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What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
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~ Traditional Folk Saying
“What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.” ~ Traditional Folk Saying
After reading about the proposed “Gilroy Energy Independence Ordinance,” I should like to propose a “Sauce for the Gander Ordinance:” Any city councilman or resident who wishes to propose or vote for an ordinance aimed at businesses should first adhere to its provisions himself.
Thus, before Councilman Paul Correa or activist Christopher Cote can require that new businesses in Gilroy supplement 75 percent of their traditional power usage with alternative energy sources such as solar power, they would have to do so themselves.
We would also fine them $2.17 per square foot of their residences if they failed to comply, or if they exceeded air pollution limits set by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
I am not sure exactly what Councilman Correa or Mr. Cote would have to do to comply, because the most likely meaning of the proposed “Gilroy Energy Independence Ordinance” seems too draconian to be true. Can it really mean that one would have to cut 75 percent of last year’s energy bill, and make up the difference with solar power? Good luck!
Now, I know nothing about Councilman Correa’s or Mr. Cote’s current energy usage, so complying might be possible for them. If they live in large houses with air conditioners and electric clothes driers, they might be able to institute serious savings by giving up air conditioning and using a clothes line.
But if they have already adopted such a lifestyle (and I sincerely hope that an environmentalist as ardent as Mr. Cote has done so) further savings will take some serious effort. They will have to get rid of their computers and televisions, turn their winter thermostats to about 40 degrees F., and go to bed at about 8 p.m. to save electricity. No fair using candles! They cause air pollution, as do wood-burning stoves and fireplaces.
Of course, maybe Mr. Cote and Councilman Correa are envisioning that they could use active solar energy, such as solar cells, rather than passive solar energy, such as clotheslines. Unfortunately, solar cells are not particularly green. They use some pretty nasty chemicals and processes in their manufacturing.
Wind power is of limited utility in this area. One needs a natural wind tunnel, such as Altamont Pass, to harvest enough to be worthwhile, and, if you’ve ever driven by the wind farm there, you will have noticed that a large fraction of the wind-driven generators are standing idle at any given time. Constant maintenance is required.
We could make the ordinance retroactive. Then Mr. Cote would have to give up his cell phone, and since it is in particular the cell phone towers to which he objected, his microwave oven, if any.
Since Mr. Cote is also watch-dogging air pollution issues, I certainly hope he is either riding his bike or walking to all these City Council and school board meetings which he keeps gracing with his presence.
And since Mr. Cote is monitoring a Pajaro River Open Space preservation project, which is part of a wildlife preservation project, we can use the “Gander” ordinance to designate his house lot as an open space and wildlife preservation area.
We will raze his house and preserve wildlife there: mockingbirds, white crowned sparrows, yellow rumped warblers, tiger salamanders, snails, slugs, sow bugs, ants, and termites … all of our typical Gilroy wildlife.
Mr. Cote will be allowed to erect a teepee on his property, so long as he does not disrupt any ant nests in the process. I am afraid a septic system is probably not allowed inside Gilroy city limits. And Mr. Cote would not want to use the city sewage treatment system, given our constant contretemps about discharging treated effluent into the Pajaro River.
The last time I saw Mr. Cote, at a school board meeting where he was complaining about the level of pollution given off by old school buses, he was wearing a very nice suit. I wonder how on earth he gets it clean. Patronizing any of those dry cleaning establishments with their nasty vile chemical would be sheer hypocrisy for an avowed environmentalist such as Mr. Christopher Cote.
