Today, we got two big endorsements for our Carbon Reduction Surcharge
plan to create 18,000 green jobs and turn the DWP into the greenest
utility in the country.
Vice President Al Gore wrote on his website:
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles has introduced one
of the most forward-thinking clean energy plans I have ever seen. He’s
calling it a Carbon Reduction Surcharge. It allocates a portion of the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s rate collection into a trust
fund to create a renewable energy and efficiency trust fund to invest
in clean, green energy and job creation.
And the Vice President isn’t the only one coming out for
our innovative plan. Today, the Sierra Club also stood behind our
aggressive agenda for escalating our renewable energy goals and spurring
job creation in the City. 
In a must read blog post on the Huffington Post, Jim
Corcoran of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign writes:
It makes neither long-term nor short-term economic sense for
Los Angeles to continue exporting our money to out of state coal
corporations when we can instead invest in energy efficiency and
renewable energy technologies that will put thousands of Angelenos to
work.[The Carbon Reduction Surcharge] would shine much-needed sunlight on the
DWP planning process, create thousands of local jobs and generate the
funds for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that will
harness the power of sunlight to wean our City off dirty and dangerous
coal-fired power.
We’re grateful to Vice President Gore and
the Sierra Club for their support in our efforts to turn Los Angeles
into a capital of the new, green economy.
To read more about the Carbon Reduction Surcharge, read this fact sheet.
Thank you,
Mayor Villaraigosa
There seems to be a discrepancy here. If the money is necessary to keep the city from going into bankruptcy, then it’s probably not going into a new green power construction campaign. If the money is actually going into a green power construction project, then it’s hard to see how it can also be used to shore up the general fund.
By the way, if it turns out that AV snookered Gore into believing that there is truth to the green power claim, and if it turns out that it’s all just a subterfuge to take money from the public to cover the city’s general fund losses, then AV is toast politically for ever more. You don’t get away with lying to somebody of Al Gore’s political stature and expect to escape the consequences.
WOW
The audacity of the little ex street punk from Boyle Heights.
“Up” to a certain extent, one cannot blame the Mayor…it’s the economy “stupid”…plus some other factors…now can we blame the Mayor for his slow response…you bet…the logical move would be to declare bankruptcy…but like all the politicians over the last 30 plus years…they have been skirting the political-economic issues that continue to plague our so called free market system. We continue to live for today…never for tomorrow…what is the trick?…The bunny rabbit in the Top Hat skipped town…Unfortunately, the politicians continue to play the shell game and then pat themselves on the back for delaying the pain…Mayor V. accepted the challenge…so did the unions when they helped AV get elected… so share the responsibility and make the necessary changes…stop pointing fingers and making excuses…so don’t blame the Mayor for this economic crisis…blame all of us adults who have participated in a system that is predicated on exploitation….solving this equation is going to take the business community as well…no one is left off the Hook….
Geez,
One can here the cheers from David Nahai, Keith Brackpool, Michael Trujillo, Ari Swiller and the assorted aging “Sierra Sludge” members, as they push this fraud onwards.
BTW, Jim Corcoran is the “Boss D’Arcy” of the Sierra Club California.
Scott Johnson in CD 14
If Al Gore has seen the plan maybe he can share it with the rest of us.
Now that the Council called Antonio`s bluff, what`s next? Bankruptcy?
Now that the Council called Antonio`s bluff, what`s next? Bankruptcy?
“It allocates a portion of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s rate collection into a trust fund to create a renewable energy and efficiency trust fund to invest in clean, green energy and job creation.”
Is this like that Social Security lockbox? It’s soooooo nice of Algore to be proud of Villar & his stupid green energy at OUR expense. This is US paying the higher rates. If Algore is so convinced about this green energy, how about he puts some millions of his own? Nah, these types (Algore, Villar, clowncil, your congressperson) only like to collect YOUR money. They hoard & protect theirs.
Another stinging defeat in a string of defeats rendered to Antonio by the Council. It has been for a couple of months now, the beginning of the end for this Administration. And the Council has just started. It can only go downhill from here. It is so pathetic, that the Mayor has lost all moral authority, influence, effectiveness and bully pulpit. Antonio is cooked, just stick in the fork.
