City of Fort Collins and CFORSE Joint Effort

Thanks to my friend Fred Kirsch at Community For Sustainable Energy for publicizing a new effort to reduce VMT.

What is a VMT and why do I want to eliminate it?

VMT stands for: Vehicle Miles Traveled

It is a measurement of how many miles you drive. We are calculating VMT on a weekly basis and working to reduce it as part of a city-wide program to raise awareness and understanding of driving habits, as well as to help participants reduce driving.

Reasons to eliminate VMT: High gas prices, traffic, mental well-being, air pollution (VMT are the leading source of toxic air pollution in Fort Collins), less accident risk, and I bet you can think of some others!

Sounds Great – How Do I Cut My VMT?

Fred has a blog post for this. Here is a heavily edited summary plus a way to say goodby to your car without completely going back to horse and buggy days:

Traffic produces smog, congestion and high costs.
Populations grow, infrastructure lags. While researching
the role electric vehicles might play to improve these problems,
I discovered car sharing and decided to propose a program
for the city. I wanted to include electric cars for short trips.
Also, I suspected that lower weight, lower energy,
lower impact vehicles, operating primarily in bike lanes would
be another terrific addition to the car share menu. People can
choose exactly the vehicle and energy use that is perfect for each trip.

We call it “full spectrum vehicle sharing”. It really is just a car share
menu with more choices. High impact choices cost more,
low impact choices cost less. So, got car sharing approved for
CSU, got Fort Collins CarShare operating, and are ramping Fort Collins
“full spectrum” Vehicle Share up to launch the first program of its kind!
Go to our website at Fort Collins Car Share for a quick look, and contact us for more information, or if you want to get involved.
Help us close the circle and make a positive changes in how people move around.
We have a dream that is so exciting, it makes us feel 14 again!
Shane Miller

Shane makes the point that you could take the bus or ride your bike whenever you need to get to your car share. I like the idea of not having to have my own insurance policy if I only drive a few times a year. I have been automobile free for 16 years and it is a little tough when it snows in Fort Collins. My neighbor said that I gave up freedom when I went auto-free. What I gave up was dealing with DMV, parking tickets, bridge tolls, gas, oil, tires, auto maintenance, car insurance, etc. Now there is another alternative in Fort Collins.

This is Freedom

Related: Sourced from AlterNet Do We Have To Live Like Peasants To Be Truly Sustainable?

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teaching how-to to the next generation

Thanks to our friends at BeLocalNC.org we have the following item from their Community News November 2011.

National Center for Craftsmanship is seeking construction, general carpentry, remodel & repair projects for our ReConstruct youth career development training program. If you are considering an addition, tenant finish, or remodel of your home or office, including kitchen, bath, basement, doors, windows, decks, patios, etc., please contact us for a free consultation. We welcome large or small projects and promise quality & integrity in all we do. We are highly experienced craftspeople mentoring youth in all aspects of remodel & new construction projects including design, development & management. We provide licensed & insured services as well as expertise in green building & sustainable practices. We offer state & federal tax incentives for qualifying donors & clients. For more information please contact

Neil Kaufman at 970-215-4587 or email

Related: City Adopts Green Energy Standards

Related: 10 Good Reasons to Shop Local

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We're lookin' at you Fort Collins

Ten good reasons to shop at locally owned businesses:

1. Significantly more money re-circulates in your community when you buy from locally owned, rather than nationally owned, businesses: More money stays in the community because locally owned businesses purchase from other local businesses, service providers, and farms. Purchasing locally helps grow other businesses as well as your community’s tax base.
2. Local businesses provide most new jobs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally, and in most communities provide the most new jobs to residents.
3. One-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of a community’s distinctive character: The unique character of any town or region is what people love about it, and what tourists come to visit. Richard Moe, president of the National Historic Preservation Trust, says, “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.”
4. Local business owners invest in community: People who own local businesses live in the community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future.
5. Customer service is better: Local businesses often hire people with more specific product expertise for better customer service.
6. Competition and diversity lead to more choices: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.
7. Local businesses have less environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases, requiring less transportation, and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss, and pollution.
8. Local businesses’ public benefits far outweigh their public costs: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.
9. Local businesses encourages investment in the community: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest in and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.
10. Local businesses give more support to nonprofits: Nonprofit organizations receive an average 350 percent greater support from local business owners than they do from non-locally owned businesses.

