Thursday, March 18, 2010

Best Use of Funds?

A $63m push to retrofit housing

Mayor Thomas M. Menino will announce today what is being billed as the largest energy efficiency overhaul in public housing in the nation’s history, a sweeping initiative designed to save electricity, countless gallons of water, and millions of dollars.

The $63 million renovation will target 4,300 apartments in 13 Boston Housing Authority developments stretching from Brighton to Charlestown. Thousands of leaky toilets will be traded for low-flow models. Power-sucking lights will give way to hyperefficient LEDs and compact fluorescents. And cantankerous, big-as-a-house, oil-guzzling boilers will be upgraded to cleaner natural gas varieties that will allow residents to control their heat.

Leaving aside the idiocy of "big-as-a-house, oil-guzzling boilers" (hello, have you seen the size of the buildings those boilers heat? Morons), is this really the best use of taxpayer money with regards to public housing? Have we solved all of the drug crimes, gang violence, and overall thuggery endemic to the Boston public housing demographic? Even leaving that aside, where have we heard this before:
“I think it’s a win-win for everyone in the fact that it is energy efficient and there is no cost to taxpayers because it is paid for with savings generated by improvements.’’

Hmmm. I do believe that's exactly what they said about the MA mandatory health care. It was going to "pay for itself" with folks all having health insurance and thus not putting unnecessary drains on the health care system. That's what we were promised. What we were delivered is a bloated, inefficient system ripe for abuse that's costing the state billions.

I see absolutely no indictations that Mumbles' latest brain fart will be any different.

That is all.

5 comments:

bluesun said...

My new motto is "If anyone can screw it up, it's the government."

Like that Demotivational poster that says: "Meetings. None of us is as dumb as all of us."

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

Yeah, and how long do you think it will take for people to replace all those stupid CFLs with real light bulbs? They may be cheaper, but the light quality sucks. LEDs are getting there, but they're not quite up to replacing regular bulbs yet, either, except in certain applications.

As for the heat, yeah, letting residents control their heat may give you some savings when Johnny can turn it down from 72 to 68, but you lose it again when Granny down the hall cranks it up to 85 because old age means she's always cold.

PISSED said...

Maybe they should spend that money on repaving 495 and 93... both of which SUCK!!!!

Old NFO said...

It's gonna pay for itself with YOUR money!!!! Bet on it!!!

Weer'd Beard said...

I wonder how much its going to cost the state if a couple of people "turning their lives around" have a domestic dispute, or get all whacked out on goofballs and wackytobacci and start breaking light bulbs in the process....and later find out their dick has more mercury in it than a thermometer.

Or better yet, young growing kids rough-housing at home and break some bulbs and grow up to be brain damaged.

But nahhh, those people won't sue for filling apartments with toxic mercury in efforts to be "Green" would they?

Remember people put asbestos in EVERYTHING in effort to fireproof houses.