A woman from Cape Coral, Florida is being forced out of her home after local code enforcement teams found out she was “living off the grid.”
The women, Robin Speronis, told her story to WFTX-TV who featured her lifestyle on the local news. The day after her story aired, where they talked about her “Off Grid” lifestyle, the City of Cape Coral sent code enforcement officers to post “notice to vacate” signs on her property.
Speronsis, a widow who lives in the home by herself, is now facing eviction because she chooses to live without being hooked into the grid. She told WFTX-TV, “Where is the justice? Why did they choose me,” she asks. “…because I was exercising my First Amendment rights of free speech in discussing living off the grid.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve featured this type of story. In fact, we’ve covered countless instances where people have been forcibly removed from their land, some even arrested, because they choose to live a more self-reliant lifestyle.
From Eustace Conway, who was forced to stop using his land after 26 years of running a nature school on it, to the heartbreaking story of Andrew Wordes, who took his life after code enforcement teams seized his home, to the Off-Griders in California who were threatened with arrest and forced back on to the grid, these stories are becoming far to common.
Like many of the stories we’ve covered over the last couple of years, I believe this case is just another example of how the government targets people who live a self-sufficient lifestyle. From using local zoning boards to literally zone people into submission, to the federal government’s attempts to redefine the term “waters of the United States”, so they can take control of private property, there seems to be an all-out assault on land ownership and the self-reliant lifestyle.
Saw this story yesterday. As long as she is not a hoarder and her house is clean and safe, they have no right. It’s disgusting the way the State is creaping in on every front.
One note to the author: Please correct your use of women. “Woman” is singular. “Women” is plural. This is a story about one woman.
When u buy land etc,U EXPECT 2 OWN IT!!Then they expect(demand)land tax…thats another way of saying, we dont care how many thousands of $$$ u payed 4 the land, ur gunna pay us taxes (rent) 4 it. Also what the hell has it got 2 do with them if u live off the grid?? Oh thats right….they want ur money!! & when others know how ur living off the grid, then it gets others 2 THINK about doing the same thing. Power companies dont like that at all, so u get bullied in2 being on THEIR grid!! Well iv been working on something 4 the last 4ys 2 supply most of my own power (95% FREE)that uses no fuel of any sort 2 run it.At the momment i can use it 2a point, just needs alittle more curseing, name calling,finger hurting,some more curseing etc, & i should have any probs solved.If any1 tells me i must stop working on my free energy system, i will tell them….screw u!!
stop speaking walmart and learn to spell correctly.
Solar, wind or hydro power sounds easy. The systems aren’t complicated, but the rules n regulations are. If you get caught not following the rules, that will shut you down! There are states that are imposeing usage tax on what you would have used. If you have an electric car, your taxes are higher per milage driven, they want the road tax! Solar,wind,hydro? Usage tax, to maintain the rest of the grid for common users! Nothing is free, I bet soon they will impose a “fresh breathable air tax”!
I live in cape coral and this place is like living in one big gated community.the German’s and Canadians have over run tbis place and brought there socialist ways with them. Hell less then 20 years ago you couldn’t own a truck and park it in the driveway because it was a code violation. Just waiting for the kids to graduate high school and im out of this sociList town. Dam shame it came to this because the weather and fishing is the best in the world.
I had a dream about this kind of situation. In my dream, this woman living off grid staked off her property, used Google to find the metes and bounds of the land, claimed the land under law, placed the land into a private express trust, posted notice of her claim and interest on some sort of registry designed for that, waited for the notice to become fact, posted a sign on her property informing public agents that the land is private without the U.S., and charged any public agents invading the land (under their unlimited commercial liability!) a reasonable fine of like $10k or something, and when they failed to pay she enforced it via a perfected private administrative and adjudicative process, also she had the sheriff arrest them when they tried to return, and their public servant bonds got liened I think… I don’t know anything about common law or international commercial law so that may or may not be a thing in real life. In the dream she didn’t have to pay land taxes anymore or abide by statutes of the surrounding incorporated city (it was weird, in my dream cities and governments were franchised corporations, and citizens were merely shareholders & employees who had contracted away all their rights), because the land was without the U.S. and not under the public jurisdiction. She privately contracted with the local fire department and put up a bond for their services in case of emergency. But she was an amazing woman, she knew the principles of contracting inside and out, how to administer a private express trust, how to stand on her claim, and how to bind the court to enforce it, and I think she would have failed if she did not fully comprehend what she was doing. It was awesome but just a dream.
Maybe if you live off the grid its best to build a fortres?
whoever wrote this article needs to learn that the word “women” is plural for “woman”…
Dig tunnels, prepare to fight. If the Mexicans can do iy so can we!
not that it matters, but im curious about what exactly she said and what exactly the context was of “living off the grid”. I guess it confuses me that? anyone would even care? anybody know more details?
