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By David Tatarowicz
Sunday, Jun 29 2008, 01:21 PM
On Whitefishbaynow.com is an excellent blogger, Kevin Buckley, who recently wrote a posting about getting a ticket for parking overnight in front of his house ---- (you can read his entire posting at: http://blogs.whitefishbaynow.com/village_spillage/archive/2008/06/18/took-10-years.aspx) Some excerpts from his posting: " We've lived in Whitefish Bay 10 years and it finally happened.
We woke up one morning and my wife said .. "Oh, crap. We left the car in the street over-night."
Maybe we won't have a ticket, I foolishly thought. Maybe they saw
our car and thought, hey, I know that car. I'll bet they just forgot
to pull their car into their driveway. No need to penalize them.
Not a chance .. there, in blaze orange was our $15 night-parking ticket.
Man, I hate that law. How does $7,000 in yearly property taxes not give you the right to park in front of your house?
I can't say I understand the premise of the 3am-5am parking
restriction. To prevent crime? Not sure I believe that. The car
parked next to my house is far more hidden than one on the street. To
control the number of cars each household can own? That doesn't make
much sense, as if you have a long driveway, you could easily park a
half-dozen cars on your drive. Maybe it's so the street sweepers can
do a good job. Of course, they don't roll at 3am-5am, so that's no
good.
Seriously, if anyone knows the theory behind this law, I'd love to hear it. "
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By David Tatarowicz
Sunday, Jan 27 2008, 01:50 PM
Why haven't Trustees Johnson (pres), Eckman, Hanewall, Hickey, and Phinney responded to Snow Problems in Village ?
Perhaps it is because of what they know that the most of us in the Village don't.
Quite simply Shorewood no longer has the equipment to deal with large snowfalls and the mountains of snow and ice they leave between the street and the sidewalks.
When the snow accumulates to the point where there is nowhere left to push it --- we cannot remove it to clear the business districts and the crosswalks, as the DPW use to do.
Over the past decade or so, the Village Board has spent millions on Streetscaping, Ad Campaigns touting our Walkability, and High Profile but useless events, such as the bike race.
But they have neglected such mundane issues, as ensuring that the Village has the equipment, budget and resources that a community in Wisconsin needs, when Mother Nature decides to remind us that we still keep records of yearly snow accumulation.
Unfortunately, the Board's lack of attention to the mundane maintenance issues goes beyond the Village's preparedness for Snow.
Take a tour of the Police Station (of a voluntary nature !) for a discouraging view of an outdated facility, that is barely being held together with the equivalent of baling wire and stop-gap measures.
Shorewood's Board of Trustees needs to pay as much attention to the steak as the sizzle --- especially when we pay taxes more in line with a dinner at Mo's than a lunch at McDonalds !
As always please feel free to leave your Comments below --- and if your one of the Trustees who have yet to Respond to my inquiries, please share your thoughts with us.
For some thoughts on issues other than Shorewood, visit my other blog at
http://nonconventionalwisdomperspectives.blogspot.com/
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By David Tatarowicz
Sunday, Mar 18 2007, 02:07 PM
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In an earlier posting on this blog, I advocated for creating a Green Commission to be a permanent part of Shorewood government. I proposed that the Green Commission have a very broad portfolio, to review all actions and proposals of departments, panels and other commissions, for the affect they will have on the environment.
The need for more space for the Shorewood Police Department would be an excellent start for the Green Commission. Whether it is decided to build a new facility for the Shorewood Blues, or to modify the existing Village Campus, the Green Commission should be an integral part of the process.
Studying how various proposals for SPD’s new facility will affect our environment, and how to limit adverse affects in an economically feasible way, will take a good deal of study and expertise. Some of the ideas that may be considered in such an undertaking could include some of the following:
HEATING AND COOLING
In discussions for modification of the existing Village Campus, the shortage of parking at that location has often been addressed. One of the solutions discussed was to make the existing parking area a two story parking structure. And as the parking area takes up a rather large footprint, there may be an opportunity to exploit what lies beneath it --- which is the stable temperature found underground, even in climates such as ours, that is used for Geothermal Heating and Cooling.
Geothermal Heating and Cooling works by pumping water through a closed loop of pipes buried in the ground. In heating mode, heat is extracted from the water as it passes through a condenser, and released through the evaporator coil. For air conditioning, heat is extracted from the evaporator coil and released into water through the condenser.
So one possible scenario would be to excavate the existing parking lot, bury the Geothermal Loop, and put a two story parking structure over it. Depending upon the physics involved, we may find that our Geothermal source to be large enough to also heat and cool the other existing buildings, such as the Village Hall and the Library.
GREEN SPACE AND WATER RUN OFF
If we have a two story parking structure, and we take the opportunity to excavate the site for our Geothermal source, we can also consider having all the parking underground. The top of the structure can be Green Space, with the added benefit of soaking up rain and snow runoff, instead of having it run off into the storm sewers.
By having underground parking, a couple of other added benefits would be that no snow plowing or salting of the parking lot would be necessary. And the truckloads of snow that the DPW currently hauls by dump truck to the river would not be necessary.
PLUGGING INTO THE SUN
Solar energy is becoming increasingly more practical and efficient. Any new or remodeled structure could incorporate Solar panels into the roofing. The Solar Electricity that we capture can be used for the lighting of the Village Campus, and perhaps even contribute to the electrical needs of the Geothermal System.
GREEN ECONOMICS
According to the Federal Department of Energy
“In large commercial installations, the initial costs of
GHPs are very competitive with boilers and cooling
towers. Major projects (larger than 300 tons) often
attract bidders from all over the country for designing,
drilling, and installation, thereby achieving very competitive
prices.
All these economies add up to a handsome return on
investment for businesses that choose GHPs. If the initial
cost of installing a GHP system is higher, these systems
typically pay for themselves in reduced energy and
maintenance costs in less than five years.”
IN SUMMATION
For the purposes of this posting, I am only able to scratch the surface of the options and benefits that a Green Commission would address. For instance, all the buildings on the Village Campus could have multiple heat exchangers, with excess heat from one zone having too much heat, perhaps from its particular sun exposure, sent to another zone that needs more heat !
If you would like to learn more about Geothermal Heating and Cooling, or other related topics, here are some sources listed by the DOE.
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Office of Geothermal Technologies, EE-12
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20585-0121
(202) 586-5340
http://www.eren.doe.gov/geothermal/
The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Clearinghouse (EREC)
P.O. Box 3048
Merrifield, VA 22116
(800) DOE-EREC (363-3732)
Fax: (703) 893-0400
E-mail: doe.erec@nciinc.com
http://www.eren.doe.gov/consumerinfo
Geo-Heat Center
Oregon Institute of Technology
3201 Campus Drive
Klamath Falls, OR 97601-8801
(503) 885-1750
http://www.oit.osshe.edu/~geoheat/
Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium, Inc. (GHPC)
701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004-2696
(888) ALL-4-GEO (255-4436)
http://www.geoexchange.org/
International Gr
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