Why Measure B is good public policy

Los Angeles is the largest city on the West Coast and the second largest city in the United States. For decades, Los Angeles has been a large part of the economic engine that drives prosperity in the region, the state and the nation. However, as Los Angeles looks to the future it faces substantial challenges:

• Job growth has slowed, and many of the new jobs being created are low wage jobs that don’t provide good benefits. Close to one third of Los Angeles workers earn less than $25,000 and many do not have health benefits. This is harming local communities inside Los Angeles and putting a strain on city services.

• The current recession has driven the unemployment rate in Los Angeles to 9.9% further dampening the city’s economy and threatening the city’s tax base.
• The infrastructure that made Los Angeles famous and prosperous has reached a dangerous state of decay. Years of neglect have particularly affected the Department of Water and Power, a major support for the city’s economy.
• The effects of global warming combined with development and population growth are exacerbating the strains on the city’s water and power infrastructure and are leading to an increase in the number of failures of the power system and threats to the water supply.
• State law and city ordinances require that Los Angeles shift 20% of its energy supply to renewable energy by 2010. This goal cannot be reached in any meaningful way with programs that are currently on the books.
  

The city badly needs responses to these challenges that provide for continued economic growth, good jobs, and updates to the infrastructure that relieve pressure on the current system while furthering the city’s goal of reducing the growth of its carbon footprint.
To this point, the response to these problems has been piecemeal. An example is the purchase of energy from sources outside the city to meet the renewable energy requirements. While this may help meet the energy requirements, it does nothing to promote economic development, create good jobs, or reduce the strain on the city’s energy infrastructure.
Under Measure B the LADWP will install photovoltaic solar systems on the commercial rooftops of cooperating owners using materials manufactured in the City of Los Angeles and installed by employees of the LADWP. For this to happen, the DWP will have to hire new workers.
These new jobs created by Measure B will be open to Los Angeles residents and a training academy will be established to train them, creating a green work force that will give LA a leg up on the future. Under Measure B, the LADWP would finance and own the systems and use them as part of their renewable energy portfolio.

The Bottom Line

• Photovoltaic solar is the only way to generate renewable energy that is scalable inside the city of Los Angeles and therefore produces jobs and economic development in the city.

• Installation of photovoltaic solar that is owned and operated by the Department of Water and Power will produce good wage jobs at the Department of Water and Power and in the private sector.
• The installation of photovoltaic solar systems on commercial buildings will reduce the load demands on the current power infrastructure during times of peak load.
• A photovoltaic solar system installed on commercial buildings that is owned and operated by the LADWP will replace the current ineffective solar program and save the city money in the long run. That will help the city meet its renewable energy goals and save taxpayer dollars at the same time.
• Creating good, high tech jobs in Los Angeles provides a secure foundation for our economy. Measure B is our chance to make Los Angeles a leader in renewable energy technology and produce good, middle class jobs at the same time.