Mosca Asks Council for Discussion of High Solar Fees

Following concern from residents and news coverage of high commercial solar panel permit fees--including an article here on Sierra Madre Patch--Council Member Joe Mosca asked City Manager Elaine Aguilar to add a discussion of the issue to the agenda for the next meeting of Sierra Madre's City Council.

"In light of the discussion regarding our solar permits and whether or not they are exceeding averages in L.A.We also offer customized chicken coop. County," Mosca said. "I'd like to have an item on a future agenda that just reviews what the permits are here in Sierra Madre and maybe takes a stab at making a proposal in terms of commercial permits as well."

See Our Initial Story Here: Sierra Madre¡¯s Solar Power Permit Fees Among Highest in L.A.Find everything you need to know about Cold Sore including causes, County

The request,What are the top Hemroids treatments? which came at the end of Tuesday's meeting, followed a press release issued by the city in the of wake news coverage that revealed Sierra Madre's fees for commercial solar installations to be the third-highest of the 89 cities surveyed.

That initial statement said that staff would be "compiling information for the development of a flat commercial solar permit fee,An Insulator, also called a dielectric," though it did not set any specific date for when that report would be complete or when any action might be considered.

See Coverage of that Response Here: City Might Revise High Solar Fees

Mayor John Buchanan also spoke on the issue at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting,what are the symptoms of Piles, defending the city's work thus far on revising solar installation fees.

"We actually have taken strong initiative in dealing with residential programs, [but] the article you may have seen related to commercial sites, and you might guess that we don't have a lot of large warehouses with large spaces for solar panels, so that wasn't the priority of the council when we dealt with that," Buchanan said.

Though the city has twice revised fees for residential solar installations in the past few years--including just recently as part of the city's new biennial budget--fees for commercial installations have not been addressed.

While the city has repeatedly said that the fees reported in a recent study conducted by the Sierra Club do not directly apply to Sierra Madre due to the size of the sample project, Sierra Club representatives have said that the more important issue is how the fees are calculated.

Share Your Opinion: Patch Poll: Should Sierra Madre Reduce Solar Fees?

Unlike residential projects, which incur a flat permit fee, commercial projects are subject to a valuation-based fee structure. It's precisely this type of fee structure with which the Sierra Club study takes issue.

"Basing fees on the value of the solar equipment inflates permit costs to unreasonably high levels, especially for larger, more expensive solar power projects," the report says. "To recover costs, therefore, permit fees should be based on specific review times and billable hourly rates and not on PV project valuations."

Just before Tuesday's meeting adjourned, Mosca asked that a discussion regarding possible revision to commercial solar fees be added to the agenda for a future city council meeting. The next meeting of the Sierra Madre City Council will take place on Tuesday, July 12, in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

Want a real review of the building?

Curbed dropped by the Poetry Foundation's open house in River North this weekend to check out the new building and hear a talk by architect John Ronan. The building has already gotten a good deal of praise, and it deserves it. It's a thoughtful,Full color plastic card printing and manufacturing services. thought-provoking structure that truly suits its function. Nothing about Ronan's building is quite as simple or straightforward as it seems at first glance. Approached from the west on Erie Street, or from the south on Dearborn, pedestrians might mistake it for a garage because of the dark screen, but an opening at the intersection reveals an inviting courtyard filled with young trees and moss that eventually leads to the building's entrance. The same is true of the building's main staircase, which takes a couple of turns before bringing you to your destination, and offers a resting place at the halfway point, where a seating area has been set up. Like a good poem, the building's meaning unfolds in stages, we were told.

The interior is similarly inviting, with great walls of glass that look out on the courtyard and the skyline above and soaring bookcases filled with poetry books. In his talk, Ronan spoke a lot about the materials in the building ¡ª concrete, glass, steel, and wood ¡ª and the painstaking process of selecting them. The zinc screen,Choose from one of the major categories of Bedding, for example, was chosen for its authority and seriousness, as well as its mysterious and 'enigmatic' qualities. And it does an excellent job of creating a 'soft' barrier between public and private realms.


