Is the idea of restoring Hetch Hetchy (you know, at some point) “insane?” No, not at all.
But it sure would be inconvenient, I’ll grant you that.
Anyway, here’s the latest:
“City Contractors & City Bureaucracy Team-Up Against Prop F - Pay-to-play politics used to oppose the Yosemite Restoration Campaign
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18, 2012 — San Francisco city contractors and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) have ganged up to defeat Proposition F, the Water Conservation & Yosemite Restoration Initiative, the most recently released campaign finance reports disclosed. According to the reports(1), 47% of funding for the ‘No on F’ campaign has come from companies currently doing business with San Francisco; companies with past contracts with the City, and labor unions representing contracted workers with the City. In addition, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has spent an undisclosed amount of money entertaining San Francisco community leaders at the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, as well as more than $197,000 in federal funds promoting the “Hetch Hetchy Brand” to San Francisco voters.
“These public records demonstrate that San Francisco City Hall and its employees have arm-twisted city contractors to extract hundreds of thousands of dollars to oppose reform. It’s typical ‘pay-to-play’ politics to defend the status quo and fight water conservation,” said Mike Marshall, Campaign Director for the Yosemite Restoration Campaign. “It’s made that much worse by the improper use of rate-payer and federal funds by the staff of the SFPUC in the run-up to, and during, the campaign.”
Proposition F is the “Water Conservation & Yosemite Restoration Initiative.” It requires the City to develop a two-part plan to build San Francisco’s local water resources and reverse the damage done to the environment by the current water system over the last 100 years. The plan would need to be approved by voters in 2016 in order to be implemented.
ABOUT THE YOSEMITE RESTORATION CAMPAIGN: The mission of the Yosemite Restoration Campaign is to reform San Francisco’s 19th century water system to allow for the restoration of Hetch HetchyValley and the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park. It is a non-profit, 501(c)(4) organization. www.YosemiteRestoration.org
‘No on F’ Campaign Finance Fact Sheet
According to campaign finance reports filed on Friday, October 5 the ‘No on F’ campaign received:
– $131,122 from companies currently doing business with the City and County of San Francisco.
– $69,729 from companies with past contracts with the City and County of San Francisco.
– $43,500 from labor unions representing individuals working on projects for the City and County of San Francisco.
According to public record requests the SFPUC staff has spent:
– $197,000 in federal EPA funds promoting the Hetch Hetchy water brand. The funds were intended to encourage San Francisco residents to call 311 to report water quality problems. (2)
— An undisclosed amount of money organizing eight junkets to Yosemite National Park for local Democratic Club leaders, ‘No on F’” funders, neighborhood association leaders and gay rights activists. Despite multiple Sunshine Ordinance requests, SFPUC staff have ignored requests asking for a detailed financial accounting of staff time spent organizing these political junkets.
– An undisclosed amount of staff costs collaborating with ‘No on F’ attorneys to lobby the Ballot Simplification Committee.
And if you think that a SmartMeter has ANYTHING AT ALL to do with your health (and, oh yes, you yourself are somehow particularly affected by infinitesimal amounts of additional non-ionizing radiation in your life, I hear what you are saying) you’re barking up the wrong tree. People who don’t tell you that are just patronizing you, just saying.
Now here’s what PG&E has to say. Enjoy:
“SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1, 2012 — Residential electric and gas customers who have concerns about wireless technology can now choose either a new SmartMeter(TM) or a traditional analog meter, following the final decision today by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) supports the CPUC’s decision and will respond quickly to customers who opt-out of the utility’s SmartMeter(TM) program.
“We know personal choice is important to our customers when it comes to the meters on their homes,” said Helen Burt, PG&E’s Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. “This final decision in support of analog meters is a positive step forward for those who have concerns over wireless technology. We understand some customers have been waiting for this decision, and we are actively reaching out to those who have expressed their desire for a SmartMeter(TM) alternative.”
PG&E is installing digital, wireless SmartMeters(TM) throughout its service area in Northern and Central California as part of a statewide effort to help customers save on their bills by offering them more control over their energy usage, improve reliability and customer service, and conserve natural resources to help the environment. As part of a global effort to modernize the energy grid and transform it into a digital network that will deliver more reliable power to homes and businesses, similar metering programs are now underway at utilities throughout the country and around the world. To date, PG&E has installed nearly nine million gas and electric SmartMeters(TM), on its way to about 10 million meters in 2012.
