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Act Now For Public Power! Tell Mayor Driscoll to Fund the Feasibility Study
The
Central New York Public Power Coalition is ramping up its campaign to
get funding in this year's city budget for a study to examine the
impact of public power and develop an effective strategy for
implementation.
Attached is a letter to the Mayor asking him to include $150,000 in the city budget to fund this study. With the release of the budget by the Mayor in less than two weeks, it is urgent that you make your voice heard. Many Common Councilors are with us and they will bring this up in the budget discussion. We need to make sure the Mayor listens to them. Please print, sign, and send this letter within the next three days to the address below. We also ask that you reply to this e-mail when you have sent the letter. This is our best chance to make Public Power happen this year, so keep them coming! Action Letter: Highlight the letter in the box and copy and paste it into your email program or word processing program to send it to your legislators today. The contacts that need to receive this letter and their contact information is located under the letter.
Dear Mayor Driscoll, I love Syracuse and I want to see this city prosper. That is why I am contacting you today to urge you in the strongest terms to support a fully funded Public Power feasibility study in the 2007-2008 Syracuse City Budget. The study would consider the costs and benefits of creating a public utility company in the city of Syracuse and would cost $150,000. Preliminary estimates show the city of Syracuse could save about $40 million annually by creating its own electricity locally; this is only one of the benefits a public utility could bring. The proposal to create a 10 megawatt plant to lower energy costs at city and school district facilities is not an adequate solution to the serious energy issues affecting the entire city. We need to conduct a study that will help us develop a new energy plan for all of us. An innovative city-wide plan could attract new businesses to Syracuse, creating more jobs for the citizens and more revenue for city government. The construction and operation of new power plants would also create more high paying jobs in our area. A publicly owned utility company means the money citizens pay for their electricity stays in Syracuse. Money could be reinvested into weatherization, energy efficiency programs, and the development of renewable power generation facilities that would lower costs even more and make Syracuse the first city in the nation to get all or most of its power from green sources. What an incentive for socially responsible companies to move their operations here! With Public Power, citizens could have their voices heard by their power company because it would be local and not-for-profit. We as a city could decide to end winter shut offs and develop a customer service system that responds quickly to peoples’ needs. What Syracuse needs now is a visionary leader who is willing to put forth the effort and funding to find out if it is feasible to make Public Power a reality. Members of the Common Council have already committed to include feasibility study funding in the new budget, and now we need you to hear our voices and support this study. Will you work with me to see this through? |