It Could Cost You, or You Could Break Even, or You Could Come Out Ahead!

Orchestramiami's "Friendraiser" is on Saturday, November 9, at 7:00.  The location is the offices of Shulman and Associates at 100 NE 38th Street (in the design district).

Very cute.  A "Friendraiser" is of course a fundraiser, and they're trying to be "friend"ly about it.

Orchestramiami (OM) is a wonderful local music organization.  The founder and artistic director, and pianist, and conductor, is Elaine Rinaldi, who is a purely delightful person.  Elaine does everything for the organization.  She has a board of directors, as is required, and of which ("full disclosure," and all that) I am a member, but it is Elaine who does all the work.  She seems to like it that way.

Anyway, this year, she is/we are doing a more or less typical fundraiser.  Admission is free, which is not always the case for fundraisers.  Some are frankly expensive to attend.  The offers are these: "meet new friends and fellow music-lovers;" "enjoy free drinks and light refreshments" (Elaine commonly provides wine and cheese/fruit after chamber concerts, and both the wine and the eats are good.); "musical performances by members of the orchestra" ("the orchestra" is an interesting phrase.  Elaine has many musicians who play for her.  Some play in full orchestral ensembles, and some play in small chamber groups.  She doesn't specify how many musicians will play, or in what configurations.  But I've never heard any Orchestramiami performance in which the music was not wonderfully well-performed, so I'll vouch for whatever Elaine does.); "a 50-50 raffle, door prizes" (I told you you could leave with more than you brought.); "a silent auction and much more" (you know about silent auctions, and I have no idea what the "much more" is.)

Elaine ends her e-flyer with "All proceeds from the raffle and auction go to supporting your orchestra, Orchestramiami."  Elaine underlined your, so I'm telling you what she wants you to know.

And Elaine is right.  Orchestramiami is "your" orchestra.  Or it could be.  And it should be.  Orchestramiami is accessible, and it has a personal style to it.  You don't just "meet...fellow music-lovers."  You meet Elaine.  And the other musicians.  And Elaine's parents.  Just to concretize how accessible is Orchestramiami, some performances are free.  The ones for which there is a charge are very inexpensive.  I've told Elaine that she/we should charge more, but she likes it this way.

I'm inviting you to come to Orchestramiami's "friendraiser" on November 9.  No one asked for a head count, and there are no "tickets" to reserve.  So just show up.  If you want to.  If great people, mingling, wonderful music, wine and "light refreshments," and a chance to acquire something interesting float your boat.  If they do, I'll see you there.

We Had to Pinch Ourselves.

Not one.  Not two.  But three meetings tonight.

The first one was about our fearless Commission's decision to replace 80 years' worth of Code Compliance Boards with a magistrate.  The stated reason to do this wasn't what you would call real.  It was more theoretical.  Well, Will Tudor's explanation was theoretical.  Will's idea was that we had somehow always been doing this wrong, and Will, who isn't an attorney, decided the right way to have a Code Compliance Board was to have an attorney magistrate, who would, according to Will's imaginings, have the right kind of experience or qualification or something, and whose expertise would shield the Village from the liability under which we simply must have been laboring all this time.  And Village attorney Rebecca Rodriguez reassured Will, and Tracy "Big Mama" Truppman, that she could not ethically allow the Village to have a Code Compliance function that wasn't staffed by an attorney.  Ah, those attorneys.  They do look out for each other's incomes.

Apparently, according to Will, we're skating on very thin ice with our Code Compliance Boards composed of people who are not what Will would call experts, even though they know the Village and the Codes backwards and forwards.  And the jeopardy we create for ourselves, according to Will, is that we could get sued.  Gary Kuhl reviewed for Will our history of getting sued, because of bad Code Compliance Board decisions.  The score so far is zero.  We've never been sued.  Suing a Code Compliance Board is not provided for by law.  But a dissatisfied Village resident could appeal a bad Code Compliance Board decision to the District Court.  That hasn't happened, either.  I did mention that Will's concern wasn't what you would call real.

