Tick, tick, tick

Nothing new to report on the candidate front, except that we probably all read in the Daily News that Dick Sullivan will not be running for mayor.

So I'll tell you guys a story.

Yesterday afternoon my landlord's father came by and invited me out for a sail with him and his 2 buddies. One of the guys introduced himself as "John" and all through the sail we chatted and stuff.

As we were pulling back into the harbor - that's a whole other story - I found out that "John" was John Wells because the conversation turned to parking and Karp.

You never know where you will meet people, do you?

And just look at that view of downtown Newburyport from the river ... lovely old church steeple, turbine ...

More turbine talk

I hope you all are keeping up with Mary Baker Eaton's blog, The Newburyport Blog. She's kind of taken up where I left off, with "As the Turbine Turns."

Only she's a lot more forest and trees, with references to Copenhagen, Denmark, and Costa Rica ... good stuff.

I particularly enjoyed the video featuring Jay Leno - I would link to it but my browser is taking forever to load her blog.

Cohasset questions our methods

Thanks to Tom Salemi for pointing out this story from The Patriot Ledger ... well I didn't have quite the reaction he had ... it's about the turbine (what else?).

Friday editorial

Yesterday when I was in Gloucester, I was talking to my sister (the one that lives in Malden) and my brother (I only have the one brother - only one that that I have any connection to anyway since I barely know my birth father's sons from his second wife) about life in Newburyport.

This is the only small town in which I have ever lived as an adult. You can't count the place in Mich. where I grew up because we lived way out in the county, not in the town.

One observation I have about Newburyport is that people don't want to read about what they perceive, rightly or wrongly, as "whiners."

This includes the neighbors of the landfill, neighbors of the sewer plant and now neighbors of the turbine. And, of course, everyone on Plum Island - unless Larry McCavitt is somehow involved.

Is there any neighborhood that isn't complaining about something? The people in Ward 6, perhaps ...?

While I do know that Mark Richey had every right to erect that turbine under the city law that some say was hastily written so he could do it, and wind energy is a great thing, I don't believe that anyone can dispute that it has had an adverse effect on the people who live in the Back Bay neighborhood.

I don't buy into the argument that the people shouldn't have bought houses near the industrial park if they didn't want industrial stuff across the road from them. Some of those people lived there before the industrial park, or the train station, was there.

A city councillor said to me the other night, "It's hard to visualize 292 feet."

Well there are these thingies now called computers? And there is software for these thingies that allow you to visualize 292 feet. Not to mention good old fashioned models that just sit on a table ...

And as for the landfill neighbors -which city was it that allowed residential development of a plot of land less than a mile from what was at the time a closed dump - a dump at which where heavy metal sludge had been deposited?

Land, I might add, that I am told is all clay and every basement in the neighborhood floods regularly. They've all got pumps in their basements, apparently. A double whammy.

Who knew about that? Who let that go forward?

People, especially anonymous people commenting on the Daily News website and blogs, are always saying that they don't want government interfering in their lives ... but I can't think of much worse than having government allowing projects to go forward without due diligence because government officials are dazzled by words such as "green," "grant," "tax base" and now "stimulus money."

(I'm not talking about the sewer plant, because I believe that has been examined from every angle.)

Oh, I forgot "soccer field," which is what was apparently dangled in front of the city by the landfill owner.

Newburyport is not going to have a reputation as good place to live, green initiatives or not, if the city keeps letting development go unchecked and city officials continue to get stars in their eyes from shiny baubles dangled by developers and others who know they can get away with it.

Richey turbine on the grid

I forgot that I picked up an info sheet of green initiatives at Mark Richey Woodworking yesterday.

I only just got around to reading it, while I was writing up my story.

Here's what it says:

Did you know?

That our wind turbine provides nearly all of the electricity needed to power our building and when we're not using power, the excess electricity flows into the grid.

You don't want to know the rest of the list, do you? My fingers are tired ...

As the turbine turns (final episode)

I just returned from the ribbon cutting at Mark Richey Woodworking.

Man it's cold out there!

I don't really have much to say about it, except that I thought there might be some protesters - but there weren't.

And since the turbine is now officially here to stay, the saga "As the turbine turns" has come to an end.

It's here, there's nothing to be done about it - and unless it falls over, I'm done talking about it.

As the turbine turns (a continuing saga)

I was out and about a bit ago, so I drove over to Hill St. I had turbine on the brain after reading Tom Salemi's post about it.

I had last night commented on Tom's post that when I was there before, I did not hear any noise coming from the thing.

Then I thought, "Well, maybe I did ..." so I deleted the comment.

But no noise today, only this view from the end of Hill St. near Rte. 1.

Anyway - as I turned onto Rte. 1 and looked up I saw what appeared to be a model airplane caught in the blades. I pulled onto Hill St., parked and ran back to Rte. 1 with my camera - which failed to take a good photo of the turbine and the little plane. Damn.

It was a remotely controlled model plane. Talk about a traffic hazard.

This was the view that I saw before writing my story from a couple of weeks ago, but it was night then and I couldn't get a good shot.

Wind power

I was reading with interest the various editorials and comments on the DN website, relating to the Richey turbine (I guess I have to call it that, if there are going to be more of them).

