Ripon (CA) to Turn Off Streetlights After Voters Reject Fee Hike

kxtv.com ^

[chance33_98]

Ripon to Turn Off Streetlights After Voters Reject Fee Hike

The streets in some Ripon neighborhoods are about to get a bit darker. Starting this week, the city will start dimming hundreds of streetlights in town.

The city's lighting district faced a budget shortfall of $35,000 last year because of increasing energy costs. The district went to voters last July for a tax increase. The annual cost per household would have gone up from $25 to $42, but voters rejected the increase. As a result, 400 streetlights around town be turned off to save money .

The lights to be extinguished will be scattered across town, in an effort to keep some lights on in each neighborhood. Most will be out by the end of January.

Ripon is the largest of 17 special lighting districts administered by the San Joaquin County Department of Public Works.

[norraad]

Buy blueberries, improve your night vision, hit thugs unaware in the sight of the head, take their guns, cheaper, tastier & more fun.

[CIB-173RDABN]

hold for later

[hattend]

The city's lighting district faced a budget shortfall of $35,000 last year because of increasing energy costs.

Lay off a city employee, all of a sudden there is a surplus.

[EggsAckley]

Ripon is practically IN Modesto. With all the media people who show up there, maybe they should be routed through Ripon and ticket all of them...........

[EggsAckley]

Right on, RightWhale!! I live out in the mountains and Mars has been one of the highlights (pardon the pun) of my year. I sit in the hot tub and gaze at it every night. Where my Mom lived there were so many lights you couldn't even SEE the sky.

[So Cal Rocket]

With a simple Google search, and 5 minutes of browsing their website, I found out that the City of Ripon spent $150,414 on vehicles in 2002, and has a budget of $213,000 in 2003, an increase of 59%. Cutting back to the 2002 budget would solve their problem.

[G.Mason]

"Buy blueberries, improve your night vision, hit thugs unaware in the sight of the head, take their guns, cheaper, tastier & more fun."

Yet another shining example of why humans are atop the food chain ladder.

can I eat them in a pie?

[trebb]

Let's see, $17 extra per houshold goes into $35,000 about 2058.823 times. They intend to turn off around 400 lights and leave some on in other areas. I'm curious about how many lights a town of 2000 homes needs...

[norraad]

Yes, but they are more useful fresh from the bush at the local u-pick(my local bushes are over 40 years old).

They are related to cranberrys, some say it's the same bush grown on dryer land.

[gundog]

...some say it's the same bush grown on dryer land.

I once heard a guy say that koalas were in the cat family...doesn't make it so. Visit Bandon, OR some summer for a lesson in berries blue and cran.

[norraad]

Well, they taste like cat.

[gundog]

Which? Blueberries or cranberries?

[1Old Pro]

This is ridiculous and clearly illustrates that energy costs in this country are way too high.

[1Old Pro]

I'm curious about how many lights a town of 2000 homes needs...

And why it costs so damn much to light 100 lights.

[CdMGuy]

I live part time in Palm Springs. The only street lights are in the downtown shopping district and at major intersections. Otherwise, all streets are dark. Very nice. It makes it much easier to see the stars.

The next town over, Cathedral City, tried to raise the utility tax. When the voters voted NO, the idiots on the city council voted to "save" money by not watering any of the city's parks. Of course, it will cost a few hundred thousand dollars to replace all of the dead grass and shrubs but these jerks didn't give a s--t. They were going to show the taxpayers who was in charge.

This is a city realizing a fortune in sales tax revenues from all of the auto dealerships that have relocated to an auto row over the recent years. They built a huge Taj Mahal of a city hall and entered into agreements to subsidize a multi-screem cinema and an IMAX cinema, all of which are costing a bundle each year.

They don't make them any dumber, unless you consider the Dems in the CA legislature who sat on their hands during Arnold's state of the state speech last night, and then sent their two stooges, Burton and Wesson-oil out to tell everyone how they just wanted to raise taxes and spend more.

[G.Mason]

"Yes, but they are more useful fresh from the bush at the local u-pick(my local bushes are over 40 years old)."

I was just kidding about the pie. That's why I don't do comedy as a profession.

My neighbor was just speaking to me about them [blueberries]. Claims we can pick them for sixty cents a lb. in season.

I'm going with him, whenever.

Kinda wished I was a kid. Way back when, we lived in Hayward, Calif. for a year.[father in construction] We had a commercial strawberry field over the fence. Yumm!

They'd probably shoot me now.

[KneelBeforeZod]

hmm I say Modesto, patterson et al have a special 2% increase in hotel taxes for out of town residents when the scott peterson trial starts. (for all those reporters)

then again, local restuarants, grocers etc will all have increased business, so why get greedy.

I hear these days there are a lot of counties that really stick it to people with hotel taxes to pay for new pro stadiums-guess there is no reason to be shys-ty like that....