At Last Night's Sierra Madre City Council Meeting Water Rates and Rent Control Were Discussed

Rent Stabilization: A lot of people turned out to discuss this, much oxygen was consumed and previously ingested groceries burned, but nothing much came of it. It turned out things aren't so bad after all, and in the end this item was merely received and filed by the government agency. No landlord is going to be forced to lower their rents to $750 a month, as some claimed to fear. Great waves of unnecessary paranoia broke upon the rocks of reality, and then slipped back out into the primordial psychic seas from which they had originally flowed. 

Just one more indication that many landlords have way too much time on their hands.

You really have to wonder what people were thinking when this was brought forward for discussion. Was it, as Councilmember Delmar wryly suggested, a way to energize the community and get people to actually attend a City Council meeting? I guess the best that can be said is it kept folks out of the taverns. Or at least until the meeting finally ended.

Water Rate Study: The latest masters of the Sierra Madre Water Company disaster now want to change their bills to two tiers. The first tier, which would be less expensive, will be based on your consumption of the local non-imported stuff. The second tier, which would set you back even more, is what you would then have to pay for consuming that more costly water imported from the gonifs of the SGVMWD. This is supposed to make things simple, create trust, and give people a true understanding of why their costs are as they are.

The shocking claim is this is not being done to raise the water rates of consumers. Rather just pushing around what is currently being charged, then molding it into something more appealing and understandable. 

However, it was also said that none of this can be implemented until the State of California gets around to deciding how much water you should be allowed to consume before any punitive financial consequences are imposed. That has not been worked out yet, and won't be in place until the end of this summer. Or maybe even later. Nobody knows for certain.

Apparently this also involves state planes flying over Sierra Madre and taking photographs of everyone's houses and lots. Do wear your nicest hat so you will represent well.

So is it true? The City of Sierra Madre is going change its water rate tiers, but not in order to ask for more money? That does seem quite out of character for City Hall. I find it hard to believe, but perhaps that's a symptom of my own personal PTSD from previous water rate experiences in the past. I guess we'll know this for certain when the changes are made without a Prop 218 process being initiated by the City Attorney.

It does sound way too good to be true, however. Certainly there must be a catch. You know?

Two things that were not discussed. Sierra Madre's bizarre and troubling water bond debt situation, which is not surprising. We'll have to get back into that some other time. But also, why does this city have to pay the SGVMWD more for their water than other cities do? And why can't that be remedied? 

It seems discriminatory and unfair.

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