Comments on: City Approves ‘Green Lab’ Request for Stimulus Funds

By: The Falls Church Insider » July EDA Meeting

The Falls Church Insider » July EDA Meeting — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:55:03 +0000

[...] the unsolicited proposal to the DOE that was approved at the last City Council meeting. This was covered in the Falls Church Times as well as the Falls Church News-Press and Nick Benton wrote an editorial about it. I won’t [...]

By: Andy Rankin

Andy Rankin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:50:34 +0000

I like Jim’s thinking in terms of the deficit and that these grants should be loans – but my understanding is that that’s not going to happen. It sounds like the federal government is going to spend the money one way or another – so if Falls Church doesn’t get it it doesn’t mean we’ll save on our taxes in the long run – it means that some other jurisdiction will get it.

However, Jim’s right that if we don’t get this grant and the proposal is accurate then maybe we could do some of these things without the federal money?

By: Jim Breiling

Jim Breiling — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:43:49 +0000

I’m all for innovation and saving energy. But there are other considerations.

If the plan is so good in terms of reducing consumption (“Overall, the plan could reduce energy consumption by 20 percent, saving 90 million kWh annually, and water consumption by five to 10 percent.”") and thereby for saving money (projected at $9M.year), then the “front end” investment required ought to be something that could be paid for from local sources (taxes, fees, bonds) and/or any Federal assistance should be a loan*** that the City and its residents would repay (with interest), hopefully from the savings in energy expenditures.

*** Remember the whopping deficit. Any Federal money would be borrowed money. That’s why the Feds should make any such assistance a loan with the interest rate that which the U.S. government is paying for the money, plus a modest administrative fee.