— from Foster Hildreth for OPALCO —
The OPALCO Board of Directors unanimously supports the YES FOR HOMES measure on this November’s ballot. The lack of affordable housing effects OPALCO’s ability to hire and retain a qualified workforce to keep our islands’ power system up and running. We’ve seen candidates for open positions drop out and employees leave due to the scarcity and high cost of housing in the San Juans.
OPALCO employs 50 islanders and pays a good living wage. Even so, the current housing market presents a barrier to the next generation of co-op staff we will depend on to keep the lights on. We want our co-op employees to stay for their whole careers, if they want to; be able to raise a family and have a good quality of life. Housing is the foundation of this quality of life and we must act, as a community, to solve this crisis.
In OPALCO’s recent survey of low-income households, 1,500 of our co-op members identified housing as their highest cost issue and greatest barrier to financial stability. Caring for our community is a commitment we make as a co-op business and we pledge to do all we can to help solve this problem for our membership. Voting YES FOR HOMES in November is a good start.
Vote YES FOR HOMES to support the people who keep the lights on – and to support all those who make our communities bright by building their businesses and lives in this beautiful place we call home.
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I’m also for “low impact” affordable housing with caveats.
Does Opalco have a view about the ecological impact caused by over-development on a finite small island?
What about the destruction of wetlands, erosion, pollution, waste, etc..?
What about extinguishing the microbial, unseen bio-diversity that makes life for large mammals like ourselves possible? Any view on this?
Do we care about people?— rich, poor, black, brown, white, off-white, of any of our now defined 4 or 5 genders, of any ethnicity or cultural heritage…(so much easier to simply say “humans”) when we kill off the food chain on which we larger mammals depend —because of over-development/politics/greed?
Any thoughts or studies on this?
You see folks, that’s why politics and greed destroy us!
We should never talk about housing (rights and benefits) without including the destructive effects that over development has on our habitat (responsibilities and obligations).
People from all economic classes whether through “politics” or “short-term profit motive” tend to decouple Benefits from Responsibilities when it’s convenient for their own selfish goals.
Where are the island’s stewards? Speak up, please.
What’s the gameplan here? —To keep incentivizing / attracting an increase in the island’s population while maintaining an accommodative pro-development attitude of adjust, clear-cut and build?
When do we get a clue? When it’s too late to matter?
It’s still not too late for orcas island—just sayin’
(Consider this my Sunday Sermon)
Thanks for your input, Chris. We all need to be thinking of these things.
It sounds like great questions for the comp plan. OPALCO will be holding town hall meetings the week of November 12th to discuss how OPALCO as a utility will be thinking of these and other issues for the long term future. We really encourage you to come. Stay tuned for details about when we will be on Orcas discussing those issues.
Wow. I’m so happy to hear that kind of response. Thank you, Krista. I want to think of these things as big-tent “family” matters. Let’s take care of our large family as well as the ground beneath our feet. Thank you! I’ll definitely participate.
One way OPALCO can help make things more affordable here in San Juan County is focus on making electricity more affordable.
The OPALCO mission statement makes no mention of affordability. Keeping power “cost competitive” is very different than affordable.
Why not have a mission statement that includes affordable power?