Thursday, April 10, 2008

The White Elephant drives food prices

I was watching ABCNews tonight (since I cancelled Cox cable last Friday, I can't watch the cable news) and they had a piece on the cost of food around the globe. It was both interesting and extremely concerning. I think it's fair to say that the piece was placing the blame for the rise in the cost of food largely on energy prices... particularly as crops are now being diverted from feeding people to making biofuels / energy.

This reminded me of the pool and its insatiable energy appetite... and it reminded me of my belief that the pool is a perfect example of how Cheshire could "think globally, act locally." Unfortunately, based on comments during Council meetings... it seems at least one member of the majority believes Cheshire shouldn't sacrifice its "quality of life" (an indoor / outdoor pool) for increased "energy security" (energy conservation).

Anyway... you probably could guess that I'm of the opinion that the Council (and this new bubble committee) have virtually no credibility, when it comes to the pool. Nonetheless, I hope the Council makes a real effort at dealing with the bubble. But to gain the credibility required for taking action... the rhetoric will need to change. And we're going to have to acknowledge that sacrifice (dumping the white elephant) is almost certainly necessary... and we can't simply increase the volume of natural gas fed to the pool, if we want take a responsible approach to directly dealing with the bubble (and indirectly dealing with energy costs and with food prices)... because ultimately, they're all related.

Tim White

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who are the bubble heads, er, I mean members of the bubble study group? (Sounds like they may have a church, too)

Anonymous said...

I think Matt Altieri is chairing the BS Group. Laura and Jimmy will also be members.

Anonymous said...

Does that mean that maybe they will cover the bubble with turf??
I'm not sure if I like the bubble head or BS group better.

Anonymous said...

A reporter asked me today why I'm not a member of the BS group. Apparently, the conventional wisdom is that I'd be perfect for participating in this BS.

I assured the reporter that I want to attend all these BS meetings, but that between this BS and the Charter meetings... I just couldn't commit to this BS group.

Anonymous said...

BOE discussed the turf tonight. They were referring it to the Council.

Anyone know what happened?

Also, the BOE was invited to participate in the Council's BS Group.

Any BS discussion at the BOE meeting tonight?

Anonymous said...

What charter meetings?

Anonymous said...

Ordinance Review Committee (Esty - Chair, Ecke, Slocum) will begin meetings to discuss the possibility of Charter revision.

Those meetings will likely happen over the next one to three months.

Anonymous said...

I hope that is DOA. It's OK.

Anonymous said...

Why are they referring it to the council? Do they need more money? If they do I'm sure the majority will just say yes. Isn't funny how everything always has sports as the common denominator.

Anonymous said...

I was at the boe meeting. Not a lot of discussion about the turf. The board is recommending to the TC to form a turf study committee which would include boe member Behrer, the A.D. (surprise, surprise), an administrator, someone from public works or park & rec, and 1 or 2 citizens.
I asked Behrer who will decide exactly who will be on besides him and the AD and he didn't have an answer. He made it sound like the TC will decide.
Just more of the same BS.

Anonymous said...

Tim,
I would strongly suggest that the republican minority should not be involved with this study group. This is a lose lose situation. I belive that Jim Sima is the most qualified of the three to come to a series of proper alternatives. But, I don't have the faith in the political system that his labor intensive work on this undertaking will be the ultimate resolution voted on by the Democratic council that can't see more than 5 years down the road.
Mike Rocci

Anonymous said...

If the BOE comes up with the extra $500,000 that is needed to install this deadly synthetic turf field their budget should be audited. If anything is found some heads should roll.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised that Hall, Esty and Ecke are not on the BS committee, they certainly are experts when it come to BS.