THE LOCAL AREA WATCH

BLOWING THE GREEN ON GREEN

To follow up on comments from readers B. Post and J.W.W. ...

Big Sister, a.k.a. Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell, is pleased as punch with himself.  For two years he has been stumping for the city government to participate in Consumers Energy's "Green Generation" program after personally committing to it for his personal residence.  On Tuesday evening the City Commission finally gave Heartwell the thumb's up at their biweekly meeting.  So now he has the authority to negotiate a "Green Generation" agreement with Consumers Energy to supply "green" electricity to the city's water and sewer facilities.

Well, what exactly is "green" electricity?  According to Consumers Energy, it's electricity generated by renewable energy sources based in Michigan.  That means local wind power and biomass -- i.e., bird-killing windmills and gas-belching compost heaps.  Oddly, it doesn't include efficient, clean, and readily renewable hydroelectric power, but then since when did "green" mean good sense?  Even so, at the end of the day, what's the big deal with the city government using electricity from politically correct power sources?

A couple of things.  First city taxpayers have to pay a premium for "green" electricity from Consumers Energy.  The extra tab for the next year will be over $166,0000.  With his typical mendacity, Heartwell claims that the taxpayers won't have to pay this bill, but of course they do.  The snake oil Heartwell is selling is that the "green" premium will be covered by savings from other conservation measures implemented by the water-and-sewer department.  Heaven forbid that the taxpayers should get a reduction in the sky-high rates they pay for city water instead.  No, the savings must be blown on one of Big Sister's pet projects.

Second, the city government is already using "green" electricity, just like all customers of Consumers Energy.  Participating in the "Green Generation" program doesn't mean that Consumers will be stringing special electrical transmission lines from a compost heap in Farmer Jones's back forty to the water-and-sewer department.  All of these renewable sources of electricity are plugged into the existing power distribution network.  Whatever the source -- green, mean, or anything in-between -- it all gets dumped into the same system and comes out as plain vanilla electricity.

So, dear readers, what it comes down to is that Big Sister is going to spend an extra $166,000 of your hard-earned dollars to get the EXACT same electricity that the city water-and-sewer department is already getting.  To be fair to Consumers Energy, it doesn't make the claim that paying a premium for your electricity gets you "green" electricity.  What that premium does is subsidize Consumers' capital expenditures for development of additional renewable energy facilities.  Of course, there is no guarantee by Consumers that much will come from this development other than the ultimate capacity of renewable sources to replace conventional ones is severely limited.

Just don't expect Big Sister to 'fess up to any of this as he makes yet another grab for your tax dollars to spend on his personal political agenda.

TAXPAYERS STUCK WITH THE TAB FOR DEVOS PLACE

Kent County is going to stick residents with the bill in 2008 for bond payments on the DeVos Place convention center in downtown Grand Rapids.  The county government issued two rounds of bonds totaling $93 million for the convention center with the promise that the payments would be covered by the county-wide hotel-motel tax.  That promise was made by touting a long-term trend of 7% in the annual growth in revenue collected by that tax.  But that was a bit disingenuous because, by the time the bonds were issued in 2001 and 2003, that growth had stopped and revenues were in decline.

Now the hotel-motel tax can't cover the convention center bill.  So instead of out-of-towners, presumably flocking here to go to events at DeVos Place, we locals get to pay for the bricks and mortar that promoters get to use to turn a profit.  So remind me.  Why was this convention center such a good deal for us working and living in River City?  I see why promotors like it.  They get to pay a discounted rental rate for DeVos Place.  The taxpayers, whether hotel guests or local residents, are subsidizing their events by paying for the place hosting them.  When do we get our cut of the action?

THE LEOPARD AND HIS SPOTS, PART TWO

Yesterday on Thanksgiving, the Grand Rapids Press published a letter from Dan Tietema, local businessman, former candidate for the Grand Rapids City Commission, and occasional contributor to L.A.W.  In a few paragraphs Dan did an excellent job of exposing Mayor George Heartwell for the political chameleon he is.  He will tell you whatever you need to hear to get elected, but once in office the leopard doesn't change his spots, however well he covers them during the campaign -- as we noted recently here.

Here is what Dan had to say:

In just a few short weeks after winning re-election, Mayor George Heartwell has strategically shifted his well-publicized, bipartisan, and pro-business approach to local government back to the partisan progressive liberal that he is accustomed to.

Already, he had advised fellow commissioners to draft a resolution to end the war in Iraq, urged state representatives to create new revenues, and called Eric Larson, head of the anti-tax group Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility, recall efforts "deplorable" and "self-serving".  The group opposes legislators who supported the newly added taxes placed on small business in a down economy.  Our mayor has also been supporting embryonic stem-cell research in Michigan.

