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OpenD covers it. South Florida has some unique problems that dictate building codes that would be burdensome without purpose elsewhere. We lived through a few hurricanes and having storm shutters and proper siting saved us. My boss at the time lived in a place with tile roofing and every car in the immediate area had to have bodywork and be repainted because the tile shards peppered them. Improperly secured solar panels would become flying guillotines in such a situation.
Even though we came through unscathed and I never filed a claim for damage, the severe damage to homes around ours due to various factors from shoddy construction to laziness to overhanging trees caused our insurance rates to go up. Living through a couple of weeks with no power, the various crews in the area were struggling just to cover the basics. I can only imagine how much worse the situation would have been if there had not been some restrictions on construction. It is not "Green" when you have to rebuild every five to ten years because your house falls down in winds.
Let me be clear. I am actively opposed to excesses in building codes and codes that serve little purpose. We moved to an area where building codes are not enforced in part because of that. That does not mean that I think codes aren't needed in a densely populated area subject to winds that can rip apart 90% of buildings constructed in the U.S..
The woman in the article is not, as I mentioned, a poster child for the subject of oppressive codes. It is not an ad hom attack to expose all aspects of a contentious situation. That is "discovery" and is required in most legal battles. By taking a single part of that battle and claiming it as the whole, little is served. Further, this whole thread is a moldy rehash without new data. It really needs to be closed.
The only effective means of eliminating bad laws like "codes" that only serve to chain people to the system is for large numbers of people to ignore them.
I totally disagree. We live in a democratic system, and there are appropriate ways to protest building codes that don't serve the public good, and to request new codes that do. Particularly in urban environments, when large numbers of people disobey rules designed to protect public health and safety, it leads to breakdown of the whole social fabric.
If you want to head for the outback and live where you have no contact with, or any effect on other people, be my guest. But to live in society means to cooperate with others, including taking the time to change people's opinions, when that is the appropriate avenue to change. You might think the code against burning garbage in your back yard is wrong minded, but as a neighbor I have every right to protest your actions by calling down the law on you.
Otherwise everyone would just do whatever they want, and the result would be chaos. Watch the news and see how it is when social structure and civil behavior breaks down in foreign countries. It's brutal! Who wants that?
As George Carlin famously put it, civilization grew up around people making agreements about where to eat, where to put the garbage, and where to poop. And then the next thing they had to do was figure out how to deal with people who didn't follow those agreements...
I do remember a case where someone was burning trash in their backyard against the code. They put out a hotdog and said you are wrong it's a BBQ. Nothing could be done about it... Creative non-compliance.
I totally disagree. We live in a democratic system, and there are appropriate ways to protest building codes that don't serve the public good, and to request new codes that do. Particularly in urban environments, when large numbers of people disobey rules designed to protect public health and safety, it leads to breakdown of the whole social fabric.
If you want to head for the outback and live where you have no contact with, or any effect on other people, be my guest. But to live in society means to cooperate with others, including taking the time to change people's opinions, when that is the appropriate avenue to change. You might think the code against burning garbage in your back yard is wrong minded, but as a neighbor I have every right to protest your actions by calling down the law on you.
Otherwise everyone would just do whatever they want, and the result would be chaos. Watch the news and see how it is when social structure and civil behavior breaks down in foreign countries. It's brutal! Who wants that?
As George Carlin famously put it, civilization grew up around people making agreements about where to eat, where to put the garbage, and where to poop. And then the next thing they had to do was figure out how to deal with people who didn't follow those agreements...
Democracy is just mob rule. Burning garbage is not the same as choosing to live off grid. This is getting slightly off topic, but you might read some of Rummel's research on democide. Civilization has brought about far more death and destruction than it has prevented.
Democracy is just mob rule. Burning garbage is not the same as choosing to live off grid. This is getting slightly off topic, but you might read some of Rummel's research on democide. Civilization has brought about far more death and destruction than it has prevented.
And you are suggesting what as an alternative to a Representative Democracy?
Maybe he is leaning toward anarchy? That could be quite interesting for a while.
Apparently the person in question is NOT living completely off the grid but disposing of sewage using the municipal facilities without paying. That is simple theft of services but this person does not seem to think taking things she need from others without paying is a crime. Perhaps some time in a state penitentiary would be a learning experience for her.
Nope, this case is not about health-care or personal freedom or government intrusion. This case is really about a con-artist duping the public.
Remember I said this appeared to me to be a piece of theater? I didn't know the motive, but it just didn't feel right to me. The story didn't track for me. A poor widow lady, being harassed by the city unnecessarily just because she was trying to live a simple life in a house she owns free and clear, bless her soul?
Nope, it's more like adverse possession by a squatter who has a track record of larcenous real-estate transactions, and who is currently 2 years into a 10 year probation for failure to return a $30,000 real estate deposit to a client, only one of several complaints against the woman.
And that cute little house? It has now come out that an elderly woman who owned the duplex felt sorry for the "poor widow" and let her live there free gratis, but then a real estate transaction was somehow recorded that showed the house being sold to Robin Speronis for $10, but the woman says she never sold it. Could it be a... forgery?
Oh, there's more... much, much more... like the part about Robin the waitress marrying an elderly man named Speronis, more than 40 years her senior, and nursing him when he got sick with "alternative" medicines until he died. That's the widow part.
Incidentally, here is text from the printed notice the city pinned to her door back in December, which triggered her whole self-generated "poor me" teleplay on the news...
Now that we know this story really is not really about Green Living, perhaps the moderator should move it to a more appropriate forum, like Real Estate, or perhaps True Crime?
Always more to many of these stories posted; so often here and other places. Mostly selected writing to get reaction b those opposed to the issue really involved. Of often the reliable source is one parties attorney who isw one of reporters so called reliable sources .You scratch me and I scratch you.
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