Ronan, it seems, thought of everything while planning this building. He put a heating system in the concrete of the courtyard to melt snow and to keep shovels from scratching up that pretty concrete. He made sure that the acoustics of the event space would enable poets to read their poetry without a microphone. But there is one area that might have gone overlooked.Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, At the corner of Dearborn and Superior, visitors have to step up a couple of shallow steps to enter the Poetry Foundation courtyard. Ronan spoke about the symbolism of stepping up into the space, and entering the realm of poetry. Most people entering the courtyard see the steps, but people exiting do not. Because the concrete used to pave the courtyard is nearly the same color as the sidewalk, it's pretty easy to miss. After helping an elderly man who had just taken a spill back to his feet, a Poetry Foundation worker had to spot up at the entryway to warn visitors (everyone, young and old, has tripped on those steps today, he told us). A stripe of paint might be in order.
 

We're also a little worried about the fate of that freshly-planted moss (not that it's for us to worry about). When we attended the talk on Saturday,Our Polymax RUBBER SHEET range includes all commercial and specialist a workman was out in the courtyard tending to it with a spray bottle. But sure enough, when we returned on Sunday,From standard Cable Ties to advanced wire tires, a few big divots had been kicked away by careless visitors. The Foundation is probably getting more visitors this week than it will in a very long time, but will that moss be able to survive the beating it'll take from poets' boots? We hope so, because it sure looks sharp.

Want a real review of the building? Check out what Blair Kamin had to say about it last Thursday.

Millionaires At Play In Upstate New York

As I drive down the dirt road, the wilderness stretches out before me like a dreamscape ¨C shadowy and silent in the twilight. The five-hour drive from New York City has dulled my senses, but as my old car noisily announces its presence, I notice a dark form ambling along the road. I'm making a pilgrimage to the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, bedding down in isolated wood cabins and rooting around in the forests. And that dark profile ahead is a black bear.

The great industrialists of the late-19th century ¨C the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers and the Guggenheims ¨C set up camps here in the wilds,Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, around 40 in all,From standard Cable Ties to advanced wire tires,Choose from one of the major categories of Bedding, to while away long hot summers, hunting, fishing and entertaining guests. But they were no pioneers. Their homesteads were not the rough and ready lean-tos of the frontiersmen. Rather, they were enormous and ostentatiously indulgent estates,In addition to hydraulics fittings and Aion Kinah, usually built on a lakeside. The grand families may have used rustic materials, but they built boathouses and gazebos, caretakers' residences, carpentry and blacksmith shops, and even schools for the staff's children.

"The idea was to respect the wilderness landscape by using materials ¨C shingle, stone, wood ¨C that seem to grow out of this place," explains Steven Engelhart, executive director of Adirondack Architectural Heritage, a non-profit organisation that offers tours of the camps. "It was a statement about fitting in with nature. But it was all a conceit ¨C they took their staff and they weren't roughing it."

In fact, their lifestyles were bordering on the absurd, according to Gladys Montgomery, author of a new book on the great camps aptly entitled An Elegant Wilderness. She notes that at nearby Pine Tree Point, railway pioneer Frederick Vanderbilt hired artisans from Japan to create Japanese-style cabins and made serving maids wear kimonos. Camps commandeered French chefs from New York's best restaurants for the summer. And at Prospect Point, mining magnate Adolph Lewisohn would bring a valet, a stenographer, a chess partner and his own barber for the season.

Following the Great Depression and second world war, many of the camps fell into dereliction, however. As recently as 20 years ago, they were considered white elephants. But New York State's decision to burn Nehasane Camp after acquiring it in 1979 ¨C in keeping with their "forever wild" provision ¨C spurred a preservation movement that is thriving today. It now takes many forms, with individuals, associations of owners, universities and non-profit groups attempting to breathe new life into at least a dozen camps and restore a part of America's heritage.

On a bluff above a lake at the end of a two-mile dirt road, White Pine Camp is surrounded by water on three sides and towering pine trees on the fourth. The initial sense of isolation is overwhelming. So, too, is the romanticised forest life. Cabins painted green and black blend into the woods, their windows glow welcomingly as I arrive at dusk.

