American hatred of taxes is going to cause a lot of extra problems adapting to increased fuel costs.

According to this story, some police departments are already encouraging more bike patrols because of high fuel costs.

As somebody who depends absolutely on the bus and train, I'm wondering most about public transportation. Who will get priority when real shortages occur? Private citizens with the cash to pay for the fuel? Transit agencies with locked in contracts? Police, fire, medical and other public service and safety agencies?

The Washington Post has an article about the Washington Metro (bus and subway system). Their planners are raising the question of how the Metro and other transit services run by local governments will cope if gas prices continue to rise. Metro is close to being overwhelmed right now.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/26/AR200805...

It will be interesting to see how politicians and beauracrats respond to Peak Oil. Up to this point they have been unanimous (with the exception of a few rich enclaves) in believing the old canard that "growth is good". Specifically, they believe in ever increasing population growth and building in their community. I was thinking this may discourage growth but in fact, it will likely just encourage them to increase via higher density buildings. Only if construction costs went way up from Peak Oil would they have any reason to get off the population growth kick from Peak Oil. Otherwise they will look at more people as giving them more taxes to pay for about the same amount of police cars and fir trucks, etc. as when there were less people.

But it will likely get the outlying "bedroom communities" to consider getting some commercial enterprises in so people can live and work in the same place.

I think only a peaking in coal and natural gas, with the resulting large increases in electrical costs will get politicians to stop thinking that "growth is good". And even then that will not be at the local level.

Dear Debbie,

Godd Luck! I sort of know how you feel trying to get people to take the concept of Peak Oil seriously. It's a big jump. Not just the whole idea of Peak Oil, which of itself is quite a challenge to get one's head around, but the next step of taking it seriously, because if one does start to take it seriously and think about the implications for our way of life, for our entire "Western" civilization; the model of ease, plenty and serious comfort, and that this might be in serious jeopardy, or even threatened, and in our lifetime! Well, most people have a hard time dealing with such a frightening prospect, and who can blame them? It takes time to mull over the implications, because Peak Oil seems to go against the grain of almost everything we have been brought up to believe about our 'non-negotiable' Western way of life.

The politicians and 'movers and shakers' I've mentioned this subjedt to over the last couple of years, simply don't get it yet, or at least they apparently don't get it, at least not in public. In private maybe they believe something else. The ones I've chatted to in private don't get it, and may not ever want to get it, push the bad news away for some other day, for some other poor guy or gal, seems to apply. This is understandable and probably a natural reaction. Though clearly not all politicians at local or national level choose to bury their heads in the sand, but, at the present time they are in tiny minority.

I've learned that most people have a semi-religious belief in the ability of the 'market' to find a solution to the challenge and this is coupled with a similar faith in technology to provide the answer to a problem most people don't even recognize is looming on the horizon almost out of sight.

What will wake people up to the challenge Peak Oil represents? Perhaps it'll need something like what it'll take to make people realize that 'global warming' or 'climate change' is a reality too? Something Big! However, it's a sobering thought that by the time this happens, at least in relation to climate change, a 'sign' of such magnitude that it cannot be ignored - a truly horrendous heatwave for example; that it may also indicate that we've tipped over into another kind climate and world, something we can't control anymore.

Perhaps the central 'myth' of our type of civilization is that we appear to believe that we have almost become 'Godlike' in our powers and abilities, that we are 'in control' of nature and our environment and nothing can stand in our way, that the entire planet has become our plaything and our slave. That we, on fundamental level, create our own reality through our will. That we are not only detached from, but we have become the lord and master of nature.

But on a more mundane and everyday level what we'll need before people in general begin to take Peak Oil seriously, if the problem is defined in those terms, is a substantial rise in the price of oil way above what we're seeing now, oil at $200 or $300 dollars a barrel should get people's attention! But what happens then? How will such prices be 'framed' by the media? Who will get the blame for such an occurance? Are we going to look at ourselves and our massive consumption and incredibly lavish lifestyle, or will we blame some funny looking guy with a strange name in some desert who through a mixture of spite, greed and ignorance, chooses not to produce the oil we need at prices we can afford?

I believe the ruling elite in most Western-style countries will choose to place the blame on someone else for as long as possible. It's not that we've used too much, too quickly, too recklessly. The 'debate' or 'problem' will be framed differently. It won't be that the oil isn't there, because of Peak Oil, the oil's in the ground, only the oil exporters, for a variety of reasons have chosen not to supply the 'market' with sufficient supplies to meet our needs. That they've got us over a 'barrel' and the creeps like it that way! Jesus, maybe we should just go in and take what we need from these lousy blackmailers and after all we've done for them! We've given them our money and now they want our blood!

Of course I may be totally wrong here and suddenly the combined leadership of the Western world will become incredibly intelligent, honest, responsible, imaginative and highly competent; and they'll level with people, but I doubt it. It's possible to question a lot of things, but really, seriously, fundamentally, questioning the validity of the 'free market' paradigm, isn't one of them, at least not under the present system, simply because the ruling elite, who do so fabulously well under the current system, really believe that we live in the best of all possible worlds.

Most of them really, truly, Believe, almost religiously

Hi Debbie, welcome to The Oil Drum.

I'm not sure I agree with Kunstlers view on the eventual fate of the suburbs -check out this David Holmgren (Permaculture Guru) video on the Future Of The Suburbs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTYe8WloF1U

I live in London and one of the ways that the Mayor -Ken Livingstone- has been able to push his green agenda is to let us know exactly where all the money is going. When you see the items above you get a 'sticker shock' and begin to think if there are better ways of doing stuff... More sensible ways perhaps, recycling, energy efficiency, etc. It makes policy to combat rising costs more transparent and acceptable.

