PROOF IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET "CITY HALL" TO ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING USEFUL

PROOF IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET "CITY HALL" TO ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING USEFUL

Yes, at first thought, most people in most communities will agree it seems almost impossible to get "City Hall" to actually do something constructive and useful, particularly when it comes to issues as fundamental as Health Thru Gardening. Yet, here is a proof that this is not an absolute truth graven in tablets of stone for all eternity.

The City of Santa Monica is currently considering creating a "Garden Registry". Sure, it hasn't happened yet, but Santa Monica is actually currently exploring the possibility of developing a program to do exactly what we are working on here: Allow private home owners to partner with interested gardeners to use a portion of their property to grow vegetables. Contact rich.rollins@smgov.net if you live in the area. And if you live in LA or surrounding communities, you can contact gabriela@cscommunites.org .

More, the same city of Santa Monica actually has a "Rain Harvest Rebate Program":

The City of Santa Monica is now offering rebates on rainwater harvesting equipment and supplies. "Harvesting rainwater from your rooftop protects the Santa Monica Bay, safeguards drinking water supplies, and adds a little excitement into to your life and landscape - and can put money in your pocket".

Eligibility: Any property owner (resident, institution or business) in the City of Santa Monica and any tenant of said property with the permission of the owner.
● Downspouts: Only downspouts that drain DIRECTLY to the alley or street are available for this program. Downspouts that drain to the landscape are NOT available for the redirect rebate program. (So you will have to install a downspout emptying into the alley or street before installing your two barrels and get your $200, but not bad anyway!)
● Rain Barrels: Up to 2 barrels per downspout. (If you multiply your downspouts, you can get $200 per spout, but your two barrels must be under 125 gallons each. If over that, you are out of luck! Cheapest is to use surplus 55 gallons drums anyway.)
● Cisterns: Up to 2 cisterns per property. (However, if they are under 500 gallons, they are not a "cistern", and you are out of luck -- in other word, forget about installing anything between 125 and 500 gallons, since that would be neither a "barrel" nor a "cistern", and would bring you nothing. Ah, the unsung beauties of the administrative mind!)

Three "rebates" are available: ("rebates" on what is unclear... property "taxes"? What if you don't pay any?)

1. Rain Gutter Downspout Redirect Rebate (rainwater percolation): Up to $40 per qualified rain gutter downspout (up to and including all downspouts on one’s property), includes labor and materials. Rebates are available for the cost of redirecting rain gutter downspouts to permeable surfaces, such as landscaped areas.

2. Rain Barrel Rebate (rainwater storage): Rebates up to $100 per barrel (limited to 125 gallon maximum capacity), includes design, labor and materials.
3. Cistern Rebate (rainwater storage): Up to $500 per cistern (limited to cisterns over 500 gallons each), includes design, labor and materials.

Proof of what we are saying can be found here:

http://www.smgov.net/epd/residents/Urban_Runoff/rain_harvest_rebates.htm

What to do: Multiply the street or alley-oriented "downspouts" and then install two 55 gallons drums per downspout. Redirect the overflow of these drums to two "cisterns". One of 500 gallons, and one of as many gallons as you wish, as long as over 500. You might manage to get between $1,400 and, say, $1,800 or so from the city, and that is to collect enough water to feed you for quite a while, assuming you have an "Optimal Garden", that will use the water sparingly and intelligently.

A little suggestion to orgsanizing bureaucrats: How about a dollar per gallon of installed capacity, regardless of size? With perhaps a limit on maximum capacity, just in case some residents would come up with 50,000 or 100,000 gallons cisterns? (Human ingenuity is great, and even if one can't imagine where the enterprising resident would put such wonder cisterns, we will agree that prudent administrators should always play safe... ;) On the other hand, isn't the idea to precisely store as much rainwater as possible? And even better, how about cutting the subsidy by half if the water is not used in a food-producing organic garden (Santa Monica does not need any additional chemical pollution), and DOUBLE it if it is?

So, perhaps not a perfect program, but definitely a step in the right direction, and a practical proof that when citizens awareness rises, as it sure did in Santa Monica in the past few years,"City Hall" somehow has to respond.

Copyright 2008 OSL. Usual grant of license to reproduce data in unadulterated form non commercially. Permalink for this post: http://healththrugardening.blogspot.com/2008/10/proof-it-is-possible-to-get-city-hall.html