Friends of Mill Valley

Posted from the Marin IJ Letters to the Editor - 022010
By: A.T. Anderson, San Rafael

I find it very difficult to believe that the supposedly sophisticated population of Marin would be so easily led to believe that there would be any benefit by entering into an organization that is so naive as to believe that it can supply "green" electricity to select users in the county.

I realize that many people in the county do not believe that PG&E is providing the best service to its customers, but this Marin Clean Energy proposal will not solve any problem. It will only escalate any electricity supply problem that its backers feel presently exists.

So what do the users gain? Green power?

What is that? Power from renewable sources?

Now, what happens when you switch on the light in your home? You will not - and I emphasize not - get the solar and wind power that is produced on the desert or the wheat fields. You will get the electricity from the source nearest to your house.

Posted from the Marin IJ Letters to the Editor - 022010
By: Ray Cook, Mill Valley

Those of us who were living around here 50 years ago, and paying the bills, remember a monthly newsletter, the "PG and E Progress." I always looked forward to receiving my copy.Probably because it was part of the comfort that came with living in a society whose institutions were reliable.

Here, I would like to recall the front page of its February 1969 editions, which by popular demand reprinted its September 1962 summary of "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," the 18th century classic by Edward Gibbon.

My recollection is that PG&E wasn't all bad.

Fast forward to 2010 and observe the Marin Energy Authority, portraying itself as leaders and throwing a lasso around me to drag me along with them into their destiny.

Dear City Council Members:

As a preface to the comments and questions I’m about to pose, I need to clarify my intentions. I’m writing to again stress the need for an open and fair public process in Mill Valley.

With that in mind, there seems to be some unwritten rule that has emerged recently in Mill Valley politics that says we can only talk about “issues” but it’s somehow impolite or politically incorrect to question or criticize the statements, character or actions of any elected official or city employee. The “spin” is always that doing this constitutes an inappropriate “personal attack” and becomes legitimate grounds to dismiss the entire content of the message. This is just politically convenient nonsense.

Nobody can doubt that Friends is a hard working organization and a vibrant contributor to discussion in Mill Valley. I don't think that Marie's letter said otherwise. I think the point is that the "11 previous mayors" letter was emailed by Friends of Mill Valley to its members, but a response letter (from a current City Councilperson, previous mayor, and Mill Valley's representative to the Marin Energy Authority) was not, despite that Councilperson's specific request that this be done.

The conclusion has to be that the governing body of Friends have determined that Friends is against Marin Clean Energy, and communication will be geared towards defeating it, and not towards neutrality or presenting both sides of the issue.

Dear Mayor Moulton-Peters and Members of the Council:

Do I have this right? The City is using our tax dollars to pay Supervisor McGlashan's wife to coach the Council on their response to the "11 Mayors Letter". Her letter is an unmistakable attempt to
reinforce prior MEA/MCE imprinting - she tells you how many meetings you've attended, how many pages you've read, what you should think and what you should do. She is acting like a political consultant and it would appear she's representing Charles and not Mill Valley. The drama would be entertaining if it weren't such a sad commentary on the entire MEA/MCE process - Charles sends his wife to straighten-out the City Council. You're told that the Mayors are wrong. Do you really believe that this group of Mill Valley Leaders would put their names on a letter of such significant import without proper research and in-depth
consideration?

It's been clever of Charles to place his wife in the middle of the

I am no longer a member of the Friends of Mill Valley Steering Committee (since 2008) and have no vote in its actions. So I am not speaking for them. But I would say without reservation that FoMV is the most open and forthright public information service in the City of Mill Valley. It is "unfortunate" that Marie Kerpan is unable to appreciate the years of tireless effort by dozens of concerned citizens, that has brought this about.

FoMV is not a newspaper or an arm of the City's public relations department. Shawn Marshall or anyone else is always free to post anything they'd like on the FoMV web site for everyone to read. But the opinion of any one individual, whether a member of FoMV, a city official or anyone else is not what FoMV emails have ever been about.

I'm posting Shawn Marshall's response at her request.

Shawn requested that Mitch Worztman circulate the following message as a News FLash to FofMV in the interest of full disclosure and in response to the News Flash recently broadcast about the Mayors' letter . I haven't seen it yet.

It's unfortunate if views not consistent with those of the leadership of Friends of Mill Valley cannot be broadcast to the membership via the FofMV email list because they are screened by the leadership.

(Letter from City Council Member, Shawn Marshall in response to FofMV broadcast email about the Mayors' letter re:MCE)

February 15, 2010

Dear Mayor Moulton-Peters & Council Members-

The Council chose not to vote on the MEA matter in its 1/4/10 meeting but the issues of a response to the Grand Jury, MV becoming an MCE ratepayer, and the possibility of withdrawing as an MEA Member have still not been discussed in a meaningful way in a properly Noticed public meeting. At the 1/4/10 meeting, Greg Stepanicich did advise the Council that they should employ new legal council to advise the City as to the legal issues surrounding the City becoming an MCE ratepayer. I continue to urge the Council to have Staff produce a substantive Report that is informed by competent technical, legal, and financial advice from unbiased experts.
The Grand Jury, the County Treasurer, and the recent letter from 11 former mayors require a response in three areas:
1. The rewards offered by MEA are negligible in Phase I and may never come to pass in Phase II.
2. The risks are substantial in both Phases

From the Marin IJ - DICK SPOTSWOOD 2/14/2010

In an extraordinary move, 11 former Mill Valley mayors led by Betsey Cutler, Dennis Fisco and Anne Solem sent a joint letter to the city's Council, urging its withdrawal from the Marin Energy Authority. The group cites "the risk of higher taxes, burdensome municipal debt and/or reduced municipal services inherent in the uncertain economics of the Marin Clean Energy plan."

Even at this late date, Mill Valley could back out of the authority. While unlikely, that would be a stunning reversal in the home turf of MEA chair and county Supervisor Charles McGlashan. The letter will be discussed at the Feb. 23 council meeting regarding the city's reply to the Marin grand jury's report, "Marin Clean Energy: Pull The Plug."

Over the next decade every person in the United States will experience the reality of energy change. There is new legislation for the generation of energy (supply side) to end our dependency on fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) and to increase our use of clean renewable energy. There is the smart grid (demand side) to reduce transmission losses, increase efficiency and enable new energy pricing models.

This posting was made prior to open4energy understanding the nature of the political interference by PG&E and their association with this site. The original posting, and unbiased information can be found below.

http://open4energy.com/forum/home/pgm/marin_clean_energy_opt_out_1002091...