The Green Trojan Horse?

The Green Trojan Horse? That's what Mary Lindsey called it, a "Trojan Horse."

Just mention the word “green” and some people go absolutely nuts. They are hooked and nothing you can say or do will open their minds to anything else but more dumbness.

Companies do marketing studies all of the time to find out what slick words turn on certain people. Local governments are no exception and in fact, government is where the money is and they are easy marks. And what could be worse than a smooth talking guy with political connections who has learned the game?

The buzz words at yesterday’s meeting were enough to choke a green horse: partnership, carbon footprint, global sustainability (love that one), green careers, quality of life (I know that one works, I use it), going green, and don’t forget, renewable energy. It drove our Commission just a little bit giddy. The next thing the presenter did was name drop and did he ever even going so far as to using the name “Obama” in connection with its cause. You then have hooked the Mayor…what a coup. Varela’s eyes turned green and he said that he "has a lot of hope in this one." :) "Hope"... we should add that to the buzz word list.

Sickening.

Lake Worth was approached by Creative Sustainable Solutions LLC. Just the name of the company is an indication of their smoothness when they use the word “sustainable.” Its subsidiary is called “Down to Earth.” It’s got a nice ring to it, right? Sort of like Hands On Consulting. That was another one that came to town with a crafty idea.

Well, they came and made a presentation. They have a scheme to get a $3 million dollar government grant that they will help all us poor folks living in Lake Worth to weatherize 300 houses over two years. The gentleman presenting had all sorts of family connections to politicians and said that “politics was his love.” He had all the answers. Politicians usually do. He just didn't have a business card when I asked for one...changed briefcases or something.

Maxwell, citing staff time and top heavy government, said it was difficult for people to trust government at times. I agree. Government has allowed these groups to exist. I find it even more difficult to trust all those looking for ways to grab the cash. Golden saying it was difficult for her to wrap her arms around the whole thing asked, “Is this too good to be true?” It was stated by Staff that this company was checked out but we did not learn of the specifics of their findings.

The Grant is for $ 3 million with one half of it going for salaries and administrative costs. Once Down to Earth gets a commitment from Lake Worth, they will make application to the Department of Energy for the Grant. They promise to use “green” technologies. Oh, I almost forgot—they get the $3 million, not the City. No accounting. Nada. No details. This is what they expect from us-

The City of Lake Worth’s part of this “partnership” is to

1. Market and promotional support of the program;

2. Provide venues for promotional events;

3. Personnel and technological support before, during and after promotional events; and

4. Multimedia and press support in the form of facilitation of providing maximum media coverage for all events and activities related to the implementation of the grant.

Basically this was about some group wanting to get its hands on all this money and using the City of Lake Worth to do it. These people just keep finding us; we keep putting them on our Agenda and then usually voting for it just because we were "snowed" by more of the same. But then, you know I am a cynic.