Well a little background on the story, basically there are two cobras laying on the ground at a local intersection, they have been there for a few weeks. Since one of them is a Cooper OV-25, a light I want, I decided I would try to get it, I emailed the Region of Peel, who is in charge of the project and it went something like this:
My emails are in red, the (unnamed) Region of Peel worker is in blue.
(My first email to their online contact form)
Hello, today I notice two old streetlight fixtures laying on the ground near the intersection of Steeles and Rutherford, they seem to of been left there as part of the traffic signal replacement. As my hobby is collecting old streetlight fixtures I was wondering if it would be possible to get permission to take these fixtures, or to find out whom I could get permission from. Thank you for any assistance you can give, Niall McCluskey.
(Now this is the response I got from from the Region of Peel worker.)
Hi Mr. McCluskey;
Due to liability issues, salvaged electrical equipment is not given out to the general public. Being old equipment, the reliability and operational safety cannot be guaranteed. Also, the contractors rely on the scrap value of these items when determining their costs related to the overall project.
Regards,
***** ****, C.E.T./L.E.L.
Technical Analyst
Traffic Signals and Systems, Transportation Division
Public Works
10 Peel Centre Drive, 4th Floor
Brampton, ON. L6T 4B9
This response got me very annoyed (not the words I would use but anyways...) to say the least. Here is what I said in return.
(My email reply)
Not trying to sound cocky or anything, however if they are such a liability issue why have they been left laying at the side of the road for weeks? I could easily go and take them without any permission, I will not however as I am a honest person. If these lights are in fact a "liability issue" I would suggest telling your contractors to not leave them lying around for weeks on end. As for scrap value, I have scrapped a few of those lights before, for which I made about $7 a light, hardly a big deal. Anyways I have many contacts I can get other lights from, personally I feel this is the lazy way of getting out of things by citing 'liability issues'.
Sincerely,
Niall McCluskey
Clearly by this point I have given up on actually getting any lights from this site, or legally anyways, and had a typed "fit" at this person. If you were wondering about the scrapping a light part, I haven't scrapped a full cobra, only the casting of that 113 that was broken (got about $3 for it) and a 250 watt ballast (made about $7), yes I know that math doesn't add up, but I was mad. I am actually tempted to either phone this person or even better, show up at their office and talk to them, I won't, but I sure feel like it. I sent that email on Friday, so I'm interested to see if they respond tomorrow, if not I might file a complaint against them since they are required to respond to emails within two business days. Overall I was probably a bit harsh but this was a sort of "payback" for the probably dozen or so people that have said the same things.
If they do respond on Monday I'll post whatever they respond with.
[/rant]