So, the gang busied itself figuring out which Code functions would be assigned to the magistrate (essentially all of them), and which to a newly constituted Code Compliance Board made of Village residents lovingly selected by Tracy Truppman.  It was an exciting (oh, no it wasn't; but it had lots of inaudible mumbling in it) discussion that somehow, amazingly, resulted in Tracy's triaging Code functions exactly as she wanted to.  Dan Samaria was poised to protest, but apparently, it wasn't too hard for Tracy to hypnotize him with suggestions like "I think we should assign items 1-5, 7, and 8-13 to the magistrate.  What do you think, Vice Mayor and Commissioner Tudor?"  And those boys were just as good as girls for Big Mama.  Which was a good thing, because there were no other girls there, apart from Big Mama.  And Rebecca girl.  And Rosanne "Madame Clerk" Prado.

But the problem was that in public comment, every person who spoke complained about this scheme.  Everyone thought it was wrong.  And botched.  No one thought it should happen.  In part, it was because the Commission was reduced to Big Mama, Dan Samaria, and Willy Boy Tudor.  Betsy Wise has resigned, and Jenny Johnson-Sardella has apparently stopped coming to meetings.  And what's left of the Commission is under investigation by the county Ethics Commission.  It was a hell of a "quorum," which Willy Boy reminded us it still was.  And the discussion in which the three mouseketeers engaged made clear they had no experience with what our Code Compliance Board does, and has been doing over the course of many decades, and no idea how it works.  No idea at all.  So, every person who spoke pleaded with the Commission not to go forward with this ill-conceived scheme.  But it seemed Big Mama was on a mission.  Mac Kennedy didn't use this term-- although he described it perfectly-- but Big Mama has weaponized the Code Compliance function to punish her critics, and she can control the function better if it's one person she personally hires, instead of five of her neighbors.  So, the three agreed.

Meeting #2 was a Resolution to set a date for the election to replace Betsy Wise.  Yes, of course we have to do that, because Betsy lasted less than one year before she resigned.  But there was another pressing matter.  Jenny Johnson-Sardella has now missed four of 10 Commission meetings, and at least two workshops, this year.  She failed to show up tonight, too.  Her name was called, and she was noted absent.  It was clear she had not called in to say something prevented her from attending.  She's just stopped coming.  So again, every non-Commissioner Village resident who spoke during public comment pointed this out, and how Jenny has gotten e-mails from some of us, letting her know she should resign, and most important, that it is the Commission's responsibility to discuss this matter, and either get Jenny to resign, or remove her from office.   And it's time-sensitive, too.  We're about to spend $16K on an election to replace Betsy, and it wouldn't cost us any more, or very little more, to hold elections for both of their seats.  So, we asked the Commission to discuss this matter tonight.  Well, they were so busy talking about meaningless things, like what a shame it was that we have to do this on short notice at a time of year that people's thoughts, and maybe the people themselves, are elsewhere, that they never said one word about the Jenny problem.

Did I wait around to audit tonight's alleged version of the branding workshop adventure?  No, I did not.  There was a rumor that Betsy Wise, whose "baby" this was, was going to make an appearance for this project, but who cared any more?  (Another rumor was that Betsy might have claimed that she resigned, because of either "death threats" or "threats."  Both are preposterous, and either the rumor was false, or Betsy made up a doozy as an excuse to get off this bus.)

You sit there, for hours, and you raise issues, which all of your neighbors echo, and ask questions, and the meeting proceeds as if you never said anything, or weren't even there.  You have to pinch yourself, to see if you're still alive, or maybe you've turned into a ghost, and that's why you're so completely ignored.  It's a hell of a Commission we elected for ourselves.

Yeah, Well...

There's been a flurry of e-mails in the past couple of days.  There was something about some meetings that weren't exactly noticed in the usual way, and about which most people found out, because Janey Anderson talked about them on Nextdoor.  Apparently, one of the meetings, or possibly two of them, are tonight.

Here are the text messages I just got from someone in attendance at one or both of these meetings:

"Betsy quit!!"  I assume that means she resigned her Commission seat.  The next text message said
"Special election in 90 days."
Then, "Now they are going to recruit a new Code Compliance Board...Old members can't reapply."  And "Tracy just said 'I'm concerned about attorney fees for the Board.'"
And finally, "Code Compliance workshop," and "Now a communications workshop with only two Commissioners."  It was not specified which two.