LA Times; “a whiff of deception”. They get it sometimes, don`t they?
Bankruptcy is not the answer – it’s the continually growing spending – it just never slows down, let alone stops. 75% of the City Council agenda items are spending for stuff we don’t truly need in order to survive and for stuff we don’t want.
Why did we need to send a half million dollars to a book fair in Mexico? How many jobs did that cost us or how many potholes would that have filled?
Why do we need to hire more consultants – we have plenty of them already among the City employees.
Why hasn’t more aggressive action been taken to collect all those funds owed the City by the gang of parking lot operators – over 100 MILLION dollars – there should be an LAPD officer standing at the door of each the first thing tomorrow morning demanding payment.
What’s happened to the collection from AEG for police overtime for the Michael Jackson fiasco?
And who pays for all the expense of the LA Marathon – I trust every runner kicked in at least $20 each to defray the expense to us taxpayers.
We’ve got to stop the spending – it’s gone up by a huge percentage in the last 5 years, otherwise how could a shortfall of only 4% in revenue put the City in such jeopardy.
In the CAO’s latest notice of progress on terminations/transfers to proprietary departments, why don’t we see any names of employees in the Mayor’s Office or the City Council support staff – why are they not subject to the same staff cuts as all other departments?
Thank God for term limits – and regarding those running for re-election – NO NO NO NO NO NEVER AGAIN.
I guess we should be thankful for good news. So when do we hear any?
Antonio is headed for a meltdown when he finally confronts reality.
Are all these Angelenos really going to get these green jobs from private industry? Or is this going to be government jobs which are not really jobs but synthesized activities that are paid for by tax dollars? Isn’t that part of the reason for the financial woes of the state and city governments?
When you have Tony bringing up “green” and DWP in the same story, it’s usually about the color of the money headed for the union for a job well done, and the job is to get Tony to look good at all costs. And the “costs” is where we come in as the “rate payers” who are treated by Tony as a sort of mythical population that abounds with money to pay for a continuous flow of concocted charges.
That condition will only end with some major overhaul of the corrupt “arrangement” that leaves everybody well-off except for the people that the city is supposed to be “serving.”
All these public service jobs seem more like a self-service financial buffet for the players who have now turned on the people that pay the freight in true vampire-like fashion because that’s what they are.
We need some sunlignt to shine on them, figuratively speaking, and then we might get some things set right- an entirely novel notion for Tony and the accomplices at DWP to consider. And let’s include the City Council members here for their roles as prime enablers, too.
Before Global Warming and Climate Change issues, Al Gore “wrote” a book titled “Reinventing Government.”
Before moving forward, the City must get its financial foundation in order.
And the City must also be operated in an open and transparent manner.
Today, the Mayor’s office has truly earned its reputation for double-talk with the statement that the City will go bankrupt if DWP rate hikes aren’t approved. This implies that the DWP transfer has nothing to do with “Green Power” and everything to do with using ratepayer money for taxes and balancing the budget.
Who cares what Gore thinks? He doesn’t live in LA or even California and is clueless about the situation here. He is poised to make millions from any “so-called” green labeled project. I also used to be a member of the Sierra Club until they became too politicized supporting the same lousy unions and candidates that prop up Divaraigosa. They all put on a mantle of “green-ness” for a show or to grab more money from taxpayers. Unfortunately, the money is the only real green they care about.
Al Gore shuold feel like an idiot for not doing his homework and reading all the negative publicity on this issue. The fact that all 15 city council members voted to take over jurisdiction of the DWP bullshit says it all. Everyone should call Al Gore’s office and leave a comment to say stay out of Los Angeles politics because you dont’ know what the hell is going on. 615-327-2227
It’s soooooo nice of Algore to be proud of Villar & his stupid green energy at OUR expense. This is US paying the higher rates. If Algore is so convinced about this green energy, how about he puts some millions of his own?
You fail to realize what’s fueling the green energy push is the State RPS. If not enough green energy is incorporated into the city portfolio, the State penalizes the city with fines, which means automatic rate increases. The job of the council and DWP is to figure out the cheapest way to put green energy into the portfolio so the quota is met and no fines are paid.
