Position on Measure B (Solar Panels)

By David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg

Here is my response as published in Los Angeles Times on Measure B followed by my post from LA Daily Blog.com.

Do you support Measure B, the city's proposed solar power initiative? Why? How do you believe it will affect Department of Water and Power rates?

David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg: "Not only do I not support Measure B, if I have one message to get across to voters this election season, it is please vote "No" on Measure B. The measure was rushed onto the ballot without much discussion or input. It will drive up the cost of DWP rates. I think just about everyone in the city would agree that solar energy is good. But this is an extremely risky plan that reports say may cost at least double the initial proposed cost. It's a blank check for an aggressive plan that DWP is not ready to take on. But the worst part is that it is not really about creating a strategic solar plan for the city. There was no competitive bid for the program. . . . So what I think this is about isn't about solar, but helping the mayor secure his reelection by putting this deal together that is too expensive, too risky, noncompetitive, will drive up DWP rates, takes the solar industry out of private hands and requires blank-check spending."

From LA DAILY BLOG.com

The avalanche of bad press on Measure B was triggered by an LA Times article that called attention to the "risky" nature of this half-cocked boondoggle that requires the blind public trust of the DWP and the City's blank check spending. Plus, LA Times reports that City Council President Eric Garcetti withheld an important report on the matter from other councilmembers, and more importantly, from the public.

LA Weekly's Jill Stewart wrote in the most recent issue, "In short, City Hall and Villaraigosa have no idea how they are going to pull off the most massive, experimental, costly installation of solar panels ever attempted in the United States. It will require Angelenos to pour huge sums of their own money into Chinese solar-panel factories. Measure B wants the money from city taxpayers first with virtually no strings. The solar plan has the makings of yet another flubbed Villaraigosa dramaturgy."

LA Times' David Zahniser reports, "What they didn't discuss was an analysis by a city-hired consulting firm that called the solar plan 'extremely risky' and considerably more expensive than was being portrayed by the Department of Water and Power."

Adding, "Measure B, which calls for unionized DWP workers to install solar panels on rooftops and parking lots across the city, sailed onto the ballot with a unanimous vote. But days earlier, the council's top policy advisor was so troubled by the proposal that, in an e-mail to Council President Eric Garcetti, he recommended that the council delay it until a future election. Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller warned Garcetti that the solar measure could result in "substantial increases" to the electricity bills of DWP customers. Neither Miller nor Garcetti made those findings part of the public record. Bottom line is they do not believe that the department can deliver on this program at all, and that the costs associated with the program are way understated,' Miller wrote in his e-mail to Garcetti."

Here is the opposition ballot argument to Measure B (Solar) that the shady, vindictive mayor is challenging:

There is a more efficient way to produce more solar power AND at a lower cost using better technology - but if Prop B passes - the City will be forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on outdated technology that benefits no one but the people who paid to put this on the ballot.

This multi-billion dollar plan was placed on the ballot at the last minute as the result of City Hall back room dealings. There were no public hearings and no engineering and operational input from DWP. The Council did not consider the impact on Ratepayers, the overall cost of this massive project, or the impact on the already burdened infrastructure. Our rates were just raised 24%! It is just another one of these tricky deals that says it's about solar energy and workforce development. The LA Times wrote, "This rush to the ballot has the scent of swindle about it." Don't be fooled by City Hall. Demand honesty and transparency.

Measure B and Antonio Villaraigosa's lawsuit against the authors of the opposition ballot argument, highlights the whole kit and caboodle of ballot bamboozlement.

The mayor may hope this will slip by un-informed, mis-led voters. (They says it's for one thing, then ends up being something else.) Unfortunately, it is you who ends up paying for all of this wasteful. experimental and irresponsible non-sense.

This is why I hope you join me and many other people from across the city to help clean up city hall. It needs more than a sweep...it needs sweeping changes.

It will take the efforts of almost everyone reading this; along with all the activists on the blogs who lead the information charge and get the word out to the public.

PLEASE JOIN THE PEOPLE WHO ARE EMAILING ALERTS ABOUT THE MARCH 3, 2009 ELECTION, relating to the many city positions, and especially Measure B. Stop the City Hall shell game being run by the mayor and city council. Let's keep the risky gambling inside casinos and out of City Hall.

Get out the word, to get out and vote. If you go to LADailyBlog.com, you can find specific articles regarding the March election , ready for you to email blast to your contacts.

David Saltsburg (Aka: Zuma Dogg)