Now this is how a mayor should act!

[JettaKnight]

It's about time a government official tells people to stop depending on the government.

https://ktxs.com/news/local/colorado-city-mayor-resigns-after-controversial-facebook-post

Too bad he resigned, I certainly like the cut of his jib.

 

[HoughMade]

He not wrong, but he's not much of a "politician", to his credit.

I see all of these issues in Texas (I know this is Colorado, but Texas is in the news) and, granted, I've always lived in the north, but do people really not have a plan to not freeze to death if the power is out?

I have a heat and water plan. It's clunky, but it works and I have had to use it.

Also, I see all this freezing water in the Texas houses- word to the wise, I don't care where you live, don't run water in outside walls or other unheated spaces unless you can turn it off and drain it if need be.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Oh, hush with your common sense ideas. Aint nobody got time for that!

 

[JettaKnight]

It's Colorado City, Texas. (yeah, it's confusing)

 

[Jaybird1980]

It's a real shame he felt the need to apologize for saying what needs said. Cancel culture will swallow him and his family up no matter what.

 

[HoughMade]

It's Colorado City, Texas. (yeah, it's confusing)

Welp....I read right over that...

He's right.

I have a smallish generator (4000 watts), but that can run electric heaters, refrigerators and freezer and other things. I have potable and non-potable water stored (I'm on a well). I have a gas fireplace that can kick out enough heat to keep the entire house from freezing and parts really comfortable and I have a kerosene heater. Some day I would like to get a whole house generator so I could run my furnace and well pump (the generator I have now could theoretically do it, one at a time, but is not set up for that and would not run anything else), but for now this works.

 

[Cameramonkey]

The total lack of self reliance in this country is pitiful. I lost count of people who cant plan ahead. People around me on facebook asking silly questions like "Where can I buy a shovel, all the stores are sold out?" (sleds too) Are you new here? You havent needed a snow shovel before? You had to wait until AFTER 9" gets dumped on you to decide you probably ought to buy one?

 

[Leadeye]

I think Texas is where were are all going power wise, I've taken step to be less reliant on the grid and will keep moving in that direction. Someday electricity will get short and those with no backup plan at all will suffer.

Some mayors simply tell those without services to go to the dome.

 

[Ingomike]

I think Texas is where were are all going power wise, I've taken step to be less reliant on the grid and will keep moving in that direction. Someday electricity will get short and those with no backup plan at all will suffer.

Some mayors simply tell those without services to go to the dome.

This will be our norm soon. We are not building any new power generation and a whole bunch of people want to put their electric cars recharging stations on our grid. Wake up people, there is no power infrastructure for mass electric cars. That infrastructure is at least 30 years away at current processes if the permissions were granted.

 

[Cameramonkey]

And ask any power engineer. (I actually know one) Today's infrastructure, even if we WERE building more power generation plants cant handle the crap the greenies want with their all electric solution. I think he said the average density neighborhood could adequately support a max of 2-3 plug in vehicles per street before the current requirements would exceed the designed load on the lines. No way in hell for everybody to come home and plug in their cars so they can be used tomorrow. Not even if 1/4 of the residents wanted to do it.

 

[spencer rifle]

I know a guy who works for AEP. We talked about infrastructure, especially in regards to transformers at large substations, as to replacement if one goes out due to sabotage or defects. He said that one could be replaced with a spare that had been refurbished in about 6 weeks. If more than one went out it would be a year, since it would have to be manufactured new, likely overseas.

 

[MCgrease08]

The total lack of self reliance in this country is pitiful. I lost count of people who cant plan ahead. People around me on facebook asking silly questions like "Where can I buy a shovel, all the stores are sold out?" (sleds too) Are you new here? You havent needed a snow shovel before? You had to wait until AFTER 9" gets dumped on you to decide you probably ought to buy one?

I live in an apartment complex at the moment. Don't get me started on the number of people who don't have a shovel. It's hilarious watching people trying to clear snow from their front doors with a broom.

I was kind during this storm and cleared my walkway and shoveled paths for a few of my immediate neighbors, but I'm the only person I've seen in the entire complex (hundreds of units) with a shovel.

I'm also the only one in my building who has shoveled out their car. And if I go anywhere, I have no expectation that spot will be available when I get back.

We also have a very large population of Indian families here and very few seem to have any experience with snow. I've seen many, many kids out playing with sneakers wrapped up in plastic grocery bags. No gloves, no hats, certainly no snow pants of any type.

The lack of preparation in general is a disgrace. We used to be able to handle snow storms. Now we get a few inches and the world grinds to a halt. I grew up in PA and used to have a paper route. In '93 we had a blizzard that dropped 36" of snow over two days. You'd better believe I was still out there delivering papers. Then a few years later we got another massive snow storm. One of my buddies and I each had about a dozen neighbors we cut grass for. He had an old beat up snowblower. We were only 16 at the time but we hit all of our lawn customers then went door to door soliciting business to shovel sidewalks, driveways and roofs. The snow was so high, we could walk right off the roofs and onto the snow pile. We made a whole bunch of money that week.

