Thursday, April 26, 2007

* Barb Sepanik Responds

Dear Craig and Neighbors,

Thank you for helping us promote the launch of a new environmental initiative in the 49th Ward. I am a neighborhood resident who sees an opportunity to effect positive change by volunteering some time. I was once a community organizer on the south side and I believe in the power of neighborhood activism.

Likewise, Joe's son Nathan is a young man who sees global warming as the issue of his day and wants to get active. We as a community should be applauding a young man who chooses to spend his free time this way.

I hope you will all join me in supporting Nathan and many other young people like him who want to work to improve their world.

I do not purport to be an environmental expert. I simply see an opportunity to make a difference and want to volunteer my time. I hope some of my neighbors with more expertise than me will take the helm. I am simply working to build on what has already been accomplished and to engage more people to get exciting actions started.

There is an abundance of energy and expertise in this community and we hope we can help get things done.

If any of your readers wishes to join us, they are more than welcome. We are going to work with the Department of Environment to train volunteers. We are going to pair young people with leaders in our community so they can better affect the change they want to see in the world. Where this group goes depends entirely on who raises their hand and says, "Count me in."

To volunteer, please contact us at ward49@cityofchicago.org.

Sincerely,

Barb Sepanik

BLOGNOTES: I would like to thank Barb for responding. Please keep comments on topic or they will be deleted. Oh, and I'll take the lead. "Count me in." Nathan and Barb haven't 'fooled' me once yet. But if they do, I'll be there to cover it.

And a personal blognote for Nathan. If you really see global warming as the 'issue of the day' and want to 'get active', please see if you can find a way to get us replacement trees for the ones that were chopped down along the 1400 block of West Morse. That would be a great start on saving the environment right here at home.

38 comments:

The North Coast said...

To Barb Sepanik: Positive action to protect the environment and reduce our carbon footprint begins at home, so there is no better place to start than in the office of your employer, Joe Moore.

Sometime last year, Craig posted on this blog an itemized list of Joe Moore's expenditures for office supplies at the Office Max store in Evanston. What struck me is that, instead of buying in bulk and shopping for specials, Joe or one of his people was making many, many automobile trips to the Office Max store on Howard to make small purchases, instead of aggregating the purchases into one order and shopping for the best deal on them, as we do in my office.

For example, we would never, say, run to the Office Depot in a car to buy a ream of printer paper. We calculate what we will need of everything- paper, staples, cartridges, pens, what have you- and then shop for the best deal online.Get the good of that high-speed connection. Quill and Staples are big suppliers for this office.

You can calculate what you need by tracking what you use. This is not difficult, and businesses that don't do this much to control their expenses soon run into financial trouble.

Stop wasting gas, time,money, and energy- both yours and the world's. By running your office more intelligently, you will save the taxpayer's money and contribute to saving the world.

ChitownRog said...

ALL HAIL THE NORTH COAST...

For she is saving the world...

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for making so few runs to the office supply store.

Look... I'm not a Joe Moore fan. Frankly, I disagree with just about everything he stands for. But, don't try and paint him and his office as "Non-Environmentally Friendly" because they run to Office Depot three times instead of one.

You're just being petty.

QDogg said...

Having a 16 year old an someone who is admittedly "not an environmental expert" lead this initiative is ridicuouls, and only serves to diminish it's importance. I work for a environmental non-profit, and although I live in Evanston I have many colleagues that live in Joe's ward that are bona-fide, highly trained, environmental experts. Did the alderman's office contact any local environemental groups (Chicago Wilderness for example) to see if they would be willing to lead this initiative? I doubt it, instead using the typical chicago political paradigm an elected official is seemingly, once again, a perpetrator of cronyism and nepotism.

proGun said...

Hi Barb and Nathan,
Thank you for your interest in greening and cleaning.
The oatmeal hopefully is lowering my LDL and assisting with some trimming planting and cleaning should increase my HDL.
Lets encourage people to bike, walk and not drive to these events. Leaders examples are easier to follow when we practice green lifestyles.
In Joes early days I always saw him walking around the ward and would like to see that trend revitilized. That is how he and I met.
Something like hi I am Joe the Alderman my response was great whats an alderman? Now I know.

Recently I never see Joe on the El or on Metra, he may use these options I just have not seen it.
Lets encourage aldermanic staff to lead by leading with green examples.

I live here too said...

