What Would Freyne Do?
Thank you for resurrecting the great Peter Freyne [20/20 Hindsight: “Bernie & Howard,” February 17]. It is so refreshing to flash back to his insightful and witty takes on Ol’ Bernardo, Jeezum Jim and all of the Vermont politicos he brought to life for us readers. Wish he were on the campaign trail with Ol’ Bernardo these days. What fun that would be.
Neil E. Callahan
Burlington
Same Deal — for Everyone
An ultimatum from Redstone’s Erik Hoekstra demanding lower property taxes will not endear him to the community, many of whom are paying higher tax rates than those that outrage him [Off Message: “Amid Tax Dispute, Redstone Developer Issues Ultimatum,” February 2]. Nevertheless, property tax inequities are pervasive in Burlington, and Hoekstra may have a legitimate gripe.
The $3 million assessment on his North Winooski building amounts to $150 per square foot of living space, whereas Packard Lofts, one of Miro Weinberger’s projects, is assessed far less at $100 a square foot. Hoekstra’s building offers no striking views; Weinberger’s is on a bluff overlooking Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. Since when do lake views make a property less valuable?
On the other hand, if you’re a homeowner or a landlord with just a few units, you’re likely paying more than either of these developers. Assessments of $175 or $180 per square foot are common. It’s time to end the good deals, special deals and raw deals. It’s time for all property owners to pay their fair share in a fair deal.
Michael Long
Burlington
The ’86 Percent’
It’s worth noting that clean, renewable energy is flourishing in Vermont, despite the opposition of Annette Smith and her band of followers [“Annette Smith Is a Lightning Rod in the Renewable-Energy Debate,” February 10].
In fact, a national report released by the Solar Foundation on February 9 shows that Vermont ranked third in the nation for solar jobs per capita in 2015. In describing the positive outlook for solar in our state, the report said: “Vermont may be the second smallest state by population, but it has emerged as a solar powerhouse.”
That’s good news because we need more clean energy. State law calls for a 75 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. And our state’s Comprehensive Energy Plan — just updated in December — outlines how Vermont can meet 90 percent of our energy needs with renewable power by 2050.
Vermonters know that by tapping our wind and solar resources, we can save money and cut our use of dirty fossil fuels. These fossil fuels take hundreds of millions of dollars out of state while contributing to air and water pollution, as well as global warming.
That’s why clean energy is so popular. For instance, a statewide poll conducted for Vermont Public Interest Research Group in 2014 found 71 percent support for building wind turbines along Vermont’s ridgelines. It also found 86 percent support for the state’s ambitious 90 percent renewable energy goal.
So let’s figure out how we can build our clean energy future together, not stagnate in the dirty energy of the past.
Paul Burns
Montpelier
Burns is executive director of VPIRG.
Wedding Isn’t War
I was thoroughly disgusted by Jackie Watson comparing her job as a wedding planner to the stress of a first responder or a military service member [“Dream Weavers,” February 10]. I am neither, but I have friends and family who are military veterans. The stress of trying to get “a specific linen” to overprivileged wedding clients is not comparable to the stress of first responders managing an accident scene with mangled bodies or being in a standoff with an armed person. Many of our servicemen and -women who are overseas for extended periods of time are away from their families, not knowing if they will make it out of a war zone alive!
Jackie, you need to rethink the way you phrase the stress of your job, and think about the real stress and hardship that people are facing to protect and serve the whole community daily. Please consider applying your sensitivity in selecting color schemes to choosing words sensitive to your potential clients, who should be equally disgusted.
Jessica Oparowski
Montpelier
Explain Self-Contradictory
[Re “Annette Smith Is a Lightning Rod in the Renewable-Energy Debate,” February 10]: Terri Hallenbeck’s profile of Annette Smith was welcome, but I take exception to her description of Smith as “self-contradictory” for opposing industrial renewables while powering her own off-the-grid home with solar. This is like saying you can’t oppose whaling if you eat sardines.
To her credit, Smith can tell the difference between appropriately scaled, well-sited projects and those that impinge on critical wildlife habitat, threaten wetlands and headwater streams, damage the health of people living nearby, and (via the selling of renewable-energy credits) enable higher greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere. Too bad the Public Service Board can’t do the same.
Steven Gorelick
Walden
Embrace Renewables
It’s been hard sometimes in Vermont to figure out what to do about renewable-energy siting [“Annette Smith Is a Lightning Rod in the Renewable-Energy Debate,” February 10]. When Vermonters see wind turbines and solar panels as ugly, unwanted development, or feel personally affected by those projects, values of thriftiness, independence and good environmental choices clash with our values of self-determination and preserving natural beauty.
But we only have three options with renewable energy. We could keep going as we have and bring on worst-case climate change, with more Tropical Storm Irenes, new pests, refugees, crop failure and all the rest; we can give up technology and go live in caves; or we can put everything we’ve got into renewable energy and the smart grid.
We already know what we need to do; the fear of change shouldn’t cloud our judgment. Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking the view out our windows today is more important than saving our world for tomorrow.