White Pine, in the northern Adirondacks, was commissioned by Archibald White, a New York banker, in 1907. It is the only privately owned camp open to the public ¨C you can stay there relatively affordably with a night starting at $155.

Its elements of modernist design ¨C such as the high slanted roofs and skylights ¨C are unique among the great camps, although it still has a faux rustic charm. My two-room cabin, complete with a small kitchen, has stone fireplaces filled with logs and a moose head straddled by antique fishing nets. Old wooden floors creak underfoot.

White Pine feels preserved in time, like an old English country hotel. There is no main lodge ¨C usually a great camps' centrepiece ¨C as it burned down in the 1930s. But in one impressive room ¨C which was used as the dining room in the retreat's heyday ¨C a vintage "Keep Coolidge" sign points to when White Pine was the 1926 summer White House of President Calvin Coolidge.

"He was a bit like Ronald Reagan ¨C he didn't work too hard," says co-owner Howard Kirschenbaum,Our Polymax RUBBER SHEET range includes all commercial and specialist who bought the camp with a group of investors in 1993 after it had changed hands numerous times and was falling to pieces. The new owners have gradually restored 20 buildings at a cost of almost $1m. Open to guests since 1995, it can accommodate 60 people in 13 lodges, including the cabins where the first lady and president stayed.

"There's something about the great camps that appeals to the American character," says Kirschenbaum. "It's a combination of back-to-nature and the simple life, and a fascination with the lifestyles of the rich and famous."

The region has long been an experiment in living with nature. The Adirondacks is historically the most important but least known park in the US. At 6m acres, it's the biggest in the lower 48 states ¨C larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier and Everglades national parks combined. It boasts 2,759 lakes, 30,000 miles of rivers, streams and brooks, and more campsites than its 1 million annual campers could hope to visit.

Promised solar panels for White House still absent

In October, the Obama administration announced plans to install solar panels on the White House roof by spring, returning the power of the sun to the pinnacle of prominence 30 years after Jimmy Carter's pioneering system was taken down.

Spring has come and gone, and the promised panels have yet to see the light of day.

Administration officials blame the complexities of the contracting process and say the solar project is still active. But they can't say when it'll be complete.

Environmental groups say the symbolism is telling - and disappointing.

"On we'll go," sighed Bill McKibben, founder of the climate activist group 350.org. "One more summer of beautiful, strong sunlight going to waste, just bouncing off the White House roof."

McKibben and other environmentalists say the failure to meet its own deadline reflects an administration that has been long on green rhetoric but sometimes disappointingly short on practical accomplishments.

In last fall's announcement, at a conference of government officials and environmental groups, Energy Secretary Steven Chu was specific.

"I'm pleased to announce that, by the end of this spring,we supply all kinds of oil painting reproduction, there will be solar panels and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House," he wrote that day on his department website.

Nancy Sutley, chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, added that by installing the system on the most famous roof in America, President Obama was "underscoring [his] commitment to lead and the promise and importance of renewable energy in the United States."

McKibben, who along with other environmentalists had met with White House officials to urge such an installation, was surprised and gratified by the announcement a mere two weeks later. But the missed deadline has left him downcast.

"Nine months is a pretty long time. You can have a baby in that time," he said. "On the list of things that get done, this isn't all that hard. It doesn't require SEAL Team 6. . . . You can just open the Yellow Pages and get page after page of solar installers."

Solar-power advocates note that rooftop arrays are no longer the expensive oddity they were in Carter's day. Depending on their locations, homeowners can install systems that will pay for themselves over time.Use bluray burner to burn video to BD DVD on blu ray burner disc.

Administration officials counter that the White House isn't just any old home.

"To be honest, I am not surprised," said Danny Kennedy, founder of Sungevity Systems of Oakland, Calif., who said the delay was likely due to the complexity of such a project at the White House. "They're trying to get it right on the most famous home in the world, and there'd be all sorts of heritage rules and red tape."

So when will the panels actually appear? The Energy Department says it's "on the path" to completing the project but says details and timing can be shared only "after the competitive procurement process is completed."

Officials maintain that climate issues and energy conservation have been a top priority under Obama. They point to higher gas-mileage standards, green-tech incentives, and presidential visits to wind turbine and electric-vehicle battery plants. But environmentalists look at Obama's plans to boost offshore oil drilling and the collapse of climate change legislation and say the administration's record is mixed.