Regarding the trips to the Office store. I think the real question is why is he spending money in Evanston instead of a Chicago store? Perhaps the Office Depot in Lincoln Village is slightly further away, but I will take consolidated trips to a Chicago store with the associated sales tax revenue for Chicago over multiple trips to an Evanston store. Or, as Office Depot offers free delivery on orders over $50, why not just order online. Not sure where the tax revenue goes in that instance, but a delivery van adding another stop to its daily run only increases the overall efficiency of the delivery system.

Anonymous said...

ChitownRog said...
ALL HAIL THE NORTH COAST...

For she is saving the world...

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for making so few runs to the office supply store.

Look... I'm not a Joe Moore fan. Frankly, I disagree with just about everything he stands for. But, don't try and paint him and his office as "Non-Environmentally Friendly" because they run to Office Depot three times instead of one.

You're just being petty.

Chitown Rog,

There is nothing petty about the peak oil situation, which is what Laura is referring to. No to mention global warming. You need to get out of your car and get a clue!

The North Coast said...

Excuse me, Chitown, but it is the "petty" stuff that adds up to a MUCH MUCH BIGGER EXPENSE LOAD THAN YOU SHOULD BE PAYING.

I have learned, the hard way , to "sweat the small stuff".

For example, using an "alien" ATM costs $2 more per transaction than using the one owned by my own bank, which is free. A weekly withdrawal from an alien ATM at $2 per cost me $104.

If you look at the itemization for Moore's expenses, there is nothing "petty" about the total amount of gasoline used.

WHY IN THE HELL DOESN'T HE ORDER THE STUFF ONCE PER 6 MONTH PERIOD. HE WOULD SAVE HUNDREDS ON GASOLINE AND SAVE ON THE SUPPLIES!!!

Business people know to sweat the small stuff. They know that the $1 extra you spend on gasoline, or postage, or ATM fees per day adds up to a big loss of profits at the end of the year. You total up this kind of sloppiness through every dept in a large co, you are talking about TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS, POSSIBLY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

If every car owner would eliminate just one trip per day, what would the national savings in gasoline be?

I noticed that when I stopped using alien ATM's, my paycheck lasted longer. I noticed that when I changed to CFL lightbulbs and started getting really religious about turning off power strips, lights in occupied rooms, and other unnecessary power drains, that the savings on my power bill were tremendous. I reduced my usage from 225KwH per month to 104Kwh per month, by doing these little things. My monthly electric bill is now $18 instead of $36. If you are a family using, say, 800Kwh a month, how much would you save.

All I can say is that you are alot more affluent than I am and can afford to be extremely cavalier about money AND energy to consider my attitude "petty".

Also, I don't own a car, which means one less car on the road. If 100,000 people here in the city decided to ditch their cars and use transit or walk, how much oil would we save?

If that many people ordered their groceries online and had them delivered, instead of motoring to the store, how much gasoline would be saved?

I'm glad I'm not married to you- you sound like an extravagent slob.

I live here too said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
I live here too said...

Not sure where to post this or how to e-mail directly to Craig, but I think tonight is CAPS beat 2424 at Pottawatomie Park. However, I just tried to find info on the beat at the CPD website but couldn't find confirmation of the meeting.

The North Coast said...

While we are on the subject, you have to notice that Joe really doesn't even need an auto to perform his job. His orbit is Rogers Park, Evanston, and dowtown Chicago.

How better to set an example of eco-consciousness for the rest of us than to dispose of his car?

Excessive auto dependence makes the USA the largest, and most wasteful, energy consumer in the world. It has caused incredible environmental destruction AND has made life very expensive and almost unliveable for our poor, who find themselves stranded with no access to jobs that have moved to auto suburbs. It has also made us dependent upon people who hate us, or at least don't exactly love us. We import 60% of our oil, which makes us very vulnerable to any event that interferes with our supply.

We are only 5% of the world's population, yet we consume 25% of the world's fuel, which is dwindling.

Thanks to 80 years of destructive public policy and atrocious (anti)urban planning, most people unfortunately still need their autos.

Moore does not need his, so let him be an example setter for the ward.

ChitownRog said...

Thanks , North Coast, for the personal budgeting lesson. You should take that show on the road, and make some money giving out your advice. Then maybe you could afford to eat out once in a while. Or, you could stand under my window and catch all the dollar bills I throw out every day.

The point of my message was this... Barb Sepanik is volunteering her time to go out and "green-up" the neighborhood, and you attack her by pointing out that her boyfriend wastes money going to the store too many times. Sorry, but that does seem a little petty to me.