So, I wasn't told why Betsy Wise resigned, or if she gave a reason.

Yes, of course we now have to have a special election to fill her seat.  For what it's worth, that special election will cost us several thousand dollars.  Not that it isn't better to spend several thousand dollars than to have Betsy Wise on the Commission, but it's just noteworthy that we have yet another expense.  And I think it was at the last Commission meeting, or maybe some meeting shortly before that, that Betsy was asked if she really donated her stipend back to the Village, as she had previously said she would, but she never answered.  I'm guessing the answer was no.

Interesting about resurrecting the Code Compliance Board, after Tracy Truppman insulted all the members to the point that they all quit.  And no discussion about making an exception, in view of Tracy's trampling of everyone, so that the prior members, who were doing a wonderful job, could reoccupy their seats.  Apparently, Tracy sees yet another opportunity to control a new group of members, and she doesn't let pass opportunities like that.

And what's this concern about the cost of an attorney?  Since when does Tracy Truppman care how much Village money gets diverted to her attorneys?  Usually, it's the more, the better.  And she was willing to pay some magistrate what an attorney would cost, or maybe more.  Frankly, I'm not even sure it was past practice to have the Village attorney at the Code Compliance meetings.  I'll find out.

A communications workshop with only two Commissioners present?  I wonder which two.  The only one who alleged an interest in this is the one who just resigned.  Although Will Tudor, in some of his past ramblings and incoherent sputterings, did once or twice talk about improving communications.  But neither he nor anyone else ever actually did it (except Dan Samaria and his televising Commission meetings), or even discussed a real plan.  So, I really don't know which two Commissioners bothered to pretend to be part of a discussion like that.

Well, I suppose I'll find out more tomorrow.  And if I do, or if anyone who was there elaborates in a comment, I'll let you know.

The Deconstruction of Biscayne Park. And of Reality.

I don't know how to account for the composition of tonight's Commission.  My first thought was that Betsy Wise and Jenny Johnson-Sardella are a tag team, and they decide for each meeting which one is staying home.  Tonight, it was Jenny who stayed home.

But later, when the Commission had its version of a pointed discussion-- well, when I say "discussion"...-- about our problem with attorneys' fees, and Dan Samaria kept invoking Jenny, who wasn't there to support his complaint, I thought maybe who stayed home was more specific and strategic than just a coin toss, or a rotation.

So, about this "discussion..."  It wasn't like Dan's attempt to discuss removing Tracy from office.  They were both gang bangs, but of different sorts.  Somebody clued Tracy in that if removing her from office was a topic to be "discussed," then she had to recuse herself.  Really, this time.  She had to leave the room.  So Betsy and Rebecca Rodriguez beat up on Dan, with Will Tudor playing a pathetic version of the good cop.  Dan was out of his depth.  He was taking it from every side, and he couldn't keep his head above water.  Yeah, Dan, we'll discuss this matter... some other month.

But the "discussion" about the attorneys' fees was more ridiculously caricaturish.  Tracy went from promising to look more closely into attorneys' fees to reassuring everyone that she already has, and there's no problem.  And Betsy promised us the same thing.  Both of them asked Rebecca Rodriguez if she was cheating the Village, and she said she wasn't.  It was a twisted song and dance.  And once again, good ol' country boy/good cop Will Tudor said he was concerned, and that we should have an auditor look at our attorneys' fees, then voted against Dan Samaria's motion to do that, substituting his own motion, which the girls voted down.  And this time, it was Rebecca Rodriguez who recused herself, making an effective tag team with Tracy.  If you've ever watched wrestling on TV, with the wrestlers tagging each other, and the ones who were supposed to win bashing the ones who were supposed to lose over the heads with folding chairs, that's what happened to Dan Samaria.

The whole meeting was ridiculous.  It was pathetic.  And it started with Dale Blanton announcing his resignation from the Code Compliance Board, of which he was the only remaining member.  He told me he thought the way the Commission treated the Code Compliance Board was "rather shitty," a term he was considering using in his public comment.  But he didn't.