And who pays for all the expense of the LA Marathon – I trust every runner kicked in at least $20 each to defray the expense to us taxpayers.
It cost $135 to run the marathon
the logical move would be to declare bankruptcy
There’s nothing logical about bankruptcy – it’s a worst case scenario. The only good that comes of it is all contracts are nullified, but then the credit rating of the city is crippled for a long time, which means the city is financially crippled for a long time even worse than it is now.
the billioner al gore likes the mayor two of a kind crooks and liars , next thing we now the mayor and big al gore get in his private jet and ride to hell thinking green jobs.
al gore you are ignorant and a idiot and a crook just like when you did runn for pesident no wonder bush won the election.
al gore nows there is lost of money to be made in los angeles having all this crooks in city hall and the unions from ladwp ibew and a crook union mafioso brian d’arcy .
so now is not about green electrcity is about keeping los angeles not goin into bankruptcy and to do so the crook mayor blackmail us the taxpayes and voters.
hell mayor let los angeles go into bankruptcy we get rid of the unions contracts and stop spending like drunk saliors , he star to sound like a good idea .
what i see the voters have begian to wake up and see what all this crooks in city hall are sceming agains us.
we nust stop them, what city concil are duing is just a show they are goin try to pass this rate increse scam.
they all crooks and liars dont belive what they saying dont drop youre gard.
The DWP has plenty of money to fund the transition to Green Power WITHOUT a rate increase — it just needs to stop siphoning hundreds of millions over to the general fund as a means of hiding the city’s structural deficit. The solution is simple: Stop hijacking DWP profits to fund other departments, pay for the Green Power program out of the department’s own money ($386M in profits) and then BALANCE THE DAMN BUDGET without the transfers. Will it be painful to force-wean the city off the DWP teat? Yes. But it’s time to do so.
Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura – “Global Warming”
“Now, global warming,” the narrator introduces this third episode of truTV’s Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura. “The most serious threat to our planet—or a plot to cheat, extort and control you and everyone else. Jesse Ventura and his conspiracy investigators FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL around the world and back, out to expose the greedy power brokers who pull the strings and rake in billions. THE ONLY GREEN HERE IS COLD HARD CASH. THE MOST FRIGHTENING INCONVENIENT CONSPIRACY YET: THE GLOBAL WARMING SCAM.”
SKIP
Interviewed next is Amit Chatterjee, CEO of Hara Software. His name is not on Jesse’s secret list, but rather was dug up by the Governor’s researcher Holly, who characterizes Hara Software as “basically poised to be the Microsoft of carbon emissions.” As the unsuspecting executive is questioned on camera at his Silicon Valley headquarters, Jesse Ventura eavesdrops from the next room. Soon the talk turns to Al Gore.
AMIT: We don’t have any direct relationship with Al Gore.
JESSE (still lurking outside): No direct relationship with Al Gore? Let him tell that to me!
At this point Jesse barges into the room to ambush the hapless CEO, who—after visibly gulping—declines to comment on Al Gore’s prospects for making billions off the global warming scam. “All I can defend is what my company does,” says Chatterjee. “I can’t speak for anybody else.”
“The CEO is dodging the questions,” the narrator interjects, “but Jesse Ventura is not about to let him off the hook.”
Badgering the witness, Jesse likens this “war on the environment” to huge Iraq War profiteering. Mr. Chatterjee, however, sticks by his guns and replies that if saving the environment is a war, “I don’t think that’s the purpose.”
“Yeah, maybe they never met at the company picnic,” Jesse grudgingly allows in a voiceover, “but Al Gore owns a piece of his business. Al Gore’s making lots of money on global warming, and that’s the problem. He’s not hiding; he’s upfront about it. He won an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize. But is he out to control the world? I know Al Gore. I don’t think he’s out to do that. There’s got to be someone else behind this. Someone who’s a lot less public. Someone behind the scenes, really pulling the strings.”
Back on the opposite coast, supervising producer Alex Piper descends on Washington, D.C., where he’s tracked down what our narrator calls “the world’s leading and loudest opponent of the global warming movement,” Lord Christopher Monckton. Is this the third scientist on Jesse’s secret list? Lord Monckton’s technical credentials are nil. But not to worry. Alex Piper can lead a witness like a horse to water.