You might be right about me being more affluent than you are. It doesn't really concern me either way. I think I've done ok for myself and my family. I've earned every penny, and I make no apologies for the way I choose to spend them.

BTW... I'm also glad that you're not married to me. We probably wouldn't get along very well.

The North Coast said...

I'm not impressed by the empty gestures of volunteers who do essentially nothing.

If you don't walk the talk, your "green" gestures and posturing are meaningless.

I think I have a right to consider myself superior to Joe and his little volunteers in the matter of eco-consciousness and energy conservation, and I will call them out on their eco-efforts when I can see that they don't lead by example.

The things I suggest are what any budget-conscious AND eco-conscious person does. Face it, most of us are in no position to dicate policy. We can, however, do our bit to reduce the load, remembering that millions of drops of water eventually become a river.

You sound like you could stand to have YOUR consciousness raised on environmental issues, too.

INKJAR said...

HOPE BARB AND NATHAN MAKE IT-
MORSE HOWARD WOULD BE A GOOD START-

BUT REALLY THINK THIS IS ANOTHER JOMO DISTRACTION, REGARDING THE VOTE CHALLENGE-

ChitownRog said...

No thanks... I'm not interested in any environmental conditioning.

Besides, you seem to have drunk all the Kool-Aid anyway. You're clearly superior to me because you don't drive cars, and you changed your lightbulbs. You're also now qualified to judge those that are doing something instead of nothing, if their something is less than your something.

Don't worry though, you're not alone. There seems to be a general feeling of superiority among those of you who believe the end of the world is upon us if we don't do something to change our habits.

Perhaps you'd rather Joe and friends lobby congress to stop importing oil from the middle east? Or maybe he should redirect his efforts toward the adoption of E85 for all vehicles in the US?

Then again, aren't you one of the ones (as was I) who complained that he doesn't concentrate his efforts (and dollars) on the interests of the 49th ward? I think the residents of the 49th ward would rather see some more retail options in the ward before Joe spends any more money on our eco-friendliness.

Don't you think?

LakefrontLarry said...

Personally, I'm more interested in cleaning up politics than I am the environment. If we can get the DIRTY politicians out of office, it would go a long way in cleaning up the environment of the 49th Ward.

The North Coast said...

As a Chicago taxpayer, I would like to see Joe and the rest of our city government spend way less money on their office expenses.

Joe and our other aldercreatures should make it a goal to reduce their office expenditures by 50%, and their gasoline use by the same amount.

Hey- I wouldn't mention it if Joe weren't trying to posture as an environmentalist. However, as a TAXPAYER, I was a little appalled at the lack of attention to expenses and efficiency evident in the list of Joe's itemized expenses. We pay for all that.

But, of course, the private ,non-government subsidized business owner must watch every penny, because he must absorb his losses and pay his own expenses out of what his business earns. The taxpayer's money, on the other hand, flows in a never-ending stream.

ChitownRog said...

I think maybe we've come to the real point of all this..

Why is Joe's first initiative after the election focused on "greening" the 49th ward? I'm going to go out on a limb and say 80% of the people in the ward couldn't care less about the efforts to make the ward "eco-friendly"

People care about jobs, places to shop, and safe streets.

I'd like Joe to concentrate on those things, and put "eco-friendliness" on the back burner. I think this initiative to clean up the neighborhood is great for what it is. The streets are in need of some sprucing up.
I'd like to see the Morse street scape project get off the ground. Where the heck is that?

I'm not saying the environment should be the last thing we consider, but it should definitely not be the first.

QDogg said...

Decreasing foreign, or domestic, oil dependance through the use of public transit and renewable energy is certainly a laudable goal that would help address local air pollution.

Although chitownrog does not seem like someone with much of an environmental ethic, he's right about one thing, this initiative can only be sucessful if it improves the environment in the 49th ward. A beautification effort diguised as "greening" will not have an impact on the local ecosystem.

If, for example, the proper work is put into greening open spaces, public and private, with native plants that will help to clean the air and local water resources (the Lake and Chicago River)this can be a success. In a roundabout way, my point is this initiative could be very effective if the right people are involved and they educate the ward residents on things they can do to improve their local ecosystem, but appointing your kid and girlfriend to lead the charge seems to indicate that it is not being taken seriously from its inception.

QDogg said...

Study after study has shown that as environmental conditions improve (air and water quality, availability of open spaces, etc.) economic conditions also improve. Property values increase (increasing tax revenue in the process) and new businesses are attracted to areas that have committed to improving the environment.

