personal freedoms? Star and flag.

Originally posted by Cabaret Voltaire
The thread title is misleading. She was not evicted for using solar power.

The city has codes for housing in order to prevent slum conditions. For instance, a landlord could rent a place to you with no electricity. That is not good. So the city has these codes in place. It is about maintaining a decent dwelling that is not too hot or too cold. Plus you need to be able to refrigerate certain foods so they don't spoil.

Also think about children who might be subjected to bad conditions.

If she did things according to code, then she could have solar power all she wants.

And living in a convertible Mazda Miata? What is that about? Is she mental? The photo makes her look bitter. Why wasn't she in her house?

You have a valid point. Why can homeless people live in a cardboard box, peeing in a pickle jar and that is okay by the governments standards though. Our country is screwed up.

I have heard stories that if your light bill isn't high enough, the light company will investigate.

On the other hand, if your bill is extremely high, that's a-okay. You'll pay it or they will turn off your power. So it has nothing to do with whether or not there is a problem. It has everything to do with making sure you get ripped off.

If you live in the city or your neighborhood has power (what neighborhood doesn't?), you will to. Same thing with water. If you want to drop a well in your back yard and your in city limits, don't even think about it. In ground pool, sure. Well water, nope. You *MUST* stay plugged into the water system.

The whole go-green thing is the biggest scam since Y2K. Carbon credits? I'm done with credit (pun).

Check this out. You can move to the boon dock. Waaaaay out there. No power plugged in. No water plugged in. Your totally independent. When the city catches up to were you are, you WILL plug into the network. You WILL have city power and you WILL have city water.

Going green has nothing to do with saving the earth. It has everything to do with ripping you off.

Go Green-Them-Money
Go Green-You-Earth

Not the same green.

There are so many things wrong with this story I don't know where to begin. I have to go to work, so all I can say for now is don't rush to judgement that this is an anti green issue. It may be part of it, but that's not the whole story.



Peace