Desperate times call for desperate measures. Or at least that’s what your government is telling you.
Citing perennial drought conditions in Los Angeles, this week the L.A. Department of Water and Power (DWP) is touting the success of a program called “Cash for Grass” – which frankly sounds like a place you should turn in your unused medical marijuana. But L.A.’s cheekily-named program is actually a water conservation plan that is costing big bucks – and the only ones getting soaked in this scenario are the ratepayers.
The Los Angeles utility has shelled out more than $1 million in incentives for a program aimed at curbing water usage, but at up to $2,500 per lawn it appears to be little more than a glorified lawn makeover service at the public ratepayers’ expense. Cue the new TV series, “HGTV: Kicking Taxpayers to the Curb” edition.
The L.A. area’s “Cash for Grass” program, which has been in place since 2009 but recently upped its ante with increased financial incentives, provides cash to residents who will rip out their grass lawns in exchange for desert landscapes.
The fact that the Pacific Ocean – the world’s largest and deepest ocean – sits right next to this great city is an irony that is not lost on me. Neither is the fact that this program comes with the same tiresome and unproven claims of “global climate change” and a whole host of other problems that have long plagued L.A.’s Department of Water and Power.
For example, the agency’s Board admitted in 2010 that they were struggling with a whopping $200 million in pension liabilities for DWP employees amid budget shortfalls. While newly-elected L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti recently helped negotiate a new contract with DWP in which public employees forgo raises for three years, those same employees get to keep their pensions and new hires still get an unbelievable 80% of their salary annually as a pension for life. Some deal.
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