Building Permit...911 Registration

[tallyho8]

My property was half of a parcel that a family had owned for many years. They had subdivided the property in 1930, built a home on the other parcel for their son and they used the same address and mailbox. When I bought half of this property (16 acres) with a home, I wanted to have my own mailbox instead of sharing it with the other house, so I needed an address.

I wanted to do things right so I went to the courthouse to find out how to handle it. They said the property was subdivided the "old" way and had to be resubdivided by the current laws and ordinances. The re-subdivision would cost me $300 and take about 6 months plus I had to get a new survey which costs $10,000 in my area. I left.

I picked an address half-way between my two neighbor's addresses, went to Home Depot, bought a mailbox, post, bag of concrete and the stick-on numbers 7XXX and went home and put it up. I started getting junk mail in it the next day.

I have had no problems in the years since except that the waterworks won't change my service address from the old one and sends my mail to my mailing address, but when I have a problem I have to give them the old service address.

 

[JB4310]

What good would the 911 registration be if you don't have a land line there anyway? Isn't it for when you dial 911 and can't speak cause your incapacitated for some reason, that they can then send help by knowing where the call is coming from?
Didn't know it was for shipping companies like UPS etc. or are you guys saying there's some master system that all the mapping software uses like Google and map-quest etc.that's based on that 911 system?

Sounds like you stood your ground and turned the tables on them, it's satisfying to see some town official worker squirm a little when they realize you were right from the beginning.

JB,

 

[Greenmountain Farmer]

What good would the 911 registration be if you don't have a land line there anyway? Isn't it for when you dial 911 and can't speak cause your incapacitated for some reason, that they can then send help by knowing where the call is coming from?
Didn't know it was for shipping companies like UPS etc. or are you guys saying there's some master system that all the mapping software uses like Google and map-quest etc.that's based on that 911 system?
Google your address and see what you get
Tom in Vermont

 

[Bird]

Isn't it for when you dial 911 and can't speak cause your incapacitated for some reason, that they can then send help by knowing where the call is coming from?

That is only one of many reasons for having 911. By only being 3 digits, it's quick and easy to dial, it's easy to remember, and it's the right emergency number in most parts of the country (we used to have different phone numbers for every police department, fire department, and ambulance service). It also cuts down on prank calls because the person taking the call can see whether it's actually coming from the location the caller says it is. I wouldn't say it was done for shipping companies like UPS, FedEx, etc., but I guess that's a side benefit.

The change to 911 has been a very slow, and expensive, improvement. I don't even know just when it started, but in May, 1972, I visited Seattle and one of the purposes of my visit was to see their "E911" system. A few places had gone to the 911 phone number but didn't have the "Enhanced" version that Seattle had; i.e., a display of the phone number and address the call was coming from (something nearly everyone has now, but not 30 years ago). I was promoted to Captain some 4 years later in 1976 and became commander of the communications division, and when we moved into the new city hall on April 1, 1978, was the first time we had a single phone number for fire, police, and ambulance. Dallas still didn't have 911 until the mid-80s. I'd been trying to get it for over 10 years.

The 911 system was more complicated to implement than most folks realize. For example, there are 3 separate cities within Dallas; i.e., completely surrounded by Dallas; Highland Park, University Park, and Cockrell Hill. Each has it's own police and fire department, residents have Dallas mailing addresses, and the telephone exchanges do not correspond to jurisdiction boundaries. So it required a lot of computer programming for the phone company to send 911 calls to the proper cities from each phone. Before I retired I was commander of the planning and research division and one of my employees' full time job was coordinating addresses and phone numbers with the telephone company, other emergency agencies, etc. as new homes, apartments, businesses, etc. were developed.

Oops, excuse me for rambling.

 

[PILOON]

Our small town hired consultants to arrive at a uniformized numbering system.(read $$$)
The reccomendation came down as a N-S, E W 'grid system', i.e., 9 is north of 8 and 6 is west of 5.

We live on a lake! that is not N S nor E W. and the grid lines intersected in the middle of the lake.

It took the fire departement a half hour to find a fire location and when this was brought up at counsul meeting they reverted back to the old sequencial ascending number system.
Naturally the consulting firm still got paid.

 

[chh]

What good would the 911 registration be if you don't have a land line there anyway? Isn't it for when you dial 911 and can't speak cause your incapacitated for some reason, that they can then send help by knowing where the call is coming from?
Didn't know it was for shipping companies like UPS etc. or are you guys saying there's some master system that all the mapping software uses like Google and map-quest etc.that's based on that 911 system?
JB,

It is still your address, whether you have a phone or not. What else is a shipper to use? I don't have a landline phone and since it was going to cost 10 grand to get one, I'm not likely to get one. I'll have to be carefull if I call in an real emergency, we had a small grass fire a couple of years ago and I called 911. If I use my cell and call from the south side of my house I get another counties 911 because of the tower i connect to. On the north side I get my counties 911.

 

[Bird]

Even in town where all the utilities are available, more people, like our next door neighbors on the north side and the neighbors behind us, have no land line. They just each have a cell phone.

 

[tommu56]

I thought the new cell phones were suppose to give the latitude and longitude of the phone not the tower to the dispatcher?

tom

 

[Bird]

I thought the new cell phones were suppose to give the latitude and longitude of the phone not the tower to the dispatcher?

tom

Tom, has that been implemented yet? I saw a few things in the news about it some time ago, but nothing recently. As you might expect, some are in favor of it and some opposed. Since I don't figure on being anywhere I'm not supposed to be, and since I don't always know what street name and block number I'm on, I like the idea myself. And if it's implemented, will I have to get a new cell phone instrument? I would guess so.

 

[EddieWalker]

When I first bought my land, I had 911 create me a new address. They gave me an even number, which would put me on the other side of the road. It made deliveries very unpredicable, with everyone from UPS to Fed Ex and even the post office returning my mail because nobody lived on that side of the road.

When I split my land, I applied for a new address for the part I kept. This time, I made sure to get an odd number. Funny how something that simple can make such a big difference.

Of course, it wasn't all roses. The mail carrier didn't like to drive to me gate, so she insisted that the mail box be across the road. I tried to fight them on that one, but they went and sited union regulations on me and I gave up after three trips to the post office and a visit out here by the branch supervisor.

None of those address's from 911, or anything else with the post office cost me anything. I never heard of having to pay a fee for an address. Is this new or is it a local fee?

Eddie