Whether, or not, you believe we have an actual water emergency that requires this type of action; or feel the city should not have let it get to this point; here is the reason that is being used for this type of "rushed" action. (And it is rushed, because some of the things that council wanted to be included -- even though THEY were the ones not prepared -- DWP GM David Nahai told them he would have to get ready and report back before June. Because, Metro Water Division and DWP will be getting only 30% of the water supply from the State that they were previously getting. YES, 70% LESS from that source that is not the only source, but a substantial (if not biggest single) supplier.
Lots of good questions were raised by various councilmembers over things like horses (who you can't keep from drinking); people with medical/health/disabled needs; the fact that users can't tell by looking at their bill how high up the tier they are (without calling a DWP phone number to check); and a lot of "lack of awareness" on the consumers' part that will hit them the hard way when they open their bill and find out the bar has been lowered by 15% and now they got bumped into the higher (conservation rate) tier and they will feel actual pain on their bill.
So yeah, hopefully the radio, newspapers and especially TV weather reporters will warn people about this "quote unquote" rate hike, that is really a lowering of the higher tier by 15% that will automatically bump some users up, into the penatly higher rate, if they do not reduce by the 15% to keep 'em in the lower tier. (Hello, Jillian! Help out your Dogg with the awareness campaign sweetie.)
AND, Mr. Nahai has maintained all along, most users won't be affected by this (like Councilmembers Hahn and Zine who are on the low end of the tier with plenty to still waste before they would be bumped up into the penalty tier).
All the conservation measures that Mr. Nahai told Zuma Dogg last week, in preparation of this vote today are blogged here at http://ladailyblog.com/ . Just scroll down or see the links on the right hand side of this blog.
So Zuma Dogg is not here to comment on whether he believes this is a valid concern requiring this type of action, or if it is a real crisis, or all the things we need to do first...
THIS IS A CITIZENS' ALERT!!!
YOU BETTER CALL DWP AND FIND OUT WHERE YOU STAND IN THE TIER RANKING AND HOW FAR AWAY YOU ARE FROM BEING BUMPED INTO THE HIGHER TIER.
AND STOP WASTING WATER AND START BEING AWARE OF CONSERVING WATER IN EVERY WAY, THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY! (That's my new motto, y'all. "Start being aware of conserving water in every way, throughout your day!)
Don't water your lawn between 9am-4pm. Only water it twice a week. Don't hose down your driveway and sidewalks (use a broom). Don't do laundry and dishes until you have a full load to wash. GOLF COURSES...HELLO YOU #1 WATER WASTERS!!! YOU BETTER CUT BACK. And check and fix your sprinkers. ZD sees all kinds of nutty sprinkling devices that are just pouring water down the sidewalk, not even hitting a blade of grass all night.
ZD Busts L.A. City on MASSIVE Water Wasting Sprinkler Heads
And finally, Councilmember Eric Garshady noted that although he wanted to see about individual meters being installed in apartment buildings so renters would have incentive to conserve, since the building owners pay the bill and are not allowed to increase rates by more than 3%) -- this could not be done, so it would have to be discussed what can be done to address this valid concern.
http://ZumaTimes.com
UPDATE: Rick Orlov's full Daily News article on this item. (But be careful, because I think his description of exactly what happened is unintentionally misleading. Aka: I think he explained it wrong.)
And finally, Councilmember Eric Garshady noted that although he wanted to see about individual meters being installed in apartment buildings so renters would have incentive to conserve, since the building owners pay the bill and are not allowed to increase rates by more than 3%) -- this could not be done, so it would have to be discussed what can be done to address this valid concern.
http://ZumaTimes.com
UPDATE: Rick Orlov's full Daily News article on this item. (But be careful, because I think his description of exactly what happened is unintentionally misleading. Aka: I think he explained it wrong.)
NOTE: Massive amount of new videos from NBC Tonight Show Crowd on Obama night -- and extensive video coverage of Van Nuys Tea Party Event posted on the thead below on this blog.
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