Mar 02 2009
What’s Wrong with Green Energy and Good Jobs for LA? A Debate on Measure B
Alongside voting for members of the city council, mayor and controller, Los Angelinos will be asked tomorrow to vote on 5 ballot measures, the most prominent one among them, Measure B, the Green Energy and Good Jobs for LA Program which aims to make Los Angeles the national capital of solar power. If passed, the measure would authorize the Department of Water and Power to install 400 megawatts worth of solar panels onto the rooftops of city owned buildings by the year 2014. To do this, local businesses will get preferential treatment, and it is hoped, create hundreds of local jobs. The effort to qualify the measure for the ballot was led by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents the majority of LADWP workers. But despite the measure’s goal of green jobs, in line with President Obama’s stated goal, opposition to Measure B is strong. The LA Times editorial pages came out against the measure, and a large number of neighborhood councils have also opposed it. To disentangle this controversy which is being covered in the national media, we present a debate today.
GUESTS: Ron Kaye, former editor of the Daily News, founder of the Saving L.A. Project; Jonathan Parfrey is a commissioner on the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, Director of the GREEN LA Coalition, Vice President of the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters
For more information, visit:
Yes on B websites: www.greenenergygoodjobsla.com, www.ladwp.com.
No on B website: www.nopropb.com and www.ronkayela.com.
3 Responses to “What’s Wrong with Green Energy and Good Jobs for LA? A Debate on Measure B”
Solar Integrated was mentioned on this show as one of the supporters of this measure. They’re actually located right next to the land of the South Central Farmers, and before the farm was defoliated, Solar Integrated had offered to provide the farm with free solar panels.
I learned this while interviewing SC Farm organizer Rufina Juarez for this article:
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2007/06/200812.php
(There is also a picture of Solar Integrated in this coverage.)
BTW, if City Council–the real gang menace in L.A.–is against this measure, there must be something good about it. — “Carless”
I must have misunderstood one of the speakers on today’s show. I gather City Council has in fact SUPPORTED this bill, which Villaraigosa also supports. If these crooks are for it, I must seriously rethink it.
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