And one of the most pathetic things all night was that suddenly, the microphones didn't work.  The one that initially most conspicuously didn't work (although it did for the CITT guys) was the one for public comment.  One of Gary Kuhl's best lines of the night was that the malfunction of that microphone seemed symbolic of this Commission's relentless attempt to silence Village residents.  Literally, it seemed.  Gary's other best line of the night, which was really the story of the last almost three years, is that the Commission just doesn't care.  And it really doesn't.  It doesn't care about non-Commission Village residents, it doesn't care about the manager's mistreatment of Village residents, and general failure to function, it doesn't care about the Code officer's rank abuse of Village residents (who criticize Tracy "Big Mama" Truppman), it doesn't care about excessive legal bills, it doesn't care about anything.  It just fails to function, destroys Village traditions and morale, and bleeds Village money.

Yup, Dale was right.  And so was Gary.  This Commission really is "rather shitty," and it truly and deeply doesn't care.  If there was any good news, it was that the County Ethics Committee guy was there again, and he was taking notes.

Oh, Come On, Janey, You Know I'm Just Jerking Your Chain.

Janey, I'm just funning with you.  You and Bob, and a number of other people, are complaining about Tracy/Jenny/Will/Betsy, as if they had disappointed you, but I know fully well that you knew what we were getting.  We all knew.  It was, as I say, obvious.  You didn't support them because you wanted this.  You supported them, because you felt they would be the lesser of two evils, so to speak.  And because you subjected us to this, I hope you were right.  At least, I hope you still think you were right.

We were just coming out of a bad Commission when Tracy/Jenny/Will ran, and many of us felt we had to have "anyone but Fred."  And when we said "anyone," many of us meant "anyone!"  We all knew Tracy Truppman, which was reason enough not to want her on the Commission.  And no one knew Jenny Johnson-Sardella or Will Tudor, and later Betsy Wise, which was reason enough not to want them on the Commission.  So, we were desperate.  We were grasping for "anyone" to save us from another day of Fred.  And another two or four years?!  Unbelievable.  Impossible.  So, we settled.  We had to.

Fred was one of the worst Commissioners we've ever had.  He joined Roxy Ross and David Coviello in depriving us of our Village sanitation workers, and in imposing on us outsiders to take away our refuse.  And the fact that we saved ourselves a lot of money is no consolation.  He sided with them again to force Village residents to have some of their tax money used to renovate the log cabin and build an administration building.  He made us "the worst we could be," which is clearly what he set out to do.  He even said something like that.

And besides, he had a horrible attitude.  He was undiplomatic and impatient.  Not only did he insist that his neighbors be sensible and consistent (and coherent), but as far as I could tell, he didn't have much reverence for Bob Anderson, or Barbara Watts.  And he should have.  Bob was a fixture, and Barbara was hopelessly dizzy.  You have to be deferential to people like that.  Fred should have been.  And I always thought he seemed bored and annoyed to be sitting through four hour meetings that he claimed should have taken less time.

And what might be worse, Fred was unreliable, at least about one thing.  He sat on the Commission for three years, did his damage (which was considerable), and then mercifully told us he wouldn't run for re-election.  At least we would be rid of him.  But no.  He then claimed that he didn't like the choice of people running to replace him, and he said he changed his mind, and ran again anyway.  Well, running was up to him, but it was up to us whether we would allow him back on the Commission.  No, we would not!!  We can only hope he got the message, seemingly evidenced by the fact that he didn't run again next time there was an election.  (And never mind that he was right about the people he didn't want replacing him on the Commission.  He said he didn't intend to run again, and he shouldn't have run again.  It's like he lied.)

But how do we know he won't run again?  Sure, we wouldn't have to elect him, if he did run (if he was that foolish), but now, we might have a new problem.  We thought we had saved ourselves, at least from Fred, by electing the Tracy crew, but it turns out we're not exactly pleased with them, either.  So, now, what do we do?  I think we're all agreed we don't want Fred.  And we seem pretty much to agree we don't want Tracy/Jenny/Will/Betsy.  But what's our choice?  It seems as if Fred got the message, and he wouldn't run again, but what if he did?  What if Tracy/Jenny/Will ran again, and Fred ran against them?  What would we do?  Hold our noses?  And choose which?