The environment shouldn't be the first or last thing considered, but it should definitely be in the discussion because a degraded ecosystem WILL have a negative effect on jobs, local businesses, and safety.

ChitownRog said...

I tend to mostly agree with you gdogg..

Except that I think Joe is taking this very seriously. Not from a real ecology standpoint, but he knows that "Green" is the rallying cry for everyone who has no idea what it even means. People seem to blindly accept anything labeled "green" as being something that should be supported. So it looks like Joe's doing something that's good for everyone.

When I said 80% couldn't care less... What I should've said is..
If you ask everyone if they want to help protect the environment, 80% of them will say yes. However when it comes right down to it, if you ask them if they'd rather you put in some wetlands, or open revitalize the Morse business district....

That's where you get the 80% who'd put the environment on the back burner.

Joe's environmental effort is nothing but a feel-good project to make everyone forget how bad he is at everything else.

It's a rallying cry for those who don't give it a second thought.

QDogg said...

"Joe's environmental effort is nothing but a feel-good project to make everyone forget how bad he is at everything else."

Well said chitownrog, just like foie gras or the big box ban.

Craig Gernhardt said...

If Joe was serious about eco-urban green enviornment policies, he'd pick up the phone and call George Sullivan. George lives in Rogers Park by the way. Another name, Debra Shore.

People not to include: Kim Bares.

The North Coast said...

Yes, Chitown, I'll second you on THAT- that Joe's environmental initiatives are nothing but a 'feel good' that will end up costing us more than saving us.

That's why I want him to put his money where his mouth is, and actually DO the little things that will do just fine for a start and will SAVE THE TAXPAYERS MONEY, like, perhaps hundreds to thousands on unnecessary office expenditures.

He and his confreres in the city council could also- dare I suggest it- vote for a rollback in their pay. They could reduce their paid staffs, and they could use transit for city errands instead of cars.

ChitownRog said...

Joe probably figures if he can get some environmental bullet points on his resume to go with "bix-box" and "foie-gras", he can take the next step up the political ladder.

These are all feel-good initiatives designed to garner votes.

Banning foie-gras doesn't help any of his constituants. Big-box doesn't either, for a couple reasons.

1.) There are NO big-box stores in the 49th
2.) This one's more idealogical.. If you artificially set the price of labor, you're only enabling those who might otherwise go on to bigger and better things. People who are given something will become complacent with that thing, and will come to rely on it. Then when it's taken away (for whatever reason) they don't know how to live without it.

#2 is another discussion alltogether....

The point is..
Joe is a pretty good politician. He just got re-elected even though he did nearly nothing to help the people he serves over the past 4 years. He did, however, fool just over 50% into believing he's doing a good job.

It'd be nice if some of the projects that will directly affect us actually happened. And if those projects are done with the environment in mind then all the better.

Barbara Sepanik said...

Dear "the North Coast":

While I applaud you in the eco-conscious lifestyle it seems you lead, I encourage you to consider how your judgmental attitude may actually discourage others from getting involved and making the sort of changes it seems you want to see them make. Sharing your expertise in a supportive manner could benefit us all.

As Americans leading a privileged life, we all use too many resources. As an example, every time one hits ‘send' or ‘search' on one's computer, one contributes to massive amounts of electrical generation at the internet server farms in California and elsewhere. None of us are without guilt.

This is a process for all of us. Wherever we may be that process, there is more each of us can do to improve our world, through actions in our own lives, or actions in our community. I hope we can all respect one another, wherever one stands on that journey, and applaud each other as we take steps in the right direction. Joe and I want to support and encourage good action, and hopefully, the more we learn, the more changes we will personally implement in our daily lives. We never claimed to be better at this than anyone else, and we certainly don't feel that way. We simply want to do more.

We all can't take on every issue, either. We are blessed to have many great activists in this community who care about the planet, but some may not have time to learn all there is to learn about environmental change because their personal cause may be protecting victims of domestic violence, improving our schools, or caring for our elderly. I hope we can find ways to make change easy for them so they can stay focused on their other good works. By the nature of Joe's job, he needs to be a generalist in all these areas and more, and relies on the experts and the activists to inform him and to work with him to create a better community. We hope you'll be one of those people.

We love Joe's sons, Nathan and Zachary, and we want to do all we can to encourage and support them, and all the children in our community, in the good works in which they choose to participate. Nathan wants to work to calculate our carbon footprints - including those for Joe's offices - and then work with us to find ways to lessen our impact. Since it appears this is an area where you have expertise and strong opinions, maybe you would like to help him with that process, rather than shooting this down. To clarify, neither he, nor I have been placed "in charge" of anything, he's just trying to get some people interested and engaged, as am I. If Nathan's participation in this effort brings more young people to the table, we think that's great. If you know of other young people who may wish to take a leadership role in this effort, please send them our way. We know they will put us all to shame with their enthusiasm, hard work and commitment to social change.