Since I've been an adult living on my own (more than 20 years), I've had a kid knock on my door and ask to shovel my sidewalk exactly once. And I paid him to do it just because he showed the initiative.

 

[Leadeye]

Sadly, these are all the people who will take thier laptop and go to the dome as instructed by local government.

 

[JettaKnight]

For the last two weeks I've gotten emails from whiny homeowners complaining that the HOA isn't taking care of them.


We just seem to be on this continued trajectory toward the expectation that some entity will take care of you from cradle to grave.

 

[printcraft]

YES! Let's punish for Mayor to suggesting people be self reliant!
We can't have that in todays world.
.gov save us!!




JFC

I have a smallish generator (4000 watts), but that can run electric heaters, refrigerators and freezer and other things.

If you turned it off you wouldn't have to worry about keeping your food cold.

 

[NKBJ]

A system is designed to service expected conditions.
Water pipes in the attic are not unusual in many parts of the Gulf Coast states. Even pipes outside the house used to be fairly common.

A nephew texted me that a generating station I once worked at got shut down due to cooling systems impacted by the cold. That's a great example of engineering for expected conditions and getting caught with your pants down when conditions change.

I think that the electric generating industry is getting a "heads up". The climate changing from a relatively stable warm era to a relatively cooler era is underway and they're going to have to make changes, probably laughing all the way to the bank over the justified rate hikes.

Years ago Dr. Tatyana Koryagina had published an analysis on the change in climate to a new cooler era and made a presentation available on line with English translation. Can't find it any more but I recall she was revising her projections based upon new data and was forecasting an onset to occur sooner than had previously been thought. As you can imagine, Russian foreign and domestic policies are revised accordingly. I think Putin learned to listen when she missed the date of the 911 attack by only two weeks.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Electric generation in Texas is not designed for freezing temps. Lots of exposed water lines with no heat tracing, Boiler water storage not designed for cold. Oil and hydraulics not designed for those temp. The Sad truth is that it has happened before to them, and they didn't take the needed step to fix it because it's not a regular occurrence. Their Grid itself is actually better than ours as it is mostly self reliant.

 

[breakingcontact]

I mean...he isn't wrong.

but I'm more interested in why so many are turning to government for the answers and that is largely because they have weak families due to weak men.

 

[BugI02]

Electric generation in Texas is not designed for freezing temps. Lots of exposed water lines with no heat tracing, Boiler water storage not designed for cold. Oil and hydraulics not designed for those temp. The Sad truth is that it has happened before to them, and they didn't take the needed step to fix it because it's not a regular occurrence. Their Grid itself is actually better than ours as it is mostly self reliant.

It doesn't seem to be widely known that the windmills actually add to the grid problem. When very cold, they actually heat their gear boxes electrically to keep the lubricant from gelling. It is estimated Texas' windturbines are using about 1 megawatt sitting idle just so they will be able to restart when the opportunity arises

 

[Chewie]

I live in an apartment complex at the moment. Don't get me started on the number of people who don't have a shovel. It's hilarious watching people trying to clear snow from their front doors with a broom.

I was kind during this storm and cleared my walkway and shoveled paths for a few of my immediate neighbors, but I'm the only person I've seen in the entire complex (hundreds of units) with a shovel.

I'm also the only one in my building who has shoveled out their car. And if I go anywhere, I have no expectation that spot will be available when I get back.

We also have a very large population of Indian families here and very few seem to have any experience with snow. I've seen many, many kids out playing with sneakers wrapped up in plastic grocery bags. No gloves, no hats, certainly no snow pants of any type.

The lack of preparation in general is a disgrace. We used to be able to handle snow storms. Now we get a few inches and the world grinds to a halt. I grew up in PA and used to have a paper route. In '93 we had a blizzard that dropped 36" of snow over two days. You'd better believe I was still out there delivering papers. Then a few years later we got another massive snow storm. One of my buddies and I each had about a dozen neighbors we cut grass for. He had an old beat up snowblower. We were only 16 at the time but we hit all of our lawn customers then went door to door soliciting business to shovel sidewalks, driveways and roofs. The snow was so high, we could walk right off the roofs and onto the snow pile. We made a whole bunch of money that week.

Since I've been an adult living on my own (more than 20 years), I've had a kid knock on my door and ask to shovel my sidewalk exactly once. And I paid him to do it just because he showed the initiative.

I was raised in WI, lived in MN, MI and went to college in the U.P.. This (Indy area) is the furthest south I have ever lived. You don't get snow here (you get a bad case of cold dandruff) and it really isn't that cold here (at least in th 15 years I have lived here). TX totally unprepared for this as are most of the southern states and population. You have never lived until you see an average of 200+ inches of snow a year.