Until we all come around to supporting renewable energy, those other worlds will get more and more real. To steer us into that brighter future, the United States needs to lead the way, and no U.S. state is as forward-thinking and agile as Vermont. If we can be the first state to ban slavery and the first state to create civil unions, we can also lead the rest of the country in this. Let’s please do exactly that.
Luc Reid
Williston
This article appears in The Animal Issue February 2016.
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I’m wondering why Mr. Burns felt the need to weigh in with a sales pitch for his organization’s money goals — yep, renewables have made VPIRG into a multi-million dollar organization — while remaining silent on the attempt by Vermont’s Attorney General and renewable industrialists through their lawyer to silence my voice through a criminal investigation. During the 19 days I was under criminal investigation, the renewablists were all silent, as were the many legislators who benefitted from financial donations from the renewable developers. Were they all okay with violating my 1st amendment rights? VCE has been attempting in recent weeks to talk to VPIRG and have a civil conversation with Mr. Burns, who consistently shuns every attempt to “work together” as he proclaims is his goal in his letter. Instead he just seems to want to yell at us and tell us we are anti-renewable. Paul, you know where I live, you have my phone number. I’m open to working with anyone who wants to work with me and VCE. We are all about solutions.
I have never met or communicated with Annette Smith but have followed in the media her courageous battle against the anti-zoning and anti-Act 250 industrial energy profiteers. VPIRG has shown their true colors. Just like Bill McKibben, VPIRG cowardly refuses to engage on the F-35 fighter jet, in spite of the fact that the US military is one of the largest causes of global warming emissions worldwide. Let’s compare the annual emissions of the current F-16 fighter jets, for example, with Vermont’s entire automotive fleet. Guess which one is the bigger problem? And yet Paul Burns and Bill McKibben are silent. Makes you wonder how much they actually care about global warming.
VPIRG is supposed to care about the public interest of Vermonters but their tacit support for the F-35 basing shows they care not a whit for lower income Vermonters without a voice, and instead, in fact, value the destruction of the health and home values of these Vermont residents. Ralph Nader would be ashamed.
McKibben was right early in his career, when he authored “Maybe One” about the environmental argument for only one child. But, just like VPIRG, he realized there is no money in encouraging reductions in population growth. They know who butters their bread. Fortunately, more Vermonters are now seeing through the fraud of VPIRG.
Paul Burns approach of “wind and solar everywhere, at all costs” is misguided policy and the reason I and others no longer support VPIRG. Annette Smith has clearly pointed out the faulty PSB process, and should be commended for her actions over the years. And what’s happening with VTGAS is another debacle.
Mr. Burns approach of “we need to destroy the environment, in order to save it” makes no sense, and is the reason why so many people are upset about these projects. His “everyone is a NIMBY” attitude, even though they may live nowhere near these projects, is making more enemies of renewable than friends.
VPIRG should be promoting solar panels on our huge parking lots and flat-roofed buildings in Chittenden County…hundreds of acres…not to mention home-rooftop solar, before we put panels on our prime agricultural fields.
VPIRG should go after the business on Church Street who block open up their doors on 90+ degree Heating Degree Days and blow air-conditioned air outside to attract shoppers, while we get messages on our phones to shut down unnecessary appliances.
VPIRG should demand that all new construction and be equipped and sited for solar panels on building rooftops, and that there be mandates for higher building efficiency…such as near net-zero…before we destroy our environment for continued inefficient and wasteful designs.
PART 1 of 2.
Bernie Sanders could have won in Nevada if he and his campaign manager knew enough and were aware enough beyond the usual rhetoric about fossil fuels etc to visit the site of the under construction TESLA / PANASONIC Gigafactory. When completed the Gigafactory will be the largest manufacturing plant on the earth and it will be 100% powered by solar, wind and geothermal.
It is clear to me that Bernie Sanders is utterly clueless about the TESLA mission like all politicians including Green Party politicians (who are just Watermelons who spend 99% of their time talking red not green) Sanders and his team know nothing about battery chemistry and application they have no vision comprehension of the massive task that Elon Musk and TESLA has taken on. The fact that during the course of the Nevada primary/caucus neither party produced a single politician aware enough to visit the Gigafactory site and give a speech showing that they understand the economic model of prosperity and the technological innovation that it offers (without which there is no getting off fossil fuels) is a sad indictment of American politicians.
PART 2 of 2
That for all their baloney patriotism in a moment in history when the single most innovative and important venture on the face of the earth is an American company building and manufacturing in the USA with American workers they are all silent on TESLA. That PANASONIC is so impressed with what TESLA is doing they have committed to a $1.6 BILLION investment in the battery Gigafactory in Nevada. Still no word from Bernie or any politician because they do not even know to say anything a disgrace in itself.
BTW the State of Vermont is lousy for electric vehicle charging stations and especially TESLA friendly electric vehicle charging infrastructure. You need to get serious chargers like CHADEMO DC chargers and 70amp single phase AC chargers installed. Many MODEL S drivers from out of State like to visit Vermont and you are of course also a pass through on the way to Montreal. If you have serious charging TESLARIANS driving to and from Canada will stop and spend money in Vermont while charging up. Then in 2 years when the more affordable TESLA MODEL 3 and a longer range Nissan Leaf are on the market the EV traffic will increase significantly. Think ahead be prepared if you build it they will come.