HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/3/2019 Item 18, Schmidt (2)
From:Richard Schmidt <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Agenda Item 18
Agenda Item 18
Sept. 2, 2019
Dear Council Members,
I take exception to calling what’s before you a “reach code.”
Actual reach codes produce buildings substantially better than the minimum required by state law.
This code does not do that. It is RINO – Reach In Name Only.
It’s an electrification code. Nothing more.
Proof is the “incentive” offered for electrification: the “right” to build the worst building state law permits, the “Standard
Building.”
An actual reach code would require something much better than that.
In my other letter I point out how retrograde this city’s understanding of building sustainability is, and how that leads to a
retrograde non-progressive building stock. So you’ve got a lot of actual “reaching” you could be doing.
One reason so many residents distrust the city is because you mislead us with exaggeration, hype and untruths, such as
misnaming this code represents. Instead of speaking simple truth – that you are adopting a building electrification code –
you dress it up with pretense you are leading the band when in actuality all you’re doing is jumping on a bandwagon
whose tail lights are disappearing round the next bend in the road.
1
It is perfectly honorable to state, simply and truthfully, exactly what you’re doing. Without hype.
Our city needs to fire its public relations word-twisters, eschew propagandizing, quit using language in Orwellian ways,
and relearn to speak in simple straight-forward truthful ways. Spin fools no one. It dials up emotion.
You can do better than this, and your honest efforts at truth-telling without hype could mark the beginning of restoring
trust.
Richard Schmidt
2