Following those five lordly Yeses and one especially enlightening Um-huh, the offscreen narrator is persuaded that Lord Monckton “takes the conspiracy theory to a whole new level. He says the entire global warming conspiracy can be traced to one man. And he’s not Al Gore.”
He is, the narrator goes on, Canadian businessman Maurice Strong, “a wolf in sheep’s clothing, who pretended to be green so he could get rich and take over the world. You see, Maurice Strong is also a billionaire—an oil billionaire. And he was linked to the United Nations oil-for-food corruption scandal.”
http://blogcritics.org/video/article/tv-review-conspiracy-theory-with-jesse2/
Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura – “Global Warming”
“Now, global warming,” the narrator introduces this third episode of truTV’s Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura. “The most serious threat to our planet—or a plot to cheat, extort and control you and everyone else. Jesse Ventura and his conspiracy investigators FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL around the world and back, out to expose the greedy power brokers who pull the strings and rake in billions. THE ONLY GREEN HERE IS COLD HARD CASH. THE MOST FRIGHTENING INCONVENIENT CONSPIRACY YET: THE GLOBAL WARMING SCAM.”
SKIP
Interviewed next is Amit Chatterjee, CEO of Hara Software. His name is not on Jesse’s secret list, but rather was dug up by the Governor’s researcher Holly, who characterizes Hara Software as “basically poised to be the Microsoft of carbon emissions.” As the unsuspecting executive is questioned on camera at his Silicon Valley headquarters, Jesse Ventura eavesdrops from the next room. Soon the talk turns to Al Gore.
AMIT: We don’t have any direct relationship with Al Gore.
JESSE (still lurking outside): No direct relationship with Al Gore? Let him tell that to me!
At this point Jesse barges into the room to ambush the hapless CEO, who—after visibly gulping—declines to comment on Al Gore’s prospects for making billions off the global warming scam. “All I can defend is what my company does,” says Chatterjee. “I can’t speak for anybody else.”
“The CEO is dodging the questions,” the narrator interjects, “but Jesse Ventura is not about to let him off the hook.”
Badgering the witness, Jesse likens this “war on the environment” to huge Iraq War profiteering. Mr. Chatterjee, however, sticks by his guns and replies that if saving the environment is a war, “I don’t think that’s the purpose.”
“Yeah, maybe they never met at the company picnic,” Jesse grudgingly allows in a voiceover, “but Al Gore owns a piece of his business. Al Gore’s making lots of money on global warming, and that’s the problem. He’s not hiding; he’s upfront about it. He won an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize. But is he out to control the world? I know Al Gore. I don’t think he’s out to do that. There’s got to be someone else behind this. Someone who’s a lot less public. Someone behind the scenes, really pulling the strings.”
Back on the opposite coast, supervising producer Alex Piper descends on Washington, D.C., where he’s tracked down what our narrator calls “the world’s leading and loudest opponent of the global warming movement,” Lord Christopher Monckton. Is this the third scientist on Jesse’s secret list? Lord Monckton’s technical credentials are nil. But not to worry. Alex Piper can lead a witness like a horse to water.
Following those five lordly Yeses and one especially enlightening Um-huh, the offscreen narrator is persuaded that Lord Monckton “takes the conspiracy theory to a whole new level. He says the entire global warming conspiracy can be traced to one man. And he’s not Al Gore.”
He is, the narrator goes on, Canadian businessman Maurice Strong, “a wolf in sheep’s clothing, who pretended to be green so he could get rich and take over the world. You see, Maurice Strong is also a billionaire—an oil billionaire. And he was linked to the United Nations oil-for-food corruption scandal.”
http://blogcritics.org/video/article/tv-review-conspiracy-theory-with-jesse2/
AS much as I appreciate the work of Al Gore, he has embarrassed himself by associating with and supporting the fraud of Antonio Villaraigosa. Antonio has no shame. He will come to regret it when he sees all the “Inconvenient Truth” that Villaraigosa’s administration is lying to the public.