We need someone else to run.  Maybe Jared Susi would run.  H Weitz said he was thinking about it.  But someone told me they saw a "For Sale" sign in front of his house.  It doesn't seem to be looking good about Mac Kennedy.  The Kuhls invariably decline.  Someone needs to come forward to save us from the horrors we keep inflicting on ourselves.  And we do this deliberately.  We all knew Fred before he was elected.  What we got was the same guy we all knew.  Same focus, same attitude.  And the same is true of Tracy.  Same Tracy.  We also elected Jenny, Will, and Betsy, none of whom had ever demonstrated the slightest interest in BP.  (Well, Jenny sort of did, for a little while.)  So, surprise: none of them is interested in BP now that they're on the Commission, either.  We seem to know what we're getting, which we keep not liking, and we ask for it anyway.

We need to give this much more careful consideration.

David Hernandez Couldn't Understand Why I Had Any Trouble Getting Commission Approval For My Solar Panels.

If you haven't yet encountered our new speed tables, they were annoying me.  I couldn't comfortably drive over them going faster than about 8-9 mph.  Our speed limit is 25, and we should be able comfortably to negotiate speed tables/humps at that legal speed.  So, I wrote to Krishan Manners and Luis Cabrera.  Neither of them got back to me, but Krishan apparently passed my e-mail along to David Hernandez, who is our Public Works Director, and David called me to discuss.  (The speed tables were apparently David's idea.)  In fact, he offered to come by.  So, he came over, we took a little field trip in my car, and I demonstrated the problem.

In the meantime, David also wanted to discuss my solar panels.  He could easily see the ones in front of the house, and he wanted to know more about my solar system.  While we were out road-testing speed humps, he asked me if anyone else in the Village has solar panels.  Three other houses that I know about have them, and I expanded our field trip to show them to him.  They're all very easy to see from the street, and David was impressed.  But he came back more than once to the question of why my variance application got the reception (rejection) it did.  Solar panels seemed to David like such an obviously great idea, and there was no problem with the fact that they're visible from the street at all four properties, and he remembered my presentation, which he thought was sensible, and he just couldn't understand the resistance.

David didn't get it.  He thought this was about solar panels.  I explained a few times that it had nothing to do with solar panels.  It had only to do with the fact that I was the one asking for something.  The rejection was not technical.  It was not a reflection of Code, or appearance, or what's best for and in the Village.  The rejection was simply personal.  Tracy Truppman and her girls told me no, because I criticize Tracy, and Tracy won't accept being criticized.

I pointed out to David that not only do I predictably get a "no" about a request I might make about, let's say, solar panels, but I get a "no" about applying to be on a Board.  And to show David that this was personal, but not uniquely personal, someone like Mac Kennedy gets the same "no," for the same reason.  So does Nicole Susi.  So would Jared Susi.  So do Roxy and Chuck Ross.  "The answer is no.  What's the question?"

I think that by the time David left my house this morning, he understood this better.  He understood that this has nothing to do with solar panels, or appearance, or Codes, or the Village.  It's just Tracy's personal campaign of vendettas against people who criticize her. 

And to make the matter of solar panels even clearer to David, I showed him command central on my computer, where I keep hourly track of how much solar power I get for the day, and daily track of what's happening with my FPL bill, and monthly track of how that bill compares with the bill from the same month last year.  It's pretty compelling.  David doesn't read this blog, so he didn't know how much money those panels saved me.  But once I told him about that, and showed it to him, he said what anyone else would say, and what I say: the Village should have solar panels.  And then, he better understood the consequences of diverting so much Village money to Tracy's protectors and staff of lawyers.  We can't have solar panels, because they're not cheap, and Tracy gave all that money to Rebecca Rodriguez.  And Krishan Manners.  And Christina Caserta.  Because they protect her, and carry out her aggressions.

Not that it's David Hernandez's call, but I do think he much more clearly understands what a great thing solar panels are, and how much they do for property owners, and how much they could do for the Village of Biscayne Park.  If only...

An Interesting Solar System Development

My power went out today at about 3:13 PM.  It shut down my computer and everything else for several seconds.  Then, the computer came back on, and I had to power it up again.  The lights came back on quickly, after maybe two or three seconds.

