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David, Just so you know, I have not installed a solar or wind unit on my house. These statements I made were about experiences other people had. One was my neighbor. Also about 20 years ago in the same county, my cousin mounted a solar hot water panel on his roof and it was spotted by the assessor. He was told to remove it or the property tax increase was $2000. Last year my neighbor was told the same $2000 for a solar panel or wind generator. The wind generator would have required town approval, as it could be deemed an eyesore.
So I guess the standard assessment is 2k for trying to save either the cost of energy or the environment.Is anyone aware of Google’s tools for auto translating Spanish to English? I’ve found them invaluable because now I can go to websites like ICE’s, etc. and actually be able to make some sense of their sites. Not a replacement for actually learning the language if you’re going to live down there, but certainly a nice stop-gap.
Here’s what you have to do to get it: go to toolbar.google.com and download and install the toolbar itself.
Once the toolbar is loaded, go here: http://google.com/translate_buttons?hl=en
You’ll see a bunch of buttons for different translations. Drag the Spanish to English button onto your browser bookmarks area.
Now, alongside your other bookmarks you have a button that says Spanish to English. If you go to a Spanish Language website and click on it, viola, it’s translated. It’s not perfect, and remember it is a literal translation so grammar’s going to be off, but you get a pretty good idea of what the site is about by using it.
That’s intriguing, Alfred. I wonder if your local government is, indeed, trying to discourage eyesores in residential neighborhoods and considers solar panels to be among them. That makes sense for a restricted subdivision, but a local government imposing such a penalty is news to me.
Do you know if, for instance, you would be treated similarly if you put up a large TV dish in your yard? I would consider that to be an eyesore and would like my local government to discourage it, if they could.
P.S. No power outages since Thursday!
The h*** of this situation is that one person’s eyesore is another person’s attraction. It’s tough.
jm..what a great idea I wrote down the basics but not all the details could you send me the “drag here” and other stuff to cookterry@sbcglobal.net
I am working hard on my Spanish but certainly could use this tool to help me read articles in Spanish to get more proficient.
thanks again
terry from TexasDavid,
The area where I lived in Bakersfield CA would not allow solar panels on the roof. the only thing the association would allow was the small dish TV receiver and it had to be located where it was not easy scene from the street. Recently the laws have been changed forcing the associations and cites to allow the installation of solar panels and such. I do not know if this includes the wind generators or not. I’m not sure but I would would think there must be a way to either force cites to change their policies or to sue them for not going along with conservation of energy and getting away from fossil fuels.
Art EdwardsDavid, I was talking to my neighbor about this a few hours ago. He said the town told him an acre of land was required before installing a wind generator. Not sure why, unless the height needed for the tower would allow the generator to land on your own property if it fell. So maybe it is a property consideration more than an eyesore one.
In lower Westchester county in NY, I owned a business and was looking to go into the satellite dish business in the 1980’s. All the dishes then were 8-12 feet in diameter. The village I was in told me I had to file a hardship grievance to install one on the roof of the business because they considered them eyesores. Also Residential installation was under the same restriction. The only person who had ever gotten one was a ship owner who had to stay in touch with ships at sea. I don’t know how he was able to communicate with his ships but I’ll bet he got his television channels. I decided to shy away from that business and in a few months all the signals were scrambled and that industry was gone over night. Now with 18 and 24 inch dishes, the industry has gone from mom and pop, to big business. Much like most of the other businesses in the US.
The small independent merchant is disappearing in the US. Big box stores, costly regulation compliance and other restrictions are changing the way we work and do business here. The simpler times are vanishing and we seem to be putting ourselves into the pressure cooker… But that’s a discussion for another day.I’m glad your power outages have stopped. I was beginning to get a little worried that by the time we got there the only way to get electricity at our house would be to self generate.
Still, I think this whole power outage thing is a little suspicious. Something just doesn’t smell right. Hopefully someone will get to the bottom of it.
Where in Westchester?
I bought a home there and lived off and on in Westchester and also in an apartment in Manhattan between 1985 – 1996
Scott Oliver- Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.com
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