2-18-09 by dugan
There’s no organized opposition to a misbegotten and politics-ridden solar power initiative on the March 3 city ballot in Los Angeles–because there’s no money to be made from opposing it, and because potential opponents who might do business with the city are intimidated. But a few well-informed and dedicated citizens trooped up to the L.A. Times a few days ago to talk about the heap of things that are wrong with Measure B, cleverly mis-titled the "Green Energy/Green Jobs" initiative. The Times has posted a partial transcript.
My own opinion is that if L.A. takes this route, solar power will likely be trashed by high costs, unkept promises and City Council infighting. Excerpts of the editorial board meeting follow:
By civic activist Jack Humphreville, on the city Department of Water and Power fulling controlling and owning the solar installations:
"The real issue is going to be in terms of comparing Measure B with,
let’s say, a city ordinance is what is going to be the incremental cost
associated with Measure B. From my perspective, I think you have two or
three areas that are important. One is going to rely on DWP work crews,
solely on DWP work crews; no outsourcing. And DWP work crews are
notoriously, especially construction work crews as opposed to the
normal maintenance and service people, have not demonstrated a record
of being cost efficient or timely. We had an issue out in the Valley
about a year and a half ago where the trunk lines that were being done by
the DWP workers were twice as expensive and took twice as long as
private contractors."DWP also has a record of having very high costs relative to
other regional utilities, other private-party contractors, union labor
and city workers. People talk about a 25% wage differential; there’s
also a differential because of the work rules. Work rules may add
another 25% to it, so when you put down to two labor rates, the labor
rates may be 50% higher."
On how these much-touted new "green jobs" may be a vanishing act, by lawyer and neighborhood council president Leonard Shaffer:
According to [DWP Senior Assistant General Manager for Power
Aram Benyamin], they could bring people in from other locations, bring
them on as employees, have them work, and when everything’s done, get
rid of them because they have no protection. What does that do for the
growth of business here in Los Angeles and L.A. County? It doesn’t do
anything. It doesn’t stimulate those companies that already know how to
do this, and that’s the major problem.
On the issue of letting the DWP and City Council have full control up to $4 billion in solar spending, from former newspaper editor and city blogger Ron Kaye:
The… reason that we have [only] 12 or 13 megawatts [of solar in Los Angeles] is because of City Hall
and DWP. They’re the ones who fought it, failed to carry out policy:
Three mayors, City Council after City Council never demanded that it be
done, and now they’re saying that we should give them carte blanche to
spend unlimited amounts of money into totally vague areas without any
study, analysis or planning. And the reason why they’ve taken power
over this whole process is what they did with gang [abatement] money: They split it
up 15 ways, they channeled it to friends.Anybody who doesn’t see the pay-to-play history — this whole
scandal of the Fleishman-Hillard pay-to-play thing started with [former DWP chief] David
Freeman and green energy; they spent millions of dollars, threw it all
over town. And they achieved nothing. There is nothing in [the DWP] record
that says they should have their hands on billions of dollars without
any controls. And there are no controls; there are no safeguards.
There’s nothing to bring this back, and you have a government that
increasingly operates in closed processes. It increasingly operates in
the dark in back rooms more than any time in my 30 years in this town.
They’ve refined the art of it.
And that’s the nut of it. If voters approve Measure B and billions disappear into another black hole, taxpayers will sour on solar power in a city that holds such immense promise of solar generation. That’s the real shame of it.