Got this article here. That is OK … they got from somewhere else. Don’t forget, we have resources. I believe that this post goes with comments regarding relocalization.

Photo Credit: Ukiah, CA Community Blog

Note: This article was presiously published here

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Thanks to Brandi. (I love Jimmy Cliff) Found this on Health Care for All Colorado Website

Posted by Gypsy Chief

Audience has many questions

Note: This post has been updated May 4 and May 9, 2011 to expand upon privacy concerns as documented in Colorado University White Paper, results of new polling as reported by Smart Energy Portal and more about the connection between smart grid (e.g. FortZED Renewable Distributed System Initiative) and smart meters. Furthermore, I wish to acknowledge the very real contributions of Michelle Martens and Dolores Williams.

FC Utilities staff were overwhelmed with audience questions, preconceptions, and fears at last night’s Residential Environmental Series session on Smart Meters. The session was at the Drake Center from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Gypsy Chief estimates the audience at around 40. Other sessions in the series consist of self-selected audiences interested in trees, gardening, composting, and such. These topics are non-controversial for the people interested in them. Last night’s session was different.

City Has a Problem

The facts of the case are fairly simple. Utilities already does augmented utility metering on large commercial electric accounts. They have received a grant of $16 million from the US Department of Energy. That grant has a time deadline. Utilities proposes to spend $32 million to replace existing electric and water meters city wide. A contract has been let. The new meters will contain smart cards from China. The meters will be assembled in North Carolina and deployed during 2012 – 2013. Smart meters will displace twelve full time walking meter readers. Managers estimate that salary savings will lead to a simple payback period of ten years. Next question: Why does the city want to deploy smart meters? FC Utilities thought that smart meters would be perceived as a forward looking step much like the decision to underground all utility lines. They seemed totally unprepared for the audience reaction they got.

Varieties of Opposition

Perhaps the first mistake was to turn the microphone over to a failed mayoral candidate who received twelvish percent on April 5. This gentleman filibustered the session with accusations that the payback calculations are flawed, that council acted improperly, that staff are lying to customers, etc. The next gentleman presented the ICLEI conspiracy case. Gypsy Chief’s take on these two is that FC Utilities should simply ignore them and deal with the less irresponsible opposition. These included health concerns around radio frequencies, privacy concerns around time-of-day metering, perceived social engineering and real questions about the future of distributed energy.

A Missed Opportunity

One of the strongest arguments in favor of smart-grid technology (which require smart meters) is that better management may avoid the need to construct more dirty coal generating plants. The comment came from audience member Dolores Williams, a local environmentalist. To be fair, staff made similar comments too but not very forcefully and they were loaded with jargon. A gentleman asked about rooftop solar. The presenter, Cavanah, absolutely blew an opportunity to make the case that smart meters when deployed will make it possible for the customer to sell excess power back to the utility. Another gentleman asked about off-grid solar. FC Utils missed an opportunity in answering this question. On-grid versus off-grid questions should be and can be answered in one sentence. Utilities needs to prepare for questions like these; not get into the weeds because they distract from the main message. The city will deploy smart meters, date and times are set. The city thinks there will be benefits in doing this. They need to practice their communication skills because there is a case to be made.

Final Snarky Comments

Presenters spent way too much time collecting meaningless statistics. The audience sample was not representative of the city as a whole. I would also challenge the notion that the audience represented opinion leaders. So why collect statistics at all? Questions surfaced about an opt-out provision. Seems like Utilities is actually considering this in some form. Well, let’s say the city wanted to build a library. They tell citizens if you are never going to go to the library you don’t have to help pay for it. How many libraries would ever be built? We are either all in this together or we are not. That’s my take. So we get down to health concerns and privacy concerns. Health concerns (radio frequencies) are being addressed. FC Utils had a pretty good answer on this. A doctor is doing a literature search on health effects of radio frequencies.

Privacy concerns when expressed in a responsible way need to be dealt with. I hope that responsible managers will hone their message.