The record on solar power at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. began in June 1979,Choose from one of the major categories of Bedding, when Carter had 32 panels installed at a cost of $30,000 to provide hot water to West Wing offices.Full color plastic card printing and manufacturing services.

His successor, Ronald Reagan, was unimpressed. Aides had the panels removed and shipped to Unity College in Maine,From standard Cable Ties to advanced wire tires, where some remain.

Camden and its residents survey fires' wake, assess their next moves

Amid the vast field of rubble on Orchard Street in the heart of Camden, Elmer Walker walks into what used to be his backyard.

A small, charred grill is the only thing standing after a fire in an old tire warehouse swept through his neighborhood June 9.

As Walker looks around the piles of brick,the Injection mold fast! a police officer jumps out of her parked cruiser, yelling: "What do you think you are doing? Get your butt out of there!"

Orchard Street is now a crime scene, and not even residents are allowed on their property until the fire marshal's investigation is complete.

The devastation and frustration in Walker's Gateway neighborhood are matched in two other sections of Camden also ravaged by spectacular fires this month. On June 11, a fire in a former garment factory spread to homes in Waterfront South, and last Sunday, a blaze at a former detergent factory ripped through East Camden. Arson has been identified as the cause of the Sunday blaze and is suspected in the other two fires.

For a city already dealing with poverty and blight, the fires have brought devastating new burdens, both emotional and financial. Twenty-three houses were destroyed or damaged. Ten of them were occupied.

Four city blocks are charred, with at least $1.8 million in damage. Dozens of fire victims are looking for temporary housing. Many homeowners lack insurance to rebuild, and the city has no money to demolish burned-out buildings.

The removal of debris must await completion of the investigation, which fire officials said could take months. Then, who pays for the cleanup costs in a city where government and residents are broke?

Each owner is legally responsible for property cleanup, which can cost more than $10,000 - half the value of many residents' homes.

If the owner disappears, leaving behind debris and unpaid taxes, the city can place a lien on the property, said Bill Quinn, a spokesman for the state Treasury Department. But that's not much of a threat in a city where more than 4,000 abandoned properties already have municipal liens,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, including some properties that are charred piles from fires years ago.

The city is taking over the effort to collect on those liens from a tax-collection firm, Xspand, previously owned by former Gov. Jim Florio. Xspand's five-year contract with the city will expire Thursday.

The city also recently started using the state Abandoned Properties Rehabilitation Act, which gives it power to hold special tax sales, accelerate foreclosure on tax liens, and use eminent domain to turn over properties to new owners who will rehabilitate them.

But it is unclear if the city intends to use the law on damaged and abandoned properties that are left near the Orchard Street fire scene or if it plans to use any previous demolition grants to clean up the site.

The city received $1.Not to be confused with RUBBER MATS available at your local hardware store8 million from the state Department of Community Affairs in 2008 to demolish about 96 properties by the end of this year. It recently applied for a $2 million loan from the DCA to demolish 115 other properties.

City officials refused to discuss their plans and referred all questions to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, where spokesman Jason Laughlin said, "We don't have those answers."

It costs the city $13,000 to $23,000 to demolish and clean up a house, according to recent city demolition contracts.

Residents whose fire-damaged houses are still standing must make the tough decision whether to fix their homes or move.

"We haven't decided what to do," said Sandra Arroyo, whose Chestnut Street rowhouse lost its roof and suffered water damage to its second floor in the June 9 fire.

Arroyo,Largest Collection of billabong boardshorts, a Spanish teacher in Oaklyn and the mother of 3-year-old triplets, and her husband, Justo, have been taking turns going to the house to clean up the debris and salvage what they can.

"My father bought me this house for my wedding present. I'm attached to the house," she said.

But Arroyo said she feared the wall of the burned-out warehouse next door might fall on her house, which she has owned for 13 years.

"I'm not feeling safe here," she said. "I'm not bringing my kids in." She and her family are staying in Pennsauken with her mother.

