EDITOR:
I enjoy Cynthia Walker’s homespun tongue in cheek pragmatism
&
amp; her occasional barbs and arrows. Even when aimed at me,
sometimes she hits the bull’s eye.
EDITOR:
I enjoy Cynthia Walker’s homespun tongue in cheek pragmatism & her occasional barbs and arrows. Even when aimed at me, sometimes she hits the bull’s eye.
Cynthia is right, if my home pollutes the air with hundreds of pounds more noxious air pollution than what our state and federal laws allow, then I too should be required to take steps to remediate that pollution. I’d rather not move into a teepee and shiver in the rain with blue birds, as Cynthia suggested, but if my camping out would compel the handful of large corporations in Gilroy that will be required under the Gilroy Energy Independence Ordinance to pay a gross polluter’s fee when they break the law, well, it might be worth living like a noble native American.
Cynthia also made some great suggestions in her column about how we can all save energy and make our breathing air safer for kids and senior citizens in Gilroy. Substituting a clothesline for the dryer and cutting back on wood burning stoves on still windless nights both just make good common sense. We can also run our dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers later in the evening when more cheap hydro power is available and less fossil fuel and nuclear energy must be produced. Saving money while saving the environment makes cents.
The fees assessed by the city of Gilroy against polluters that break federal and state laws, will under our new ordinance be funneled back to Gilroy homeowners and small business owners to help them improve the environment for everyone in town while they save money not paying any more inflated power bills that benefit the Enrons of the world.
Councilman Dillon recently suggested that I not encourage the use of lead acid or other battery systems because they are not easily recycled. Now our new ordinance only encourages solar power generation that feeds back into the energy grid, reversing the meter and lowering the bill rather than inefficiently storing energy.
Mayor Pinheiro gave advice as to how our new ordinance might best protect and serve all Gilroy citizens, homeowners, and businesspeople equally. I took his advice and sought guidance from all segments of our community, from private citizens, city staff, and our Economic Development Corporation. Now we have a pending new law that will bring new high paying jobs to town, encourage developers to build affordable clean energy homes, and cost Gilroy taxpayers not one cent more in higher or new taxes.
Finally, Cynthia Walker has reminded me once again that its important to put your money where your mouth is. For nearly 25 years I’ve preserved the acre I own in town as natural hillside and now I’m going to try even harder to do my part to help our economy while I preserve the natural resources that we all own together.
Chris Cote, Gilroy
Submitted Sunday, Jan. 4, to ed****@****ic.com