Normally, this shouldn't have happened, because I have solar power, which would have kept everything running, even if the power flickered off.  But I happened to have had my car plugged in at this time, and my car uses all the solar power I make, and more.  So I figured the power coming back on was just a flicker, as happens from time to time, and the reason things shut down was that my car was using all my solar power.

But at 3:55, I got an e-mail from FPL.  It said the power was out at my house (it reportedly had been since 3:27, although I got a notice from Tesla telling me my charging had been interrupted at 3:13), and at 43 other houses near me, and that it would be back on by 7:00.  Really?  It seems to be back on already.  It has been for over half an hour.

So, the power was still off.  But it wasn't off any more at my house.  And my car was still plugged in.  At that time of day, when the sun is dipping behind trees and clouds, it was still supplying enough power to run everything in my house, and charge my car.  Amazing.

And as of yesterday, my projected FPL bill for the coming month was $9.98.  And that takes into account averaging from the weeks before that.  The actual bill on 9/19 was $31.66, and it had dropped steeply in the next few days, because I didn't charge my car, until today.

Really, if Tracy Truppman wasn't diverting so much Village money to the people who protect her and carry out executions for her (manager, attorney, finance director, code officer), and she didn't feel like doing anything else to uplift the Park (medians, streets, really anything), imagine how much money we would have to add solar panels to municipal buildings.

Julie Williamson Says I Should Tell My Friends.

I attend a unique series of concerts which are part of the Martha/Mary Yamaha Series.  I think it's so named, because it used to take place, or maybe parts of it still do, at St Martha's Cathedral on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami Shores.  But I don't attend those concerts.  I've been going to the ones at La Merced Chapel and Corpus Christi Church at 32nd St and NW 7th Avenue.  I think it's in the Allapattah section.

I have almost never attended a concert there that wasn't spectacular.  It's all early music.  The one concert I heard there that wasn't great featured a premier harpsichordist who lives in Miami, and he was so taken with himself that he decided he didn't need to practice for the concert.  But the other harpsichordist practiced, and she was magnificent.  And so were all the other concerts I heard there.

The other interesting feature of these concerts is the price.  It's embarrassingly low.  The cheap seats are $15, and the big spenders pay $25 to sit closer.  But since it's a very small venue, it really doesn't matter where you sit, if all you want to do is listen to the music, and look at the amazing art collection someone put together in that room.  I forgot if they call it "Columbian" or "pre-Columbian," but it's ancient art to go with the ancient music.  They're very proud of that venue, and when you go there, they give you a handout just to talk about the renovation project.

After the concert, they serve not particularly drinkable wine, and fruit and cheese.  It's a very pleasing gesture.

Here's how I "met" Julie Williamson.  (I don't actually know who Julie Williamson is, but I might have met her one time when I was there to buy a ticket.)  I decided that this year, since the price is so low anyway, I would get myself the big spender $25 seats.  And I further decided that I would subscribe to the season of four concerts, and I would pay $100 for the "Blue Circle" subscription.  When I tried to buy this subscription, it said the "Blue Circle" was no longer available.  I thought maybe those few better seats had already been snapped up.  So, I replied to the e-blast, asking if it was true that the "Blue Circle" subscription was no longer available.  Yes, indeed it is still available, wrote back Julie Williamson.  And she'd find out what was wrong with the listing on the site.  No problem, she later wrote to me; I can go buy my "Blue Circle" subscription.

Well, when I went back to do it, I encountered Eventbrite, which wanted an additional $7 and something.  In that I am, in fact, a cheapskate, I wrote back to Julie Williamson to ask if I could just give her a check or cash, and not pay something to Eventbrite, of which I don't approve anyway.  Yup, we can do that.  I should mail Julie Williamson a check.  And tell my friends.  That's what Julie Williamson asked me to do.  So, I'm telling you.  Do yourselves a favor, if you love early (Baroque-ish) classical music, it would intrigue you to see a remarkable church renovation with a Columbian or pre-Columbian theme, and you don't like to spend a lot of money.  And you like intimate settings.  And cheese and fruit.  (Stay away from the wine.)


You can find this series at marthamaryconcerts.org.  The first concert is Saturday night, October 12, and Sunday afternoon, October 13.  If you go Saturday night, it's more expensive.  I'm often busy on Saturday nights, and I really am a cheapskate, so...