CU White Paper on Privacy

Michelle Martens arrived with links to University of Colorado’s White Paper on Smart Grid Deployment (pdf)
Quoting from that document:

The essential innovation behind the smart grid is information—highly detailed electricity usage data communicated by and between the utility, the consumer, and in many instances, third-party vendors. However, while this information—and the extrapolations that can be made from it—is what enables the smart grid to be “smart,” it is also what makes the smart grid so potentially invasive of individual privacy. Smart grid data is a double-edged sword. The sharper the blade in terms of informational granularity, the more it can be wielded to achieve both societal benefits, such as grid reliability and energy efficiency, and invasions of privacy. As a recent report by NIST puts it: “The major benefit provided by the smart grid, i.e. the ability to get richer data to and from customer meters and other electric devices, is also its Achilles’ heel from a privacy viewpoint.”

Quoting again:

The possibility for gleaning potentially private information from this data is truly staggering, including when a resident showers, watches TV, and how often she prefers microwave dinners to a three-pot meal. The richness and detail of the insights provided by this newly refined and individualized information is matched only by the number of potentially troublesome uses for such data, which range from the targeted and nefarious to the structural and discriminatory. Furthermore, energy use itself has become tied to judgments about an individual’s social responsibility, and so, while data collection booms, intuitions about the private nature of that data may well be shifting to be more protective of its disclosure.

Folks at Smart Grid Live in Fort Collins are aware of the CU White Paper. See Smart Grid Live – Segment Two. Tom Plant from the Governor’s Energy Office referred to the white paper. His presentation starts at around 16 minutes into the presentation and continues until 24 minutes. His final comment was that privacy concerns as expressed in the document are being addressed at the state government level.

Paul Mauldin writing in Smart Energy Portal, reports on recent polls making smart meter deployment a tough sell

Residential energy management is considered a big piece of Smart Grid benefits. But the industry must do a better job of clarifying what those benefits mean to residents. Hand waving explanations and reliance on ratepayer faith in the local utility just won’t work anymore.

He says that there is a widespread mistrust of governments (and corporations) as well as misgivings about loss of privacy. To quote Michelle Martens at the session:

If your lights go on every night at 3 a.m. your car insurance company might get the idea that you have been drinking.

FC Utils demonstrated that they were not ready to answer these concerns at the moment. I believe they need to understand that smart meter rollout is more than an engineering issue. Can Utilities develop their communication skills so they address non-engineering questions as well?

Image Credit: Penton Media now called Smart Energy Portal

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Swiped from their website

To help to kick off National Volunteer Month in April, we’re hosting a community volunteer fair on Tuesday, March 29 at the Hilton Fort Collins from 3:00-6:30pm. Forty agencies from various fields will be onhand to discuss available volunteer opportunities including special events, fundraising, mentoring, restoration, animal care, office work, boards of directors, and more!

More: Volunteer Fair – Hilton Fort Collins

Participating Agencies

Animal House, Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County, City of Fort Collins Recreation, Crossroads Safehouse, Denkai Animal Sanctuary, District Attorney’s Office, Food Bank for Larimer County, Fort Collins Cat Rescue, Fort Collins Catholic Charities, Gardens on Spring Creek, Habitat for Humanity- Ft Collins, Hope Lives, Junior Achievement, KRFC 88.9fm, Larimer County DHS, Larimer Humane Society, Legacy Land Trust, March of Dimes- Larimer County, Neighbor to Neighbor, Overland Mountain Bike Club, Partners Mentoring Youth, Pathways Hospice, Poudre School District, Poudre Wilderness Volunteers, Project Self-Sufficiency, RamStrength/Lubick Foundation, Realities for Children, SAVA Center, Ten Thousand Villages, The Atmosphere Conservancy, The Family Center/La Familia, The Matthews House, The Wild Animal Sanctuary, Turning Point, United Way of Larimer County, USDA Forrest Service, Volunteers of America- NoCO, Wildland Restoration Volunteers, WOLF Sanctuary, Women’s Resource Center

Who Speaks For Wolves?

Tonight’s Council Session
Second Reading of Building Code Green Amendments
Ordinances amending sections of:
• International Building Code
• International Energy Conservation Code
• International Residential Code
• International Mechanical Code
• International Fuel Gas Code
• Colorado Plumbing Code

Building Industry Representatives Appear

They said that they promote green building, prefer opt-out of residential owner occupied standards in order to provide flexibility. Building science is evolving.

