If you have ever stepped on a wad of gum on a hot August day, then you know how the Naperville city council must feel with regard to increasing citizen opposition to the Smart Meter debacle that the city council is forcing upon its citizens. The issue just simply will not go away. Even though the city has spent millions of taxpayer dollars to a public relations firm trying to ‘happy talk’ citizens into believing the government has our best interests in mind and why Smart Meters are a good thing, it is not working. By a vote of 8-1 (Krause voted no) the Naperville city council decided to throw another $1.45 million to this PR company hoping to convince Naperville citizens that the council is doing the right thing. The council has already thrown away $3.65 million with not much to show for it; a couple of lobbyists presenting the council mantra during the Open Forum portion of two or three meetings, some impressive name tags for these folks, and some really cool shirts for them to wear during meetings. You’ve got to ‘tip your hat’ to this PR firm for selling their ‘package of snake oil’ to the city manager who in turn sold it to the council who in turn can’t seem to sell it to the citizens of Naperville. If only our local leadership was as smart as this PR company is.
Even the Bank of America decision-makers realized the folly of their ways when they had to drop the $5 monthly charge for debit card usage. Their executives realized very quickly it was not wise to push the issue, yet the Naperville city council (excluding Doug Krause) continues on their road to failure regarding the unnecessary cost of this project, the health and safety concerns, the security and privacy issues, and the rights of citizens.
Listen and watch as Naperville citizens Tom Glass, George Isaac and Kim Bendis present compelling arguments in opposition to the Smart Meters and their support of incorporating due diligence into discussions.
Las Vegas is not taking bets that the Naperville city council will come to their senses. That train has left the station and there are no brakes; only failure can stop that train.
So you ask, “What’s the purpose of the Naperville Smart Meter Awareness Group”? Well, maybe they think that if they are unable to help citizens in Naperville, they can help citizens and city councils in other cities throughout the country to not make the same mistakes the Naperville city council and city manager have made. You can be sure that others are watching, observing and learning from the ill-advised decisions of the Naperville city council. The internet can be a beautiful thing, and it definitely is in this case.
Let’s face it, if it was not for the money grab that the Naperville city council desperately jumped for, the council would not be acting this foolishly.
It’s all about the money; it’s as simple as that. And if you question if that could be true, all you have to do is note that later in the city council meeting the city council voted not to approve the award of Option Year One (Red Light Cameras) though accidents have decreased at those RLC intersections. If you remember, the council said it was about safety and not about revenue. Looks like even though safety has increased, revenues have not been what were expected so they voted ‘no’ to RLCs.
Council member Doug Krause has been a staunch supporter of citizen’s rights. Listen and watch as Krause ‘goes to bat’ for the citizens of Naperville.
It takes courage on his part to defend the citizens of Naperville, especially when he is on the receiving end of ire from some of his peers including council members Wehrli, Miller and Chirico.
Game six of the World Series was memorable; 19 runs, 28 hits, 5 errors, about 4 hours to play, yet it came down to a couple of impact moments to say it all. The same happened at the Naperville council meeting. Watch and listen to council member Steve Chirico take just 9 seconds to profess he has the gift of knowledge and wisdom that Naperville citizens do not have.
And listen and watch council member Grant Wehrli take just 7 seconds to use the words ‘nefarious’ and ‘government in action’ in the same phrase.
Maybe because they are the same.
Great post! You ask, in this article, about the purpose of Naperville Smart Meter Awareness group.
The Council disregards the fact that almost any resident asked has ABSOLUTELY no idea about what is going on. I, personally, have asked over 200 Naperville residents, “Do you know that you are getting a new electric meter?”. Most say “no”; some say they heard something about it, but don’t know anything about the subject. The rest are opposed to the meters.*
I then tell that those that don’t already know that the meter is a wireless Smart Meter. I can count on 1 hand the people I’ve talked to that even knew that much. Yet, the City of Naperville has hired 2 companies -at a cost of now over $5 million dollars- to roll this program out. One of these companies is a PR firm! Strange that we spent all of that money, and yet no one knows about the program. One of the goals of the group is to make sure every single resident at least knows what is going on so they can make their own informed decision about what kind of devices are being placed on their own homes. It is scary that our own council (Doug Krause excluded) has such little disregard for what our own residents are saying to them. If they can put these meters on the homes of people who are vehemently opposed to them, what could be next? Can they put anything they want to on our property? Councilwoman Brodhead has repeatedly compared this to a “sprinkle of salt.”. Can they next force us all to eat a small spoonful of salt every day?…..or worse? Even with all of the numerous privacy, security, health and radiation, and cost concerns, I am scared most about the precedent this is setting…..THE COUNCIL IS SPENDING OUR MONEY- TO INSTALL SOMETHING THAT WE ARE VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED TO – ON OUR OWN HOMES! and we HAVE NO CHOICE!
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*(To be fair and for the record, I did talk with 1 (and only one) person that supported the Smart Meter initiative and actually said she believes that the meters should be mandated, but the gentleman who was with her informed me that she is a City of Naperville employee.)