Written by Walter Pierce
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| Eugene opted out. |
Lafayette residents who fear that “smart meters” will sap their vitality, scramble their brains or otherwise render them incapable of living rich, fulfilling, private lives will have to pay a smidgen over $12 per month to keep one foot in the 20th century.
Lafayette Utility Systems is recommending that customers who opt out of the program pay $12.20 per month for the luxury of having a human manually read their water and electric meters. LUS began converting to so-called smart meters — meters that transmit utility-usage data remotely and consequently don’t require monthly visits from meter readers — in an effort to spy on, sorry, an effort to promote efficiency. Proponents say the new meters will also detect abnormalities in usage that can signal leaking water pipes or dangerous electrical situations, helping customers reduce their utility bills and not die. The meters are being installed through a Smart Grid Investment Grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Smart meters came under attack from the Tin Foil Brigade as soon as they were announced, and in February the City-Parish Council approved an ordinance letting customers opt out of having the meters installed at their homes and businesses. According to an LUS memorandum sent to council members earlier this month, about 430 LUS customers opted out. That’s fewer than one percent of LUS customers. So there’s that.
The council on Tuesday will vote on an introductory ordinance that sets the opt-out fee at $12.20 per month beginning with the start of the fiscal year on Nov. 1. The ordinance also stipulates that the monthly opt-out fee is more or less an estimate of what it will cost the public utility to keep meter readers on the payroll and that the fee can be adjusted after LUS gets a true cost history of the opt-out program.
The annual cost to opt out of the smart meter program comes to $146.40, which is just enough the cover the price of Team Leader’s Floor Warden Emergency Unit survival kit. Something to think about, what with the Zombie Apocalypse and all.
At $129.95, the kit includes:
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| The Team Leader® Floor Warden Emergency Unit survival kit features the write stuff: a golf pencil, a grease pencil and chalk! |
* Extra Large Backpack
* 21 oz Water Bottle
* Knee Pads - XL
* Chemical Goggles Vented Anti Fog
* Red “Danger” Caution Tape 3”x 300”
* Barricade Tape 300” (Caution)
* Flashlight - uses “D” size batteries
* Alkaline D size Batteries (Pair)
* Hard hat - White
* 14 N 1 Pocket Tool
* Brass Whistle w/ Lanyard
* Utility knife
* Flat fold n95 dust mask - single
* Heavy Duty Work Gloves
* Duct Tape 60 Yds x 2”
* Mighty Mega Mite Bull Horn
* “C” Size Batteries (Pair)
* Clipboard
* Golf Pencil
* Single Sheet Protector
* Safety Vest P-HI7 w/ Clear Legend
* 15” Pry Bar
* White Rope-1/4 x 50” Nylon
* Distress Banner (15”x36”) with Poly Bag
* The Sound Horn
* AM/FM Radio w/ Battery & Light
* Adult Poncho
* Mayday Large Solar Blanket 84” x 52”
* Light Stick - 12 Hour Green
* Light Stick (Yellow) 30 Min High Intensity
* Lumber Crayon
* Grease Pencil
* Chalk
* 10” Adjustable Wrench
First Aid Kit Contains:
* Blood Stopper Trauma Dressing
* 2 - 1”x10 Yds Surgical Tape
* 4 - Single Pair of Nitrile Gloves
* 2 - Ice Pak (Small) 5”x6”
* 5x9 Combine Dressing Surgical
* Hydrogen Peroxide 2oz Bottle
* 4 - 3 x 3 Sterile Gauze Pads
* 3 - 4 x 4 Sterile Gauze Pads
* 64 Page First Aid Guide
* CPR Mouthpiece - Pro Valve
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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