Independent studies repeatedly have affirmed the safety and accuracy of SmartMeters(TM). However, in response to comments from some customers, PG&E in March 2011 proposed offering them a choice to turn off the radios in their SmartMeters(TM), and then provided customers with the option to delay the installation of new SmartMeters(TM) pending the CPUC’s final decision. In December 2011, PG&E asked the CPUC to approve analog meters as another alternative to receiving a SmartMeter(TM), which was the central element of the CPUC’s decision today.
Burt added, “The vast majority of our customers are already seeing the many benefits of SmartMeters(TM). By choosing to stay with our program, our customers will continue having control by seeing where they can save energy throughout the course of the day and making simple but effective changes around the home to save money.”
PG&E customers who want to opt-out of the SmartMeter(TM) program can submit their request online at www.pge.com/smartmeteroptout or call 1-866-743-0263. PG&E plans to remove the gas and electric SmartMeters(TM) from the homes of those opt-out customers who already have SmartMeters(TM); those customers who still have analog meters will be able to keep them.
The CPUC’s final decision requires customers who opt-out of the program to pay a $75 initial setup charge and a $10 monthly charge. This will cover the costs of manual meter-reading and associated operational and billing issues. Income-qualified customers will pay a $10 initial setup charge and $5 a month.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to 15 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/.
“It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my career — I was literally walking into the owner’s suite,’’ he said. “And the lights went out.’’
[Earley] said two power feeds serve the stadium, one had a repair of a previous break, known as a splice. He said the utility does visual checks of splices before the games, but the problem with the splice was apparently not visible, it became superheated and failed.”
Oh, what’s that, you were just waxing poetic ‘n stuff?
No.
No, no, no.
The time to bandy about with the allegory and whatnot is not when you’re explaining why your big blow up occurred.
If you meant that the thing got too hot, then just say that the thing got too hot.
All right, PG&E, Go, and Sin No More.
Oh, and you know what you should be embarrassed about, Mr. Early, is having your spokesmodels out there Blaming SFGov First during this particular crisis. I know that’s what they’re taught to do, deflecting blame during an emergency, but, you know, isn’t that a bit cheesy?
And in fact, Mr. E., there are many, many other aspects of PG&E that you should be embarrassed about as well.
“PG&E and the City and County of San Francisco Investigate Power Outages at Candlestick Park
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 19, 2011 — Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) issued the following statement from Geisha Williams, executive vice president of electric operations, about the power outages that impacted Candlestick Park this evening:
PG&E is working closely with the City and County of San Francisco, owner and operator of Candlestick Park, to determine the cause of tonight’s power outages. The first priority for both PG&E and the City and County has been to get the power restored as quickly and safely as possible and keep the power on through the rest of the game. Determining exactly what happened and working to prevent something like this from happening again is very important to everyone involved.
SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company”
And from SFGov:
“MAYOR LEE’S STATEMENT ON POWER OUTAGES AT CANDLESTICK PARK
Mayor Edwin M. Lee today issued the following statement on the electric power outages at Candlestick Park at tonight’s San Francisco 49ers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers Monday Night Football game:
“Following the loss of electric power to Candlestick Park before kickoff this evening, I directed our Police, Fire and Recreation & Park Departments and our Public Utilities Commission to work closely with the 49ers and PG&E to ensure that maintaining public safety and restoring power to the stadium were the top priorities. City staff worked immediately to deliver backup power and support PG&E staff in their repairs.
I have directed Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White and SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington to conduct a full investigation into the cause of both outages and, with PG&E, identify immediate actions that must be taken to prevent incidents such as this from happening again.
Tonight we all share in tremendous pride for our San Francisco 49ers. We must make every effort to support continued victories for the team and fans across the Bay Area in the weeks ahead.”
You’ve got the box filled with whatnot mounted on the right side of an exisiting wooden phone pole, the all-important cylindrical antenna up high on the left , and down below you’ve got a soothing sign from Next G complete with a phone number for a real live person, basically a counselor who will talk you down from your anti-technology panic attack.
Hurray!
Click to expand
(Personally, I think that anybody what wants to stop a cell phone antenna from being put wherever an engineer wants to put it should be required to complete an environmental impact report first, you know, so we can calculate the effect of a lack of utility service on the Commonweal.)
Camera middle: 100 McAllister (UC Hastings – the oldest and largest law school west of the Mississippi, until somebody tells me different), City Hall (the highest old-school dome in the Western hemisphere, yes higher than the U.S. Capitol Building)
Now, the SFPUC Building at 525 GG was supposed to have windmills on the top and whatnot but that’s not going to happen now.
Oh well.
How will you make a mark SFPUC? How will you show the world how great you are? (LEED-certification? Is that it? Well, O.K., just be sure to tell tout le monde about over and over and over again…)
