Please Urge New Castle County Council To Vote Down Bullock And Sheldon's R13-258 Pro-Power Plant Resolution

http://www.nonewarkpowerplant.org/

Update: Lisa Diller has just confirmed with residents that she is voting NO on this resolution and she is meeting tonight with one Newark area community to listen to their concerns, Among those concerns is that the resolution is full of bad information on the project that TDC is spreading. Here are a few examples:

Even according to TDC's own DEDO grant application, this resolution has the facts wrong. The avg salary is not $63k ("$60k" is the avg *loaded* cost of hiring someone); the avg salary, before taxes, is $46,500. And the median salary for the most common workers is lower, which means most of the employees will be paid lower than the living wage for 1 adult + 1 child in New Castle County.

The 900,000 square feet (20 acres out of the 43 acre site) is the size of the entire developed ground area. The data center is proposed as 192,000 square feet.

And TDC's data incorrectly counts their 16 hr/week weekend jobs as full time headcount, so their 290 figure is really 219 when adjusted to full time equivalent jobs. And even if you subtract out the FIFTY landscape, security, and janitorial staff, TDC's projected data center jobs are 6X the number of data center staff per square foot at all major data centers, including those much larger. Examples in Grant County, WA: Microsoft 500,000 sq ft / 100 employees. Yahoo 180,000 sq ft / 35 employees.

And all of this is if you even believe TDC's claims, a company with 8 part time employees, with no phone number, with a UPS Store mailbox as their supposed "Suite" address, and which has never built anything before.

Appreciate with me the hubris of at-large Council President Chris Bullock and non-Newark Rep. Tim Sheldon to set in motion the committee hearing and Council vote for a pro-power plant resolution on Newark's election day when we will all be busy conducting our affairs in choosing the next mayor! OUTRAGEOUS. 

And then read the Resolution and be further outraged:

http://www2.nccde.org/council/Documents/LegislationDocuments/R13-258.pdf

R13-258 is on the agenda for the NCC Executive Committee at 4:00PM on Tuesday November 26th. It is the public hearing for the Resolution. Public comments are welcome for this agenda item and there is a general public comment on each committee agenda. There will be supporters in the room no doubt.

The Resolution is also on the agenda for a vote at the regular council meeting later that night which starts at 7PM. This will prevent Newarkers from coming to Wilmington since so many will obviously be involved in the election that day. 

http://www2.nccde.org/council/Documents/MeetingAgendaDocuments/Council%20Agenda%2011-26-13.pdf

Public Comment is taken at the regular meeting as well. I plan to go to both meetings but we will need as many as possible to contact ahead of time too. This will have to be mostly an email campaign to stop it.

If we can get all of our supporters to email all of Council it will be very influential. And if we can get people across the county to do the same - all the better. I was hoping Sierra Club and other organizations will send out alerts.

People can address emails to Council President Bullock and the rest of Council and mention their own rep. specifically.

Sponsor Chris Bullock is the only at large person on Council and so is everyone's rep. Newark has (R) Janet Kilpatrick in the northern corner and (D) Lisa Diller for the rest. Diller has to be pressured to lobby against this Resolution and act in the interest of her constituents. 

It is outrageous that none of the facts cited are vetted and none of the residents concerns are noted. Click onto No Newark Power Plant->Resources->Documents and read some of the facts for yourself.

~*~