Not okay Weld County, and probably not legal either. 2 things I take from complaints from CO's newly-minted public union about CO Dem leadership. Lastly a quick reminder about electricity vs. gas.
Not okay Weld County, and probably not legal either.
I was texting with a friend recently and she told me that WeldCo had stopped public comment at its meetings.
WeldCo? Bastion of conservativism in this state?
Yes indeed. Check out the link below for more context.
I don't live in Weld County, but if you do, you should be offended and you should speak up. Now. This is not in any way okay. I don't care about the politics of the situation or what (purportedly) spurred it.
It is the public's right to address their government and the choice to shut that down says just as much about what the WeldCo commissioners think of your rights as does what the Dems are doing in the Assembly.
I am not sure of the legality here (I have heard two competing takes on it, one that it's the board's prerogative to not have comment as long as the meeting is open, two that it's a violation), but legal or not, this is not something we should any of us tolerate.
https://www.greeleytribune.com/2024/03/12/weld-county-commissioners-remove-public-comment-from-future-board-meeting-agendas/
Two things I take from the complaints that the newly-minted public employees union and their negotiations with Dem leadership in this state.
The Colorado Politics article below details some drama between the Democratic leadership of the legislature and the state public employees union. Lots of he said, she said and I'm not going to step in on that at all.
Not terribly interested frankly. I mean, I'm glad to see some reporting about internecine fighting among Democrats and their supporters because it shows disagreement about actual policy being made in this state, but this subject isn't too compelling to me.
Except for a couple things. There are two things I take from this.
1. If you make a union to try and look good to voters, which the Democrats did, you shouldn't be surprised when that union tries to break you with wage increases on a regular basis. To wit, consider the following two quotes from the article:
"[Senate President Steve] Fenberg said leadership collaborated with PWG [Political Workers Guild of Colorado] to increase aides' wages from $16 an hour to $23 last year, alongside increasing hour limits and providing health care benefits to senior aides."
and
"In a letter, PWG said its members proposed a cost-of-living wage increase from $23 an hour to $30 an hour, along with full benefits akin to those provided to other members of the General Assembly."
2. While the Democrats aren't willing to spend on giving these people more money, they're certainly willing to spend your money doing a whole host of other things or more, less, or the same value.
This would be something easier to shrug off and say, "it's your problem, you solve it" if the Democrats hadn't decided to make it our problem by doing this. They put us on the hook for a group that is asking for a raise after having just gotten one.
Perhaps the Democrats can find some of that wage increase by letting go of a few of their DEI consultants, something written as a necessary into the first ratified state union worker contracts.
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/legislature/colorado-democratic-leadership-not-engaging-in-wage-increase-talks-says-state-union/article_944a732a-e08a-11ee-bf47-07a3814729bd.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share
Just a quick reminder:
Even when the electricity is off, gasoline still combusts and natural gas still flows (and also combusts).
In late Winter, we tend to get wet heavy snows. Wet heavy snow that clings to powerlines and tree branches (and solar panels, see the link below).
That added weight makes branches bend and flat roofs (with solar arrays) buckle. It makes branches hit already sagging powerlines and pull them down.
As of Friday mid day, I read online about thousands still without power in Denver after losing it in Thursday's storm.
I just wanted to remind you that an internal combustion car can run on gas as long as it has some in the tank. This is regardless of whether the grid is up and in contrast to an EV where if the batteries are down and you can't charge, you're stuck. This same applies to snowblowers. In an extended outage, when your electric snowblower battery runs out, start stretching cause you’re going to shovel.
Heat pumps also don't fare too well with no juice. It is true that even with the ability to combust in your heat exchanger, your furnace or boiler can't circulate heat in your home, but I would note that the fix for pumps and fans is a simple (and small) backyard generator**. The bulk of the energy, that needed to heat the space, comes from combustion.
Trying to do likewise with a heat pump would need a SUBSTANIALLY bigger and more expensive generator.
Winter storms and this kind in particular won't go away. Trying to jump 5 moves ahead on the board before we have brought up adequate infrastructure and support behind us will put us as a state in a more vulnerable position than smarter, slower moves.
In other words, without the knowledge and access to cheaper and easier ways to ensure critical systems can still function during weather such as this, quick and thoughtless transitions to electric devices is like sticking our faces right out where they're gonna get smacked.
**A project I'm currently in the middle of setting up at my own home over grid stability concerns during winter.