Monday evening will be the first readings of 3 possible ballot measures for November's election. Read the chicken ballot measure. Look and see if this covers everything you think a chicken measure should cover. No, we won't take your suggestion to allow roosters. We already know this will ensure the measure is voted down.
The water pressure measure is the one I think will get the most discussion from council. Increasing the water pressure in the North side of the city is something that will benefit no more than 1/6th of the residents in the city. We already know that even some of these residents don't have issues. The general thought is that if this is put to a city wide vote then it is unlikely that those not affected will vote to help those that are affected. I'm not so sure this is the case. The rise in water rates needed to pay for the water pressure proposal is expected to be about 6% or for most residents $3 a month.
The discussion I want to have on this issue is how much of the push for increased water pressure is for the residents and how much is it to help attract businesses to "the Heights" or other properties in that area. I've ask council to ask staff to find out how many residents are really affected by low water pressure. I've also asked to find out the effect of having low pressure has on businesses that want to build. Right now the new senior apartments schedule for the area will have to put in a boost pump that services those buildings. If the city puts in this proposal then a building like that would not need to spend money on a boost pump.
On the issue of fire safety for residents and low pressure in the system, according to our fire chief this is not a concern. He tells us that there is plenty of water in the system and his trucks can pump it out fast enough to apply the standard amount of water. He tells us as fast as the trucks pump it out the pumps at the water department can replace it. The issue for fire safety is one for large buildings and businesses that have built in fire suppression systems. Most of these are built so they depend on the pressure of the water system. When the water system has low pressure, like it does around Executive Blvd, large building have to install their own pumps to make sure their fire suppression systems work.
Here are links to the agenda items for the three proposed ballot measures. Read them and let me know how they can be improved. Item N. has links to multiple discussions about the Chicken initiative.
First Reading of the Ballot Measures for November: Chickens, Water Softening and Water Pressure
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Author: Thomas McMasters
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