Page One

Local juice may preclude PG&E dependency 

Editor:  

Cogeneration (cogen) is electricity generation right on-site at local apartment houses, hospitals, schools, malls, and factories using the aleft over heat for heating or airconditioning buildings. It is double use of the energy with 80 percent efficiency in contrast with the 35 or 40 percent at remote central power plants where the heat has no use and is deliberately wasted, as can be seen by the tall cooling towers of nuclear plants.  

There is also an energy loss of from 8 to 15 percent carrying the electricity over tower lines long distances. Cogen is much more likely to be able to be used after a big storm or earthquake when tower lines may fall down and should be in police and fire buildings. Cogen is a form of competition for the monopoly electric utilities and has been discouraged by both PG&E and So. Cal Edison, who claim it may ‘damage’ their networks. Actually excess juice from cogen can be fed easily back into the network.  

In U.S. cogen is about 7 percent of the total electricity, while in Germany and Sweden it is as much as 35 and 50 percent. Cogen is an old concept, a 1907 text discusses it. Cogen can be completely automatic, starting or stopping as needed. It is a very efficient and dependable source of energy at individual sites. Many engine manufacturers publish extensive data about use of their product for cogeneration.  

Charles L. Smith 

Berkeley 

Liars can take pets anywhere 

Editor: 

I was startled by the one-sided tone of your article “Service animals provoke quandary” (1/12/2001). Your reporter John Geluardi presented Michael Minasian’s unsupported claims that he is disabled and that his dog King is a service animal as fact, and repeated Minasian's tendentious reading of the Justice Department's guidelines regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act as if it were not debatable. 

As Minasian would have it, anyone wishing to bring a pet into a restaurant need only claim that they are disabled and that their pet is a service animal. Under the ADA, he believes, neither restaurant staff nor police can require any further explanation or documentation. In other words, people willing to lie could take their pets anywhere. 

In reality, the Justice Department's ADA guidelines are not so categorical. The relevant phrase reads, “documentation generally may not be required as a condition for providing service to an individual accompanied by a service animal.” The case of a person with no apparent disabilities whose putative service dog is performing no apparent service seems like precisely the kind of reasonable exception to the general rule that prompted the guidelines’ authors to say “generally may not” rather than “may never.” 

Robert Lauriston 

Berkeley 

Green Party is moving ahead 

Editor: 

In the noisy, disconcerting aftermath of the November 7 general election, which saw an unceasing five week legal struggle in Florida, pitting the Democratic and Republican parties against one another, an important political milestone was achieved that, until now, has remained below the mainstream media’s radar screen.  

In a January 3 profile of Sebastopol, California’s newly elected Green Party City Council majority, The New York Times confirmed that many greens, progressives and independents have known that the green party now ranks as the nation’s third largest political party in terms of total number of elected offices held. This development is significant.  

Since gaining ballot status nearly twelve years ago, the Green Party has grown exponentially in the number of candidates fielded and/or elected across the country. During the 2000 election cycle, 33 Green Party candidates won elections in a dozen states, giving the party elected officials in a total of 21 states. Over 200 Green Party candidates completed for elective offices during 2000. 

The Green Party’s electoral successes reflect a strategy to build power from the local level — the greens in office all serve in municipal, county or regional governments, from mayor in five California cities, including Santa Cruz and Santa Monica, to the drainage/flood control commissioner of Charlevoix, Michigan.  

In Northern California, greens won a large number of races. In San Francisco, two former Democratic Party candidates, Supervisor Matt Gonzalez and School Commissioner Mark Sanchez, switched to the Green Party. In Berkeley, greens hold seats on the city’s three most important elected bodies: City Council, School Board and Rent Stabilization Board.  

Meanwhile, in Oakland, unsuccessful Green Party City Council at-large candidate Rebbecca Kaplin captured 44 percent of Oakland’s total vote against an entrenched Democratic Party incumbent, an impressive achievement given that Oakland voters are overwhelmingly registered democrats.  

As the Green Party prepares for the 2002 election cycle, the party’s prospects are indeed promising — with the organizational collaboration of Green Party 2000 presidential candidate Ralph Nader, the party will continue to build electoral strength at the local/regional level and establish a foundation for challenging the Democratic and Republican parties in future elections, including state and federal offices.  

The Green Party, to use an old expression, is in for the long haul, with an unshakable commitment to the years and decades ahead. For more information, contact www.greenparty.org 

Chris Kavanagh 

City of Berkeley Housing Advisory Commission 

Berkeley 

A wonderful  

community! 

Editor: 

Our daughter, Mary Fran Stevens and her roomates survived a fire on Hearst Avenue that destroyed all their belongings on Jan. 8. When we received that dreaded call in the middle of the night we really didn't know where to turn. As a mother 5,000 miles away in Virginia, I agonized over this tragedy, but have been reassured that everything will be all right thanks to the compassion and generosity of Mary Fran's newly found community of friends.  

The outpouring of support —from housing and clothes to hugs after sifting through the charred remains — is truly inspiring. I want to thank everyone in the neighorhood and especially Mary Fran's friends at the Berkeley Repertory Theater for being there for our dear and only child. 

Margie Stevens 

Montross, Virginia  

Thank you 

Editor: 

I wish to thank the Daily Planet and the 138 voters in November’s District five city council race.  

That’s two percent of the vote my first time out, per vote expenses of campaign: 53 cents. Roughly figured, if I had the same size campaign budget as Mim Hawley (congratulations Mim!) it would give my campaign over 50 percent of the voters citywide.  

This, of course, has the little wheels in my brain revolving with ideas about Berkeley’s 2002 political season. Berkeley, thanks for the kind and real.  

Mark Fowle 

2000 District Five City  

Council candidate 

Berkeley