First Two Items Pass Seven-Zip

ORDINANCE NO. 030, 2011
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE II, DIVISION 2, OF THE
CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF
AMENDING THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE AS ADOPTED

ORDINANCE NO. 031, 2011,
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE II, DIVISION 2, OF THE CODE
OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION CODE AS ADOPTED

Fireworks on Residential Amendments

Support of Mayor Doug Hutchinson on the first two items – above – was conditioned on having a serious discussion of a five-year opt-out provision with respect to owner occupied residential amendments. The Mayor moved for such an amendment and it was voted down four to three with Roy, Poppaw, Ohlson, and Manval in the majority; Hutchinson, Troxell and Kottwitz in the minority. At that point the residential amentments were passed four to three with the same members voting the same way.

ORDINANCE NO. 032, 2011,
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE II, DIVISION 2, OF THE CODE
OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF
AMENDING THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE AS ADOPTED

Passed: Roy, Poppaw, Ohlson, Manval yes; Hutchinson, Troxell, Kottwitz no.

ORDINANCE NO. 033, 2011
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE IV OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL MECHANICAL CODE AS ADOPTED

Passed four to three.

ORDINANCE NO. 034, 2011
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE IV OF THE CODE OF THE
CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING THE
2009 INTERNATIONAL FUEL GAS CODE AS ADOPTED

Passed four to three

ORDINANCE NO. 035, 2011
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE V OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF REPEALING THE UNIFORM PLUMBING CODE AND ADOPTING A LOCAL AMENDMENT TO THE COLORADO PLUMBING CODE TO ESTABLISH WATER FLOW RATE RESTRICTIONS ON CERTAIN FIXTURES

Passed four to three.

Coloradoan Elects to Cover Most Newsworthy

The Coloradoan devoted its precious ink to the appeal from a hearing officer’s decision on a lot split in a historic part of old town. They gave hardly any attention at all to the green building amendments noted here. I believe that this story is far more important in the long run. Their story is certainly newsworthy. I do not fault them for covering the Council Meeting the way they did. But I am happy to step in and cover the void that they left for me.

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LWV Hosted Forum Here

Impressions

• The City of Fort Collins is in great shape no matter who is elected
• Outgoing Mayor Doug Hutchinson is a tough act to follow. I miss him already. We term-limit the wrong people.
• The Eric Sutherland I saw Thursday is not the same person I have seen at council.
• Kristan comes across much better on Channel 14 than in person. I worried needlessly.
• All candidates spoke well. Karen had a ‘Jan Brewer’ moment wrt Transfort
• Several candidates spoke about FLEX. One can get to Denver on public transit
• Wade Troxell claims to be the independent voice on council. This is a slogan. Gerry Horak will really be independent. I am excited about his candidacy.
• Ross made the WYSIWYG statement. His target was Eric perhaps?
• Susan Pawlak stressed jobs. Cory Gardner stressed jobs. Instead, he is off to a disastrous start as our Congressman. Cory’s rookie mistakes may hurt Pawluk’s chances. Too bad, as a person I like her a lot.

Fireworks Fireworks

What fireworks there were came in the 4th District race. Wade said that he had represented his district well and had listened to his constitutents. Kristan countered that district residents are not happy with the representation they have been getting. These remarks were delivered in a low key manner. Nobody liked Medical Mary Jane much. The sharpest distinction is in District 2. Lisa said that grandfathering is appropriate for those facilities who tried to abide by the rules. This is reasonable. Susan said that she just doesn’t like Medical Mary Jane anywhere. I give her points for being genuine about this.

My Choices

I support Lisa Poppaw because she was singled out as a recall target by a group of ICLEI conspiracy theorists. They claimed that Fort Collins sustainability efforts are part of a U.N. plot to take over U.S. city governments. Why did they target only Lisa? Who knows – I think they are certifiable. I support Ross Cunniff strongly. He has the vision and leadership skills to be a great Mayor. I think he would work quite well with Darrin. I support Kristin Stephens. I see Wade Troxell at council and think that I see someone who opposes just for the sake of opposing. This is not being an independent voice. Time for new leadership in the 4th.