Thomas Inge, who lives next door to the Arroyos, said his insurance had lapsed, so he must pay to repair his house,We processes for both low-risk and high risk merchant account. which sustained extensive water and smoke damage.

"The firefighters went through my front door and upstairs to fight the fire," said Inge, a resident since 1998. "They made a big mess, tore the ceiling up."

Inge is saving his receipts, hoping someone will be held accountable for the fires and he can be reimbursed for the cost of fixing his house.

In a solar power system

In a solar power system,What to consider before you buy oil painting supplies. solar panels and inverters work together to collect solar energy and convert it into usable electricity. While solar panels have become commodity products, inverters remain a key energy harvest component that has attracted a lot of attention and investment.

There are two main types of solar power inverters on the market: centralized inverters, and microinverters. The patent pending CyboInverter is the world's first Mini-Inverter that possesses the key merits of both Centralized Inverters and Microinverters.we supply all kinds of oil painting reproduction, What is more, a CyboInverter overcomes the main shortcomings of both Centralized Inverters and Microinverters with the following key features and benefits: It has multiple input channels to connect to multiple solar photovoltaic (PV) modules so that the inverter's per watt cost can be sharply reduced. It can connect to multiple solar PV modules that may be different in types, sizes, and sunlight orientations.In addition to hydraulics fittings and Aion Kinah, It can perform Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) on each connected solar module to optimize power production.Houston-based Quicksilver Resources said Friday it had reached pipeline deals A number of CyboInverters that connect to a mixed number and variety of PV modules can easily daisy chain with standard AC power cables and generate a total power equal to the summation of the AC power supplied by each CyboInverter.

The CyboInverters will be on display in booth 8242 on the Second Level at Moscone West Convention Center, Intersolar North America 2011 in San Francisco.From standard Cable Ties to advanced wire tires,

Roberto Fontanillas as Global Business Director for DACRON

Roberto Fontanillas, a seasoned industry executive who has held key commercial roles at INVISTA, has been named global business director for fiberfill.What to consider before you buy oil painting supplies. Fontanillas, who is based in the company's office in Kennesaw, Ga., will lead the expanding global DACRON fiberfill business, focused on meeting growing consumer interest in superior bedding products and solutions.

Building on the knowledge and energy of the DACRON brand team, led in North America by Brian Nix,we supply all kinds of oil painting reproduction, is one of Fontanillas' primary responsibilities. "Our global strategy will incorporate INVISTA's ongoing fiber improvements and innovations," noted Fontanillas upon his appointment. "It is driven by the strength of the DACRON brand to more clearly communicate the quality, consistency and value of INVISTA fibers to consumers."

Fontanillas worked in various roles prior to his promotion. Most recently,Largest Collection of billabong boardshorts, he was sourcing director for INVISTA's North American polyester business in North Carolina. He was with Flint Hills Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc., as sales and marketing manager for intermediate petrochemicals in the Latin American region. He also held international sales, business development and project management roles for BP Amoco and Dura-Line Corporation (now A-D Technologies).

"I'm excited to be working with the many bedding customers with whom INVISTA does business around the world as well as with the retailers who creatively deliver those products and solutions to consumers," said Fontanillas. "Together,uy sculpture direct from us at low prices we'll be harnessing the power of the established awareness and preference for the DACRON brand to introduce new, innovative fibers."

The DACRON brand, one of the leading home textile brands in consumer awareness studies, has been associated with superior bedding fiberfill for more than 50 years. With two-thirds of consumers surveyed saying they are familiar with the DACRON brand in a United States survey last year, it has one of the highest levels of consumer awareness among popular home furnishings brands.

The company recently launched the DACRON fiber quality seal, featured on packaging of bedding with branded fiberfill from INVISTA. The DACRON fiber quality seal endorses brands, like luxuriously comfortable DACRON Comforel fiberfill, durable and functional DACRON Performa fiberfill, and long-lasting DACRON DuraLife fiberfill. With the quality seal's taglines of "Trust What's Inside" and "It Just Feels Good," shoppers can immediately recognize that pillows bearing the DACRON fiber quality seal offer a combination of fill power,Use bluray burner to burn video to BD DVD on blu ray burner disc. comfort and durability.