GET A GRIP ON THE GRID

It is time the Public At Large know exactly what is being planned behind the backs of innocent hard working constituents who live in San Francisco by entities such as the inept San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) regarding the proposed Combustible Turbines (CT) that were donated to the City and County of San Francisco (CCSF) by the Williams Energy Company. This settlement came about as a consequence of the gouging during the Energy Crisis in the 2000s.

SFPUC is planning to place 4 CTs at the Mirant Plant that is polluted. Furthermore to insult the constituents during this time of fiscal constraints it is planning to buy the old toxic polluting power plant called Mirant.

Under no circumstance must the Board of Supervisor permit the SFPUC to be in charge of the City and County San Francisco Energy Plan.

The reasoning is very simple. SFPUC has failed the constituents of San Francisco in its management of the wastewater Facilities, it has failed the constituents of San Francisco when is comes to Hetch Hetchy. It has failed the constituents of San Francisco when it comes to clean water and its delivery. For years it has wasted money and not upgraded, repaired and maintained the wastewater and cleanwater infrastructure.

It pleaded with the constituents of San Francisco and the other Counties to raise bond money. San Francisco voted and permitted the SFPUC to undo its neglect and repair the aging infrastructure that could easily fall prey to an Earthquake. San Francisco gave the SFPUC prudent permission and a bond measure in the amount of $1.6 billion, yes billion. The other counties contributed $3 billion. In all $4.6 billion.

SFPUC has hired consultants and is busy trying to make deals before the present Mayor of San Francisco leaves office. These consultants are billing SFPUC for work, much of which could be done with less money. SFPUC does this because it has NO leadership, no expertise, and most of all NO vision. Good leaders know the way, show the way, and go the way. We the constituents of San Francisco cannot have leadership with inept personalities like Edward Smeloff and Patricia Martel to work for SFPUC.

Both these cronies of Willie Brown are detrimental to the constituents of San Francisco. We know that Willie Brown will leave soon on January 8, 2004 and we hope that with his departure - those cronies who have destroyed what is good in San Francisco will leave and be gone forever.

SFPUC has never ever in all of its recent history attended to the concerns of its constituents by providing quality service. One has just to live in the Bayview and experience the back up of raw sewage flowing on the streets from over flowing manholes on any rainy day. At other times homes have sewage backing in their homes. Children are exposed to the raw sewage and the SFPUC has done nothing to address these genuine concerns.

Daily in a wide area the area stink of foul sewage. This very close to homes and this have been going on for years. Digestors by the Phelps Wastewater Plant has been in disrepair and not fixed for years. The treatment plant cannot treat the sewage and the end product is half-treated sewage. Yet SFPUC want to expand and mess with the lives of the constituents by building and siting 4 CTs. Enough is enough. SFPUC is already contributing to a lot of pollution in the Southeast Sector - adversely affecting the lives of thousands.

We must remember that there is no other City in the whole Nation the size of San Francisco that has a wastewater Plant in one of its neighborhoods. Homes in the Bayview are twenty feet away from the Wastewater Treatment Plant at Phelps. Shame of SFPUC and the City and County of San Francisco.

The SFPUC has yet to follow the mandate of the constituents of San Francisco and build the Cross Town Tunnel that was passed over whelming by the constituents.

The over 80% of raw sewage that now come to Phelps and the 100% of raw sewage from Colma, Daly City, Brisbane, and Burlingame should NOT flow into the Bay by Pier 80 but be diffused in the Pacific Ocean. Shame on SFPUC. All the raw sewage should NOT come to the Bayview and the SFPUC does not get it.

We do not need 4 CTs in San Francisco. We do not need the two aging toxic polluting power plants. The plants should be shut down and the area cleaned or abated. Thousands of innocent people are suffering due to adverse impacts. Foremost among them respiratory diseases such as Asthma and a variety of cancer causing ailments.

