Mark Walsten's 8/13 update on Generator Rebate

If you wish to respond to this or contact Mark email him at mail: mewalsten@hotmail.com

Residents,


There was a engineering committee meeting last night ( I'm not on that committee) to discuss the Mayors proposal to offer a $250 rebate to DP residents when they purchase a generator. $15,000 would be offered for the year.  I did attend the meeting, there was some 6th ward residents in attendance.

I found the program that staff proposed, flawed.
I'm not saying that I support giving tax payers money away for this program, but if I supported it I would make changes.

1. Many resident Like Sue on Birch St. have already bought generators during the 07 outage and before, they should be compensated first.

2. I would not offer $250 for a generator, at $15,000, that only covers 60 people.

3. I would offer a percentage, 50% of the $250 would cover 120 people,  30% would cover 200 people.

4. Should we really be offering any money for generators anyway? When I put my new picture window in, it (the window, I did the labor) cost me around $800. Should I expect the tax payers to pay for $250 of it?

As it turned out, Chairman Bogusz proposed that looking into 'Groupon' is a better alternative, the other committee members and myself agreed. Go to ww.groupon.com_ (http://www.groupon.com/) to see it.

Basically, if enough people sign up to purchase a certain product, they get dramatic discounts. A $400 generator could be $300 or less.

I am interested in seeing where this goes before spending tax payers money on generators.

If you already have a generator, please answer the following questions:

1. How many Watts is it.

2. What do you run on it, IE ejector pump, sump pump, refrigerator, T.V.,
lights. Some of these, all of these?

Thank you and have a great week end!
Mark