This season, it appears there are two concerts that are not early music.  Dafnis Prieto is a jazz percusssionist, and Shelly Berg and Martin Bejerano are jazz pianists.

"I've Got...Two Tickets to [South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center]"

I have two tickets for a show on Saturday night, September 28, at 8:00.  The performer is a performance poet named Shane Koyczan.  He calls himself a "Spoken Word Artist."  Here's an example of what he does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXcnZ2VgksU.   And here's a TED talk he gave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa1iS1MqUy4

Why am I telling you this?  Because something came up, and it will make it unfavorable for me to attend this performance on Saturday, September 28.

I paid $25 each for the tickets.  If you'd like to go, and you're willing to reimburse me for the tickets, that's great.  If you're willing to go, but you can't or don't want to pay me for the tickets, you can have them.  I just don't want them to go to waste.

Let me know.  Obviously, the sooner, the better.

fredjonasmd@gmail.com
305-891-5030

Solar System Update

I got my FPL bill today.  It's for $31.66.  My September bill last year was $119.14.  It appears that I saved about $88 this month.  I had solar power during the day every day this month, and I did not have solar power last year.

This is somewhat unreliable, because bills on corresponding months from one year to the next are never the same anyway.  My bill last month, which included one week of solar power during the day, was $98.05.  The corresponding month last year, the bill was $134.68.  The July 18 bill this year was $107.40, and the July bill last year was $149.10.  This year's June bill was $122.36, and last year's was $131.81.  So I was already using less electric power monthly this year than last, and I don't know the reason.  I don't think I did anything different this year, although it looks like I must have.  One difference is a new central AC unit I got, which was in July last year.  It's possible that it resulted in a decrease in my electric power usage, if it was much more efficient.  I usually turn on my central AC in about May.  This past May, my bill was $85.20.  The May bill from last year was $111.72.  So, I saved myself about $26 without the solar panels.  My June savings was about $9.  The July savings was about $42.  It's hard to make sense of savings, except to say my current bill, in a very hot month, is really low compared to last year's bill for the same month.

So, the question is, about how much are these solar panels worth to me on an average monthly basis.  For the moment, I have one month to use as an example-- imperfect as that example is-- and the suggestion is that it could be around $88.  I said before that after I get my tax credit, the panels will have cost me about $13K.  If I saved an average of $88 every month, it would take me about 148 months to get back the money I spent for the panels.  That's almost 13 years.  The warranty for almost all of the components of the system is 10-12 years, with one component warranted for 25 years.  The expected degradation of performance is about 0.6% per year.  So, by the end of the 13 years it will take for me to get my money back, the panels will be about 8-9% less efficient.  It might, then, take me more like 14 years to get my money back, unless the panels stop working after the warranty period.

In the meantime, I get the intangible benefit of knowing I'm using less of the non-renewable sources of electric power.  That would please some people to know, and other people wouldn't care.  In my case, it pleases me to know it.

There are two other things worth mentioning about solar panels at my house.  One has to do with my car.  It's purely electric, and when I plug it in, it uses much more electricity than does everything else in the house.  On days I plug it in, which I do during the day, it uses all the solar power I make, and significantly more.  This usage lasts for about 4-5 hours, until the car's batteries are full, at which time it doesn't draw electric power any more.  If not for my car, my electric bill this month would be about $10.  It's a tricky business to know when to plug in the car.  If I plug it in during the day, I'm using (free) solar power as part of the electric source.  This is good.  But electric power I buy from FPL is more expensive during the day than it is at night, so the power I'm buying during the day, which is only part of what I need to replenish the batteries, costs more per kWh than electric power I would buy from FPL at night, of which I would need to buy more, because I don't get the solar boost at night.  I haven't figured out how to calculate which is a better deal.  I'm working on it.

The second feature of solar power is that if the power goes out during the day, I still have power, at least for about 7-8 hours.  And it's enough to run everything in the house, except powering the car.  I can run the AC, the refrigerator, lights, the computer, whatever I need to run in the kitchen, and do laundry.  But only during the day.  I have no power at all from late afternoon to about 10:00 AM when the power is out.

That's my solar system update.  I still say solar panels on Village buildings would be a great idea, if we weren't diverting so much money to the attorney.