Joe and I are blessed to have many friends who are giants in the environmental community. We are excited to be able to bring some of them together and to help put their expertise to work in our neighborhood. Maybe we'll achieve great things; maybe we'll just make some small, but positive changes. We hope for the former.

Like it or not, there is some power that the Alderman's office can exert that can help create greater change than an individual may be able to accomplish alone. That's where we want to focus this effort. Joe and I want to encourage and support people who have good ideas for our community and who want to personally work to put them into action, rather than just complaining about what isn't getting done. I hope by serving as the liaison for this group to Joe's office and to some of these experts, I can make a small, but positive contribution. That's all.

As a specific example of how I believe my volunteerism can help, one person suggested to me recently that she thought it would be great if she could get her landlord to replace the light bulbs in all the apartments in her building with energy efficient bulbs. She suggested that to spread out this cost, perhaps he would be willing to do it every time a unit turned over. That's a terrific idea. But her landlord may not take her suggestion. And what about the building next door? I think we can take this great idea and really run with it. By working with the 49th Ward Service Office, this same individual, if she chooses to volunteer her time, could help us contact scores of multi-unit property owners in the ward - by phone and with a letter from the Alderman - and in a matter of months we might get thousands of bulbs changed rather than the dozen or so she was envisioning. I don't need to be an expert to help her draft a letter, get lists of property owners to call or ask for donations of light bulbs. I think this is a way a non-expert like me can help change my world.

We are working to coordinate some schedules, and are anxious to get to work in the coming weeks. We genuinely hope you will join us if you have a project you want to work on locally and think our involvement can help.

Sincerely,

Barb

P.S. Note to Craig: Thank you for volunteering. I agree. I think George Sullivan would be a great person to have involved in this effort. I will reach out to him to see if he has an interest. Debra Shore has already offered to help.

proGun said...

Clearly marked bike lanes in a around Rogers Park would be a great place to start. Currently drivers have very little regard for alternative means of transportation. Effective leaders often have to promote ideas that help bring constituents out of there comfort zone to embrace progressive policies.
This would go along way in helping to reduce our carbon footprint.

Craig Gernhardt said...

I suggest Paradise make a blog entry of her own if she further wants to discuss her issues.

I, for one, am stuck with Joe for now - and if the only way some of the issues that concern me get addressed is going through a surrogate like Barb, that's fine by me.

Like I said, Barb's never lied to me... yet.

As for Nathan getting involved, that too, I'm all game to see. I enjoy volunteering with the younger generation. Heck, I'm a big kid at heart if you haven't noticed. Our commercial urban landscape sucks right now. If Barb and Nathan can lend a hand to change this nasty look, I'll add my hands and help them out.

ChitownRog said...

See North Coast..

Barb/Joe needs your help. You could be instrumental in an effort to get incandescent light bulbs banned in the city.

Now THAT sounds like a Joe Moore initiative.

After all.. He's only looking out for what's in society's best interest.

Of course, I'm exaggerating. But am I?

Nathan Moore said...

Im on it Craig. Maybe you could help me plant them during the Spring Clean-Up coming in May.

Toni said...

It's interesting that no one wants to start with the Park Council's seed grant and do some work!

I have my back garden and the front. My neighbor wants some help starting one too. It would be hopeful to see people using the sidewalks instead of the cut across the flowerbed routine. It would be even better to see car doors and the riders being a little considerate of peoples work.

Safety walks are still out there waiting to happen.....

Anonymous said...

Nathan-

As long as you're on it see if you can get Redbud trees or something else small and native that won't make a huge mess on the street like Locusts do and that just have to be cleaned up later. You can probably get 3-4 year old redbuds for $10 each wholesale or less. Let me know if you need help. I'm in on this too, however it works out it will be entertaining and I'll have my camera...

Dr O said...

