Response to letter about electric cars stressing the grid
I’ve driven a plug in car for the last seven years and without exaggeration, I can confidently say that at least 90+% of my charging happens at night, during off peak times when rates are lower and there is excess capacity.
I use a 240V charger that plugs into an electric dryer outlet, but I’ve occasionally used 120V charging.
I listened to an interview with SDG&E’s CIO a few days ago as he addressed the heat wave and stated that the California grid has made huge improvements in the last two years, both in storage batteries, alternate sources and transmission lines.
Very few things are static over time and as needs for the state change, the power industry and the people are capable of rising to the need and making improvements. It may seem that the glass is half full and emptying before your eyes, but over time, this climate-induced crisis will be overcome, in spite of our national leadership dragging their feet and putting off solutions beyond their next election cycle.
I trust that together, we will be able to refill the glass.
Joel Cook
Ramona
Newsom no leader
The Sept. 8 column by Thomas Elias, “Newsom’s early campaign for Party leadership,” was obviously meant as a joke.
The same week Newsom outlawed gas powered cars by 2035, he told us to conserve electricity, so as not to strain the power grid. So buy an EV, just don’t plug it in?
The majority of electricity comes from fossil fuels, and what has he done to increase it, other than add five years to the Diablo Canyon Nuclear power plant? The crime rate in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the number of homeless in those two cities and San Diego is a disaster.
He’s ruined our state, and now wants to ruin the whole country. It shocked me to read Elias’s editorial. I always thought of Ramona as a conservative, family oriented town. The Sentinel being owned by the liberal Union Tribune speaks loud on the editorial page. Sad.
Mike Winter
Ramona
Speak up about VMT
Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) is the newest environmental measurement to come from the State of California and it will negatively impact your financial future. Application of the VMT will impact everything from how your community can grow to how much tax you will pay for the privilege of driving — any type of vehicle.
Our County Board of Supervisors will vote on Sept. 28 to determine how to apply VMT to our unincorporated and rural communities. How to add fees (taxes) to the costs of projects in order to “mitigate” the VMT impact. Where and how building will be allowed as some communities will be considered VMT efficient and other communities will be declared VMT inefficient.
In effect, unincorporated communities such as Ramona, Valley Center and Alpine will move from the “good column” to the “bad column” in the County’s view.
Tell our County Supervisors that identification of VMT inefficient communities and the penalties that follow this label are unfair. That a label of being a VMT inefficient community is a stigmatizing status applied to a community through no fault of its own. That residents living in more rural communities demand respect and fair treatment from their County government.
The Board of Supervisors needs to hear from you. Tell them that not everyone will choose to live in the dense housing projects now being developed. Tell them that living with open space, fresh air and on a property with enough room to park your work truck or recreational equipment or to stable your animals or run a rescue or to grow food — should not be penalized.
VMT fees and taxes will increase the cost of living in the country. It is in the country that many goods and services are created for the benefit of all County residents. This benefit should be recognized, protected and encouraged by the County — not tossed into the “bad column.”
You can provide comments to the Board of Supervisors Sept. 28 meeting on VMT by emailing the Supervisors directly. Send your communication to all five supervisors as they each have a vote on your future.
[email protected] (Nora Vargas)
or attend the meeting by following the instructions from the County’s Board of Supervisors meeting website: https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/bos/comment-at-board-meetings.html
Robin Joy Maxson
Chair, Ramona Community Planning Group