Other Issues

Community activist Nancy York, a friend, supports ranked voting. I am favorably disposed at the outset, but really have not decided. Channel 14 is broadcasting a Ranked Voting Forum. Bottom line: CSU Prof Kyle Saunders did a teriffic job moderating. Susan says her campaign website is not very good. I disagree, it is just fine. Susan’s campaign is more on Facebook, I’m not on Facebook. Trust me, someone at Facebook will misuse your private information – they will be the DoubleClick of this decade. Eric’s campaign website is evolving. I am not the only one who has noticed. This is hilarious. If elected Mayor he will have to brush up on diplomacy. Karen comes across as a bit of a Mother Hen. This is not bad. Mother Hens play a vital role in our society. In the ’60s if you had a friend who had taken too much of something you would bring him to someone like Karen. She would bring him down right away.

East Side West Side Referendum

Speaking of websites check out Eastside Repeal. They are gathering sigs.

Photo Credit: NOCO Channel Five

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Historic Old Town Square

FORT COLLINS COUNCIL & MAYORAL FORUM

The League of Women Voters of Larimer County will host a candidates forum on Thursday, March 10, to provide voters an opportunity to hear from the candidates for Fort Collins Mayor and Districts, 2, 4 and 6 council seats.

The forum will take place at the Fort Collins Council Chambers, 300 LaPorte Ave., starting at 6:30 p.m. Those attending should arrive by 6:15 p.m. in order to submit written questions for the candidates.

Invited participants include: Mayoral candidates, Ross Cunniff, Eric Sutherland and Karen Weitkunat; District 2 candidates, Susan Pawlak and Lisa Poppaw; District 4 candidates, Kristin Stephens and Wade Troxell; and unopposed, District 6 candidate, Gerry Horak.

The forum moderator will pose questions to the candidates that have been submitted in written format by audience and League of Women Voters members. Questions will be relevant to issues facing the City of Fort Collins and its citizens.

The League of Women Voters forum is just one opportunity for the public to familiarize themselves with the candidates in advance of the April 5 election. The March 10 forum will be available on the League’s website and rebroadcast multiple times on the City of Fort Collins’ Channel 14.

The candidates forum is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Larimer County, a nonpartisan organization, in cooperation with the City of Fort Collins. For more information, call 970-227-7437.

Secondary Source: Fort Collins Coloradoan

Comment Requested

Please leave a comment in the box. Thanks.

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We Have Links

Tara Sells Eggs

The day started at 4th annual Seed Swap sponsored by Home Grown Food on Avogadro’s back patio. I met Tara and found out she sells eggs

Raindrop Retreat has eggs

Wildlands Restoration Needs Volunteers

Wildlands Restoration works on Healing the land. They get a lynx for their effort. Their Fort Collins office is located at 633 Remington Street.

Elements of Transition

Those of you who are interested in Transition Fort Collins know that the movement is a response to Peak Oil, Climate Change, a Post Carbon world, Energy Descent [possibly rapid which could lead to civil unrest.] Relocalization is a mature thoughtful thing for transitioners to support. See 10 Good Reasons to Shop Local. I am happy to tell you that there is a new Rocky Mountain Olive Oil Company at 114 North College Avenue. They were doing a great business. The Cupboard Blog and awsome Sarah Jane’s I Love Kale have recently been added to our lynx. We ran into a gentleman from ThisEfficientHouse.com. They do home energy audits, insulation, air sealing and more. That is definitely worth a lynx. We have recently added The Growing Project, CanDoOnline, Front Range Permaculture Institute, and RealFoodColorado to our lynx. We promised Mama at MamaSaidSEW that we would add a lynx. They sell fabrics, sewing notions and give lessons. The shop is located at 121 E. Mountain Avenue Old Town Fort Collins.

Fort Collins is in election season

We have added Ross Cunniff for Mayor, Lisa Poppaw, and Kristin Stephens See followup story Candidates Forum via League of Women Voters.

Matter Daily Covers Food Townhall Meeting

Story here. by Beth Kopp She said there were about 80 people there. Good to know because the meeting was in their building. I couldn’t hear all the presentations so I’m glad to see Beth’s story. One thing for sure, the enthusiasm was wonderful to experience. I enjoyed a great conversation with Hill Grimmett of BeLocalNC.org. Good because I correspond more often with Gailmarie. Speaking of great conversations, I really enjoyed talking to Valerie Kaminiski of NC Green Menu. We put in a lynx for her. Valerie has done an enormous amount of work on worthwhile Fort Collins links to restaurants offering healthy food choices.

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