I have a suggestion that, as an alderman, Joe can work on. I work in Portage Park and live here. There is no "good" mass-trans to get from here to there and back (Red + the 80 takes an hour or more). I would like to ride my bike, but good E-W bike lanes end at Kedzie and Devon, and with the exception of the bike path, there aren't any good N-S bike lanes. Riding in traffic is always a hazard (almost been killed several times on my Harley by some idiot talking on their cell while driving). Being from Vermont I know that a good system of bike trails and lanes promotes cyclo-commuting. So...how about Joe work in the Council to develop a better system of paths and lanes for bikes (better meaning several N-S and E-W paths or lanes so a commuter can get anywhere in the city with a minimum of time spent in the general traffic lanes, like must happen going from Evanston to Loyola heading south)?
With analysts projecting $4 gas by the summer, you may get a lot of people willing to give up the car (at least in good weather)

RogersParkBooster said...

Well, we'll see how much BS this is - I hear the theater project on Morse is a certified green project and it is being developed by a Gordon supporter - we'll see how "environmental" old Joe is if he tries to get in the way of the project or withholds his support .... I hear Craig doesn't like that project either .... go figure .....

RPB

Fargo said...

Consolidating car trips is one place where individuals can make a big difference in traffic congestion, air pollution, gas consumption, etc. The fact that most people just jump in their cars and drive many extra miles without thinking about the consequences is a major reason why we're in the current environmental mess and war for oil.

Shopping in the neighborhood, shopping by bike, or combining several stops are all excellent ways to reduce congestion and pollution.

I have done a lot of volunteer work with the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation (CBF) over the last several years. (www.biketraffic.org) They are the folks who work with Chicago area municipalities to develop bike lanes and routes. Unfortunately, most Rogers Park streets are too narrow for dedicated bike lanes. However, bike route signage and "sharrows" (shared lane arrows) could be added on some streets that are heavily used by bikes.

If you see a place that really needs a bike rack, you can request one from the city.

The link for requesting racks is on this page (http://www.chicagobikes.org/) along with a lot of other useful info.

If you visit a store that has a bike rack that is placed to close to the building for more than 1 or 2 bikes to be securely locked to it, bug the manager about it. Say that you'd like to shop there by bike but that the rack needs to be moved further from the wall to be effectively used. (Dominick's and Clark-Devon Hardware are two places that come to mind.) If the store manager is at all receptive but wants advice on proper placement, the CBF folks are happy to help. Give their contact info to the store manager.

Here's another bike info page:
http://www.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/bikemap/infopage.html

You can use links on this page to get info about city bike routes, ways to ride safer and avoid accidents, prevent bike theft, take your bike on the CTA or Metra, request a city bike map (also available at many local bike shops), etc.

I haven't yet seen the proposal for bike lanes and routes to be added this year, so I don't know if any new ones are in the works for Rogers Park. A few years ago I went to a meeting concerning a bike plan for Evanston (developed by CBF to link up with Chicago's plan and routes). Over the next several years, as water mains are replaced and major streets are repaved, look for a bunch of new bike lanes and routes in Evanston, including Dodge and many downtown streets.

One more bike and one less car can equal a lot less pollution. A lot more bikes and a lot fewer cars can equal less congestion and road rage, too.

Jarvis_smells_like_piss said...

Free advice for Ald Moore and his staff: It's not very professional to get too deeply involved in an online arguement with a blog. The more you get caught up in it, the more you have to lose.

Craig Gernhardt said...

JSLM said....> "Free advice for Ald Moore and his staff: It's not very professional to get too deeply involved in an online arguement with a blog. The more you get caught up in it, the more you have to lose."

Or you could look at it the other way around. Ever think Barb and Nathan could garner public support for standing up to the so-called 'bad guy'?

And, from here on out, these discussions are called debates, not arguments. We've got too many of those going on, we don't need anymore.

Anonymous said...

Barbara said "I encourage you to consider how your judgmental attitude may actually discourage others from getting involved and making the sort of changes it seems you want to see them make."

On the contrary, I think NorthCoast is giving a suggestion to the alderman and encouraging others to make the alderman accountable for his consumption and eco-habits. I hardly doubt that she's going to affect the attendance of this event. People make up their own minds if it fits their agenda.

Anonymous said...

Hi folks,
I hate to break it to you but Laura is right!!! Not to condemn the greening of the community, but if we do not take the peak oil situation very seriously, right now; we will face a depression we cannot even imagine.

If Joe wants to posture on an issue that will truly effect his constituency, this is the one. Our demand is greater than supply. Supply takes millions of years to create. You do the math.

If you think a couple of car trips doesn't make a difference, think again!!! Gas is still cheaper than water, yet it can't be recycled. When Peak Oil hits, and most analysts say we are already there, it will change the business and personal climate in a more devasting manner than the last depression. What will your business do without oil and power? How will you get to your job?

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