Right now SFPUC cannot answer the constituents about how it will pay for the Natural Gas that the proposed 4CTs will gouge. Gas prices are going up and soon the projected price will be up 300%. Why should the constituents pay so much in these days of fiscal constraints?

Williams Energy Company the company that gave the CTs because of the price gouging in the 2000s also will provide the Natural Gas! I hear Willie Brown has a connection with Williams Energy Company? Do I hear that it is time to call in the Federal Bureau of Investigation?

We have thousands of Small Businesses that need help. If the poor electrical equipment is replaced we could save the equivalent of energy generated by 3 CTs. If we repair, replace, and maintain our Transmission Lines we could save Energy the equivalent of 6 CTs . Right now all of it leaks and no one is doing anything about it. There has been NO through evaluation of our Transmission Lines taking Congestion Management in Account and focusing on the needs of San Francisco and the ratepayers who pay for everything. This is an important factor. CPUC please take note of this statement.

To date we have NOT had one single meeting with Facility Managers, Product Managers who sell Energy Efficiency Products, High Power Electricians, Grid Operators, Computer Specialists who work with GRID operators, Billing experts, the list goes on to address the totality of the waste of Energy in the City and County of San Francisco.

To date the City and County of San Francisco has not worked on a War Footing to address Energy Conservation Issues linked to Small Business in the Southeast Sector, home owners, Multiple Housing, Hospitals, Shopping Malls, Hotels, Sporting Facilities, Factories. The City chooses to work with a few down town high rise buildings that already get Energy at reduced prices. Shame on the Mayor and his cronies.

To date we have no clear vision on Tidal Energy. We have no clear vision on Wind Power. We have no clear plans on Solar Power and how to tie the excess energy to the Transmission Lines. Our Mayor and his cronies talk the talk but cannot walk the walk.

We do not need any polluting CTs in the Southeast Area. We do not need especially the inept SFPUC to be in charge of the CityÕs Energy Plan. Most of all we do not need Edward Smeloff to be head of any major project that has anything to do with the City and County of San Francisco. He has not treated the constituents of San Francisco - right.

Again and again the SFPUC has not been forthright. Again and again it has tried to bluff the constituents. Again and again the Brown Act and other Sunshine laws have been abused by the SFPUC. SFPUC did it very recently when it kept out Community Activists OUT on an important Energy Efficiency Meeting linked to the Flow of Energy now and in the future.

SFPUC should be audited on how much money it is paying and has paid its consultants. Most agencies that spend a lot of money on consultants are inept. The Willie Brown cronyism feeds of consultants who are linked to Special Interests. The CTs are linked to Special Interest and as such the Federal Bureau of Investigation should be called in to investigate who really approved the CTS and why?

Let us get a grip on the grid. Let us understand more about Congestion Management. Let us educate ourselves on allocations and auctions linked to Energy Prices. There is so much that the City and County of San Francisco are leaving to an inept entity like SFPUC. This is disgraceful and some one has to step forward and call a spade a spade.

Today we do not have one single person who can address the critical factors that affect our CityÕs Energy Needs. Today we do not have a Blue Print has covers the critical aspects of Conserving Energy. We have inept City employees most of them cronies of Willie Brown who dig their heads in the sand and make noises that is plain hot air.

Willie Brown the corrupt Mayor has stood for corruption be it at the Airport, SBC Ballpark, Mission Bay and Cattelus, MUNI Lightrail with Kurt Mitchell and the other gangsters, Moscone West and its developers, Lennar and 1600 housing units on Parcel A at Hunters Point the list goes on and on. All these developer crooks have contributed millions to the coffers of some one who is very corrupt.

Willie Brown has not been for the common person the innocent hard working constituent. Willie has been for himself and the wealth he has accumulated will cater to his needs. We look forward to his leaving this City for good. Please do not add one more legacy to Willie Brown - the polluting natural gas gouging Combustible Turbines and please do not place them in the Southeast Sector on our City.

Get a Grip on the Grid. Get a grip of yourselves Board of Supervisors.

Electricity Infrastructure Assessment
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