The issues that need attention are plentiful and the mayor should stop wasting city resources promoting his personal agenda and spend more time addressing the areas that can improve the quality of life in our community.  Repairing damaged roads, fixing a broken budget, and restoring the necessary services is what an elected non-partisan mayor should be focused on when representing the fine citizens of Grand Rapids.

We deserve more than just campaign promises.  I urge those who endorsed the mayor's candidacy, including various religious leaders, prominent businessmen and women, and the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, to take a stand now and demand that the mayor redirect his priorities and begin concentrating on the interests that are specific to Grand Rapids.

Dan's got Big Sister's number.  Hizzoner indulges himself by using the mayoral office as a vanity vehicle for leftist posturing on national issues marginal or even irrelevant to the business of keeping River City a decent place to live and work in.  Thumb's up, Dan!

G.R. PLANNING COMMISSIONERS TURN TYRANT

At last Thursday's Grand Rapids Planning Commission meeting, Commissioner Shaula Johnston led the charge against the outlaws of Aquinas College who (shudder) wanted to build a new dormitory partly clad in vinyl siding.  According to the G.R. Press, Johnston found vinyl to be "offensive".  She declared that a building with it "doesn't look like an Aquinas dorm".  She wanted the entire exterior to be brick instead of partly so.  Then she chided Aquinas College for being "overly concerned" with construction costs.

Those bastards at Aquinas College!  Who do they think they are?  The law must be obeyed, and the law doesn't let property owners choose what materials they will build with.  You don't have that right.  That's the prerogative of Planning Commissioner Johnston and her colleagues.

Oh wait.  Actually, outside of a few special districts, the law doesn't say that.  The law doesn't care if Johnston thinks vinyl is offensive because it doesn't fit the look of other dormitories on the Aquinas campus.  (As though the drab mid-century architecture of those buildings is something to celebrate.)  It's not her call.  What is offensive is a petty bureaucrat like Johnston taking a petitioner to task over a concern for cost when she is not writing the check for the baubles she wants added to a project.

Even more offensive is that three other planning commissioners overstepped their authority to join Johnston in ordering Aquinas to use brick instead of vinyl regardless of the expense.  So remember, you may have title to your property, and you certainly have to pay the taxes on it, but with power-grabbing bureaucrats like Johnston and her ilk, don't think you actually own it.  Also remember, this is why city elections like last Tuesday's matter.  Who do you think appoints these tin pot dictators to the Planning Commission?

BIG SISTER AND LITTLE SISTER IN CROSSTOWN SCRAMBLE ON ELECTION NIGHT

If anyone had a doubt who Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell and his acolyte City Commissioner Rosalynn Bliss were backing in the Second Ward race, they let the cat out of the bag on election night last Tuesday.  Big Sister and Little Sister were partying with fellow PWAista Ruth Kelly at her campaign gala at Toxic Towers when the bad news began trickling in.  Kelly's opponent, David LaGrand, was drubbing her at the polls.  In fact, LaGrand ended up winning 60% of the vote.  By the middle of the evening, the Sisters got a clue and hustled over to LaGrand's house to congratulate him on his victory.

Perhaps Heartwell and Bliss don't get it and so found themselves in the wrong place on election night, but I think abortion politics (or more comprehensively, the culture of death issues) are playing a bigger role in municipal elections.  Maybe not directly in that a pro-choice candidate for city office can no longer expect any support from pro-life voters.  Rather, voters are losing their patience with the deceptions of closet pro-choicers, especially after the publicity surrounding Heartwell's ill-received direct mailing to Catholic voters during the mayoral race.

It may well be that Kelly's coyness about her stand on abortion, hinting that she may have picked up the Right to Life endorsement if she has chosen to pursue it after having gotten the nod from the pro-abortion Progressive Women's Alliance, was too much for many Second Ward voters to swallow.  She probably would have done better with an honest declaration of her positions on abortion and other life issues.  That lack of candor, whatever one thinks of the relevance of abortion in a city commission race, certainly cost Kelly votes in a low turn-out election.  If so, this was a watershed year in city politics.

LAGRAND WINS SECOND WARD SEAT

Businessman David LaGrand won yesterday's run-off election for the Grand Rapids City Commission's seat in the Second Ward.  He decisively defeated school teacher Ruth Kelly with 4,049 votes against 2,739 votes for her.  LaGrand will replace Rick Tormala who chose to run for mayor this year instead of re-election to the City Commission.  He will take his seat in January.