City Council, In a former issue before the council the mayor was quoted as “Not seeing a ruckus raised in opposing e-mails” as cause for ignoring public opinion and a 67% vote. Please include this e-mail within the category of a ruckus omg the issue of forcing electric heat, hot water and kitchen appliances. I write to oppose the staff proposal to require a selected class of future building to be REQUIRED to have electric heat, hot water and kitchen utilities. Have you compared your own electric bill over the past three years? Have your not seen the dramatic rise in the price of electricity> This staff recommendation , if adopted, will be imposing a significant cost / tax on future property owners in Menlo Park. In the “land of the free” you will be limiting available alternative choice. When you increase the monopoly power of electricity what can we expect in the direction of the price of electricity. Aren’t we already being overwhelmed by a need for AFFORDABLE HOUSING??? A number of council members have advocated strongly for more affordable housing. By forcing only electricity on future housing you would be talking out of both sides of your mouth. As reported in the local press, the staff uses statistics about reduced building cost by eliminating the cost of plumbing structure for gas. The numbers reported in the press seem very small, if meaningful at all. When 5 or 10 thousand dollars of cost reduction are amortized over a 30 year life of a new house of 5 or 7 million dollars, the potential cost savings become irrelevant. The economic impact is just as insignificant on large buildings. Ask the staff if they think one snapshot of avoided cost is a reasonable way to measure the cost/benefit analysis of building investments in Menlo Park. Don’t do it. This is not Berkeley. It is a community of educated and reasonable folks who should be allowed to have alternatives and allowed to make their own decisions. Edward Moritz Cell: 650-798-7996 edwardmoritz430_at_(domainremoved) Received on Tue Sep 10 2019 - 15:21:17 PDT
