Potpourri for a Wednesday

New meters

We received a notice telling us National Grid will be giving us a “smart meter” sometime soon. Is this a cause for concern?

Numerous people seem to express anecdotal concerns. They are the sorts who will point to snow-covered solar panels and tell stories about vaccines causing autism. Is this new meter something we should be concerned about?

Clean team

I was driving Tuesday when I saw a group of men with shovels clearing a snowbank at the northeast corner of Hyde Park and Lockport Road.

I stopped to take a photo and realized they were members of the Niagara Falls “clean team.”

Their jobs are the ultimate in entry level, and gritty. $17 an hour, no benefits, chiseling ice from a snowbank on single-digit days. Oh the glory. There are multiple jobs open if you want work.

https://www.niagarafallsny.gov/residents/employment_opportunities.php

About those utility bills

It was January at the Niagara Community Information Group meeting when the the dudes from the State Public Service Commission spoke.

He came with hundreds of brochures, at least 5 different versions of propaganda letting us know all of the different programs the government had to offer.

I asked one question.

“We are 5 minutes from one of the largest hydroelectric plants in the United States and we pay among the highest rates of anyone in the country. How is that possible.”

Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining. But he did. The explanation, as only a bureaucrat could say:

“Per capita, as a percentage of income, New York residents pay less than any state in the nation.”

I couldn’t challenge him in real time, and he was obviously deaf to his audience, a former industrial city, forgotten by New Yorks State and with more than its share of impoverished people but dang.

As Mark Twain said, “liars, damn liars and statistics.”