Thursday, August 19, 2010

Forced compliance?

From SI Live:

So I proceeded to eject Constructamax contractors from my property these last 6 months, it was great fun too. I collected a stack of "Sorry we missed you" door tags, I’m considering papering a wall with them; it is amazing the amount of paper our department of "environmental protectors" have wasted. I also got a call from the DEP, so I asked them what law gave them the right to install a transmitter in my home. They didn’t have an answer, because there IS NO LAW that I am aware of that requires homeowners to acquiesce to this upgrade.

Maybe I’m the only holdout, maybe there are more of us, whatever the reason – our hard working civil servants have figured out a way to deal with it. Thuggery and bullying, using the weapon of choice of the Bloom-thug administration … the FINE. Ooooo, I should have seen it coming. I get a letter from NYC Environmental Protection, scary, sounds almost like some Federal witness protection program, intimidating to a 5-year-old, maybe. Titled in big capital letters "AMR CONTRACTOR ACCESS REQUIRED". Followed by (more capital letters and underlined) "ACCESS REQUIRED TO PROPERTY:" and my account/BBL/address.

The letter goes on about how Contructamax was unable to gain access to my property, no kidding, to install an automated meter reading (AMR) device "and/or replace the meter(s)". Ah, a little clever wording. The work is at no cost to me, it says, ha ha, I say. And then the thugs pull out their weapon of choice:

"The installation must be within the next 30 days to avoid possible Denial of Access procedures which may include fees and penalties". The fee and penalty, aka the FINE. Classic Bloomberg, three terms and counting (with $18 Billion in pocket, can we say FOURTH TERM?). I never denied the DEP access to "read" or "repair" the water meter. No, my denial is to the quasi-legal radio transmitter they are adamantly trying to wire to my toilet.

There is no law that allows them to force the AMR upgrade, but they are allowed to "gain access as a condition of providing water and sewer service", including reading and replacing water meters. So by bundling their radio toys with a water meter "replacement", they can force homeowners to unlock the door, even if there is nothing wrong with the existing water meter.

8 comments:

faster340 said...

You aren't the only. I have refused to put that in my house too. Even my wife is pissed at me about this. I keep telling her I DO NOT WANT SOMEONE ELSE' TRANSMITTER ON OUR HOUSE!!!!!

Guess what? I still don't have one!

Anonymous said...

Huh?
The bottom line is we all need to pay for water. I don't want to pay for your water, pal. Or someone who has some scam going renting a single family to 28 illegals. I guess you should truck your own water in then if you don't want a city meter in your house. I'm tired of paying for everyone's free ride.

faster340 said...

"The bottom line is we all need to pay for water."

NO SHIT... Apparently you are clueless to the issue that is bothering people...

Instead of spending all this money on this technology they could help the economy and put more meter readers to work. Also this signal transmission is sent through the emergency services network that a hell of a lot of people other than the water company have access to. In my book that signal can be jacked for some nefarious reasons or another. What kind of security is there? How can they prove that someone can't jack that signal to get some kind of information to use for identity theft or something?

The only damn signal I want transmitting from my house is my wifi router which I own and control!

the real poop said...

Soon NYC will be charging us for the amount of waste (urine & fecal matter) we put into their sewer pipes.

In addition to my water bill I'm charged sewer rental fees.

Can you imagine DEP's "Constructomax" contractors installing a pee & poop meter on my toilet?

How many pounds of crap & gallons of wee-wee did I dump during prime use toilet hours?

You know there will be an extra charge for peek hour peeing & pooping someday.

Imagine putting my ass on a schedule to poop only after 1:00 AM to get the bargain sewer rental rate?

FUCK YOU REICH'S CHANCELLOR BLOOMBERG AND YOUR NAZI THUGS!

You ain't getting my approval ...WHICH YOU LEGALLY NEED...to gain entrance to my premises so you can instal your (already proven to be defective in many cases) radio transmitters.

And What if I happen to wear a pacemaker?

CAN YOU GUARANTEE THAT THE RF SIGNALS WON'T CAUSE ME ANY DANGER?

no, you obviously can't!

So FUCK YOU once again!.

gov. arnnold schwarzenegger said...

Ach! It chust gets bedder und bedder. Mit der peek hour pooing und peeing. Vat a wunnerful idea! I vood like to be der Inshpektor! Hahr-hahr-hahr.

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good fight and be sure to keep us posted on what threats these bullies try next.

Anonymous said...

In queens, most gas meters have wireless radios built right into them.
The only reason this is bothering people is becouse they don't like seeing the wire and the box.
The DEP pays ConEd a couple of milliion dollars a year to read the water meters for them, this will save that.
It will also make it much harder for people to steal water( ie bypassing the meter 3 weeks out of 4).
I think that this all could have been avoided if the DEP installed the transmitter inside the meter, like BUG did for the gas meters years ago. Out of sight, out of mind...

Anonymous said...

Can these criminals fine Us?

We have to pay for Water and Sewer? seems a little unconstitutional to me heck even the Romans (Acquaducts) provided water a sewer. Is it not up to our Government to provide these basics, which are already included in our Taxes???