The comments on this one in particular, from Robert Germinara, caught my attention.

Germinara has the fuel oil business across the street from the Richey property. I believe those are the only 2 industrial-type businesses on that stretch of the road, but they are in the industrial park. Why the industrial park extends that far is another issue I have, but that's another post.

I don't disagree with what Germinara is saying because I don't necessarily disagree with wind power. If we got wind, use it.

But I do believe that the way these things work, in order to get grants from the state, is that the windmill generates power that goes onto the grid. Then the meter at the business in effect runs backwards to reflect the power that the device is putting onto the grid.

I could be wrong in this instance, but I know that's the way it works at Cider Hill Farm - having done several stories on the turbines there.

This is from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative website:

A project is eligible for funding if it is located at a commercial, industrial, institutional, or public site, and if the electric system will be served by a Massachusetts investor-owned electric utility company or a Municipal Light Plant Department that pays into the Renewable Energy Trust.

Richey got a grant from the Collaborative, so ...

The problem they were having at Cider Hill (Amesbury) was that the energy company was making it so that the high-energy usage months and the low-energy usage months were cancelling each other out.

In other words, the energy generated and used in months their buildings are shut down (like now) was not helping with their energy bills in the months they are up and running.

You didn't think that anything was "free," did you?

So I'm not clear about how the Richey turbine is not hooked into the grid and how not everyone who uses electricity is getting some benefit from it.

This explains everything

As I was driving up Rte. 1 today, and there was the (still) turbine, I was reminded of a conversation I had with someone in the planning office.

We were talking about why the turbine was not spinning, as I reported the other day.

"So much for not being able to see it," I said. "I can see it from Plum Island!"

"I don't believe anyone ever said you wouldn't be able to see it," the person responded.

I then said that there was discussion before ZBA about how the trees would block it from being seen ...

"Well they do block it from being seen from downtown ... because the ridge blocks it from view ..." (or words to that effect).

Oh, so now I see.

It didn't matter who else could see it as long as it couldn't be seen from downtown.

What a joke.

Turbine going online?

Oh yeah ... I was in the Planning Office earlier, and I heard through the City Hall grapevine that the Richey turbine is off because it's being tied into the energy grid.

And in the "Old News about the Turbine" department (this information was brought up at the last City Council meeting, Feb. 23).

No wind for the mill?

Wow, I've been so busy today that I hardly had time to think of the many indignities Bank of America has heaped on me!

Just an observation from today:

I noticed the turbine was not turning. Admittedly, it was not that windy today, but I've seen it turning on a lot less windy days.

Yesterday, I got a phone call from a friend here on the island complaining that my story in the Current did not give both sides of the story.

Well, since it was a story about the City Council meeting and the people who showed up to speak about the wind energy ordinance, I was hardly inspired to go out seeking Back Bay residents who actually are in love with having a giant turbine spinning red light into their windows every night ...

I actually am not opposed to wind energy or the Richey turbine. I just think perhaps a little more thought could have gone into placing this particular one.

And if I were the lawyer who argued in front of the Zoning Board of Appeals that it would blend in with the sky, well .... as I've said before, I can see it from Plum Island.

The top of it is above the tree line. But, you know, if it's cloudy, it does blend in with the sky. Kinda.

No matter - it's here to stay. And while I'm usually distracted by the fact that it's moving, today I was distracted by the fact that it was not moving.

Go figure.

Turbines and light shows and erections

Wow, there is sooo much going on in the city right now, my head is spinning ...

Here's my today's story in the Current, about the wind turbine.

I paused last night while driving near the turbine (on a side street) to watch again the red FAA-required beacon light shooting off the blades of the turbine. It wasn't as spectacular last night as it was Tuesday night, but maybe it was the different angle.

Someone also told me yesterday that it gives an amazing light show when the sun is setting, which prompted another person to prattle on about packing up some illegal substances and settling down near the turbine for a night of free entertainment ...

I also heard (and read) there was a multiple-car pileup at the intersection of Rte. 1 and Low St., but right now it does not seem to have been turbine-related.

If it was somewhere that was not affecting a neighborhood the way it is, I'd say it was a really good thing, a really good idea and very entertaining.

I also heard (pure rumor this is) that Mark Richey refers to the turbine using three words, two of which are "my" and "erection." (I can't recall the third - you'd think I'd remember, but I don't! It was just an adjective anyway.)

It comes in a giant economy size, too

By the way, I was alerted secretly (via coded communication) that there is an even BIGGER version of that wind turbine ... over 400' tall ...

The one at Richey Woodworking is a mere 292' tall.

I definitely should NOT have picked up that fully caffeinated latte after leaving City Hall ...

That's one big honkin' turbine!

I was driving north on Rte. 1 this morning and I happened to glance to my left. EEEEEK

I thought some giant transformer/monster thingie was about to step out onto Rte. 1! I mean, literally I was startled at how big it is.

When I think of wind turbines, I think of those slender, graceful ones at Cider Hill Farm. Those ones appear to be benign ... almost sleep inducing.

The blades on this thing could take out an 18-wheeler. This photo really doesn't do it justice.

Now I understand what all the fuss is about ... I'm not saying it isn't safe, but HOLY MOLY!