Here in NC we have many who live off the power grid. Some stay on it because they have more power from their wind & solar than they use & sell it back to Duke Energy. Either way, here you still have a choice. Other places, I can’t speak for, (but the story of Eustace Conway is because of the school. Conway refused to comply with the standards set for the school, and was open as a public school. If it was private for family only, it would have been fine. But once you open your doors to the public, you fall under public safety & health rules.) That’s why I stay to myself! :-D
Any one who starts raling against “the government” on this is simply wrong….this has to do with LOCAL LAWS…Yes, it is technically the “government”, but NOT the Feds, which is what the Libertarians (like Palin, Cruz, Paul)try to make you believe. When the FEDS can be involved, the laws are ALWAYS more fair than LOCAL rulings~because FEDERAL law gets more scrutiny and is NOT so much hidden as local aspects are.
Loose Lips Sink Ships.
How is living off the grid any different than having Solar panels on your house?? Those people are basically trying to do the same thing!!
the government can tax those but they cant tax nothing
Federal Land Pantents… the only way to OWN your land
Having lived in scrape Coral for a time and having actually worked for the City, I can say, first hand, that this city is one of the most anal city around. You had to get a permit to build something around your trash cans because they weren’t allowed to be seen from the road. They’ve turned the whole city into a narc vs narc society where every neighbor narcs on everybody else. Move away now!
God bless, Robin Speronis. I forget how controlled and manipulated we are, and then I hear this story. I am startled out of the suburban shell that I hide in. (Sadly my parents opted to send me to finishing school instead of boot camp.) I feel outraged and terrified. At first, I think I have no power and then I realize that is just the game of fear. I cannot become complacent; I need to keep facing my fears so that no one can use them against me; so that I will be able to hear the lies and see the truth. And the truth, from my experience, is that there are higher forces (name them whatever you want) that move on this planet when we remove that fear. The next time I sit down to mediate, I am going seek out Robin in her darkest hour. If her valiant Soul allows me, I will do anything I can to help shed Light on her situation. I know that it is possible to work across space and time to help someone find a creative solution and move into alignment for it to serendipitously come together; or to help them see and avoid the toxic motives of a person who claims to be helping. If there is a physical action I can take to increase the Light on this planet, may it be revealed to me in my meditation. We might be few, but we are never alone– unless we choose to stand in the dark.
What happened to the days when the old adage of “loose lips sink ships” gone? Look, if youre dumb enough to tell the world how to prep or how you need to prep, then you deserve what you get! Preppers prep for a variety of reasons, one being the lack of trust with their government, but yet some think there’s enough trust in them that they will turn their heads when they blab about the preps they have, I can assure they will not, hence the reason we are all having this conversation… So, don’t ask and don’t tell applies big time when it comes to prepping as far as I’m concerned. And If the masses haven’t figured out how to prep by now, oh frikin well!
If I want to live off grid then I will. If the government wants to tell me that I have to go back on the grid then I will say “Fine hook me up with your electricity, water, and gas but I will not pay for it.” If I get thrown in jail fine but I will not use the water in there and will not be nice until they cut the power in my cell. If I don’t want their crap in my home then I will not be forced to have it because you push me I will push back. Tell me that I have to do something that I don’t want to do then I will make it a point to do the absolute opposite. I go to jail then when I get out I will go right back to what I was doing before but will advertise the fact. the communist republic of america can tell me what to do when I can tell them what to do. Lets all go off grid at the same time and see what they do then.
If you are going to live in the city limits you will have to live by their rules. Just because you are hooked up to the grid does not mean you have to us it. City Codes are there to keep the houses live able and sell able. You can live a off grid life in the city and not cut all ties, just turn off you electrical main breaker, turn off your gas meter, turn off your water meter. If you can’t live with in these rules and not uses the grid then do like most of us pack your bags and more some where that you can.
RIGHT! This woman is actually being a little stupid here. I listened to a radio show with her on and I looked up her web site. She uses the city sewer but then refuses to hook up the water. Water and sewer is billed together so she is basically saying she wants to use the sewer system for free! Sorry, life doesn’t work that way. This finally went to court last month and everything was thrown out except this one issue. They want her to hook up the water which of course she should do but she is acting like some martyr over this.
It is true that the original city worker overreacted but this woman is not a great representative for preppers in my opinion.
Look people, if you want to live a freer life then don’t live where they have so many codes. Stop to think for a moment, how would you like it if all your neighbors ( if you are in a city) suddenly started using propane camp stoves indoors and catching rain water on tarps outside. Personally I wouldn’t want that at all. All the idiots would burn down my house with theirs and I wouldn’t want to look at all those tarps. She is really just acting like a spoiled teen in my opinion. Moved into an area with certain codes and then started demanding that she doesn’t have to abide by said codes.
It is her choice. Go to manta.com and put in your local code enforcement “agency”. You will see that they are a PRIVATE CORPORATION. Those codes apply only to those that work for that company.
how be we send Obama the traiter in c hief to Iran where he can live off the grid in their prisons.