Fenwick puts on another dredge fest
The former City Council candidate with the engineering degree has decided to put on another public information session on the value of dredging the Rivanna Reservoir instead of spending over a hundred million building a dam (or even a dam extension, as Charlottesville's mayor now wants to explore). But after conducting dredge events in September and October, why is Bob Fenwick planning another? "It’s just to correct some of the misinformation out there," says Fenwick, noting that dredging foes have been attempting to scare the public by claiming that dredging will stir up heavy metals. And he notes that there's a Chamber of Commerce-organized water discussion whose panel includes far more dredge foes than fans. "This," says Fenwick, referring to his own event, "is to balance the scales, to educate the community not to be ramrodded by a bunch of baloney." Fenwick's event is Sunday, January 24, from 1:30 to 3:00 at CitySpace. The Chamber event is Thursday, January 28, from 11:30 to 1:30 at the Holiday Inn on Emmet Street.
12 comments
Thanks Bob. It's amazing to me how hard the County and the Albemarle Service Authority are fighting to keep accurate dredging information from the public. So much is at stake for City residents, all city owned water resources ( dams and reservoirs) valued at hundreds of million are to be destroyed with the current dam plan--so glad to see that our elected officials are waking up and realizing that the plan was based on a bogus dredging estimate, and without that RWSA would never have gotten it approved.
Someday if we can get RWSA officials under oath and their consultants, I'll bet that dredging estimate for our reservoir (200+ million) was produced under highly suspect circumstances.
This report by Hawes Spencer sure opened my eyes to the shenanigans going on at our water authority, to push their dam plan, and make sure we never considered dredging for our future water supply
"Last month, in one of the world's largest dredging deals, the Panama Canal Authority awarded a contract to widen the world-famous waterway, with the winning company, Belgium-based Dredging International, set to earn $177.5 million to remove over 50 million cubic yards of sediment. Although that volume is about ten times the scale of a dredging proposed near Charlottesville, the sum of money actually amounts to less than what it will cost to dredge the 360-acre Rivanna Reservoir-- at least according to one firm."
http://readthehook.com/Stories/2008/05/01/NEWS-water-May6HearingSche...
Feeling a little "sleepy?"
Cville Eye, here's abit more info
http://readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2010/01/06/mayor-norris-enters...
Hopefully Fenwick can get this all sorted out before March so he can return to what he does best - managing the most dominant men's softball team in the area for its division
$35 for lunch, this must be for the high rollers in the Chamber, guys like me sure can't afford this, especially right now. Pretty expensive baloney.
Here's the invite if you can afford $35 for lunch
Chamber "Our Community Water Supply" Luncheon
Event Details
Date:
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Time:
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Holiday Inn University Area
1901 Emmet Street
Charlottesville, VA 22901-
Our Community Water Supply
Presentations:
Brian Wheeler, Charlottesville Tomorrow
Mayor Dave Norris, City of Charlottesville &
Thomas Frederick, Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority
Holiday Inn University Area
1901 Emmet Street
$35.00 per member / $375 Chamber Table of Ten
In conjunction with Charlottesville Tomorrow and Free Enterprise Forum the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce will hold a community issues luncheon on the important issue of ââ?¬Å?Our Community Water Supply,” on January 28, 2010 at the Holiday Inn University Area.
Yes, of course we should. People are alsways advocating spending other's people oney. It's called "put YOUR money where YOUr money where YOUR mouth is." Otherwidr, it's called "bulleying."
What a disappointment, I was planning on attending the Chamber luncheon, but if all they're serving is baloney, I think I'll skip it.
This is what I found:
Our Community Water Supply
Presentations:
Brian Wheeler, Charlottesville Tomorrow
Mayor Dave Norris, City of Charlottesville &
Thomas Frederick, Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority
Thanks, Nancy, I'd forgotten that I'd seen that. It seems, according to the Chamber's website, that the Free Enterprise would not be participating. The previous notice in the Hook mentioned that Dominion Power was underwriting it. Not being a model of free enterprise, maybe that's why Neil Williamson is not participating. At $35/plate for members, I guess I won't either. That's why I guess it will need underwriting. I think some people will be very surprised at how well Mayor Norris will be prepared. He'll have more to say than the proposal was well-vetted and it's all for our grandchildren, most of whom will not be living here any way. I hope Brian Wheeler will provide the assembly with the results of the 2004 James Spinymussel survey that RWSA was a Dr. Neves of VA Tech to condut:
B. James Spinymussel Survey
Gannett Fleming is working with Dr. Neves from Virginia Tech to complete this task. Dr. Neves has currently scheduled this work for the spring of2004. We anticipate sufficient progress on the alternatives evaluation will be achieved to proceed with this work in a timely fashion, provided it remains appropriate.
blockquote> http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:9hKRcYEk6_sJ:www.scribd.com/doc/1151... , top of page 2. Remember it was the James Spinymussel that killed consideration of some other options. That's why I repeat, nobody yet has shown the public a documented survey of the existence and population numbers of this endangered species. So far, it seems to be mentioned only anecdotally.
Maybe we could request they collect a donation, toward the $200 - $300 million dollar dam/pipeline, from the Chamber, Free Enterprise Forum, and Charlottesville Tomorrow/Nature Conservancy, luncheon crowd--wonder how many of them pay water bills ?
I wonder who is going to be on the Chamber's panel and what are their credentials as related to water plans. Besides, what has it accomplished in recent years other than help the food industry by having luncheons and honor a local yearly with an award? I hope that the members of the Chamber also realize that they think more of that organization than a large number of locals do.