Its likely that there will be some serious 'shock level' rises in the coming years and people are going to be looking for answers, leadership and a track record in facing up to the real issues and not just 'asking OPEC to pump more'. Where's the leadership in getting out a begging bowl?

Nick [London, UK].

Debbie:

On the face of it 2 1/2 gallons of fuel per citizen per year for municipal services does not seem "too bad" but some obvious things suggest themselves...

Get rid of your "air force", or at least downsize it to 1 fixed wing aircraft for highway and marine patrol as a first step. The idea of the police force of a community of 200,000 having a fleet of 3 MD500 choppers; air crew, ground crew, hanger space etc. etc., what can I say, "Only in America" :-{ The savings here will be significant, in general operating costs not just fuel.

Community based policing model with increased patrolling using foot, bicycle, and small displacement motorcycle transport, get the cops out of their "cages" and more aware of who lives on their beat and what they are up to.

Low or zero liquid fuel transport wherever possible; Could the health inspector ride the bus, at least some of the time? I would hope that the management of the transit service are required to. Do you have "white hats" in the works department driving around in an empty pickup truck when a "Smart Car" or "ZENN" would do just as well?

Do employees who drive as part of their job get a bonus on their pay based on how little fuel they consume?

City governments are hampered in two major areas by the lack of understanding of peak oil implications: one is budget planning itself, and the second is the hurdle rate for energy efficiency investments. When I was working on the peak oil resolution for San Francisco, I combed through their annual budget document (which looks out 3 years) to see what assumptions were made about future energy prices. The reference I found was that the prices (of gasoline and other fuels) were drawn from the forecast of the California Dept. of Finance. So I checked that out, and found that they uniformly (for the years I looked at) projected lower prices in the outyears, much in the way EIA does. In the 2008 version, outyear prices don't decline, but the rate of increase drops to 4.8% in 2009 and 1.2% in 2010. As a result, the city hamstrings itself into a certain budget figure for fuel since it simply multiplies the planned volume by the forecasted price. When I asked what happens if the forecasted price is higher than what DOF projects, the answer is that the department must come back for a special allocation. So in the end, the city faces multiple "special allocations" because the original budget planning was flawed, and that means something else originally planned may not happen.

The second is the hurdle rate for energy efficiency investments. In Federal government efficiency projects (Energy Saving Performance Contracts), the analysis of the rate of return of a particular investment is based on EIA Annual Energy Outlook price forecasts and NIST's calculation tools of nominal and real escalation rates. What a study of past ESPCs has found is that the escalation rate has been widely underestimated (because EIA generally underestimates prices). What this means is that energy saving projects are generally underscaled as well. Even a 1/2% difference in the escalation rate can result in very big differences in savings after 10 years.

So governments underproject fuel costs and underinvest in efficiency because they won't acknowledge the passing of the era of cheap energy, but this is so ingrained in the system today, I'm not sure how to avoid it aside from cities taking their own initiative to project fuel price increases, or at least doing scenarios of much higher fuel price increases than what the state or federal government come out with.

I advocate that localities grow the feedstock needed for biodiesel through an enabling act that mandates each property owner to grow a particular amount of the chosen plant(s) and allows the city to roof over the streets to provide lots of additional growing area that would otherwise never be used. Such roofs could also be solarized to provide electricity, and the city could also mandate solar electric and thermal (hot water) roof installation.

The goal of feedstock growth is to supply the city's fleet of vehicles and other energy using machines first, with any additional production provided at cost to fuel the vehicles and other machines of businesses supplying essential services to the city, such as trash collection and ambulance.

Debbie,

I would be interested in what your planning department or planning consultants think about the Peak Oil Crisis. I work for planning consultant in Michigan. This subject is not getting much traction around here or in my profession of community planning. Its just business as usual. My boss thinks that all we need to do is just pump more oil.

The tiny town government I work for is several orders of magnitude lower in scale than Huntington Beach. All of our motor fuel use is for police, public works/water, and sanitation. Some thoughts:

1) Police:

At $100/gal, there is going to be a lot less need for our police to have pursuit-capable patrol cars. We are fortunate in having a single entrance/exit out of town; put a permanent roadblock there and it doesn’t matter how fast they can outrun our police, they can’t escape them.

Thus, we might be able to get by with NEVs for some routine patrol and response activity; we could set up PV panels to recharge these. We would probably still need one or two 4X4 PHEV SUVs for bad weather. Patrols would have to be cut back to an absolute minimum; we would need to implement a highly organized, very aggressive neighborhood watch program to fill the vacuum.

Getting a horse or two for mounted police is not out of the question. There is even a place where they could be stabled. Some open space woodland could be cleared for pasture/fodder production.

2) Public Works/Water Dept:

We are already running B20 biodiesel in our diesel trucks and heavy equipment. These could be modified to run B100. Additional forest land could be cleared to grow enough biodiesel oilseed crops to supply all of our needs.

We could get a couple of NEVs to use to transport personnel and small supplies and materials to and from jobsites.

With $100/gal gas, there would be a lot less traffic and a lot less wear and tear on the streets, so less maintenance would be required. We would probably have to develop and implement a long-range plan to gradually transition the streets from asphalt back to gravel.

3) Sanitation:

We would need to considerably reduce the waste stream so that we have less to pick up and haul.

We could encourage people to compost all kitchen wastes. Neighborhood compost bins could be built around the town; making them bear-proof would be the biggest challenge. Presumably we would also need to clear some forest land to create some community gardens, and the compost would be very useful and needed for that.

All paper and cardboard would have to be burned. We would need to build an incinerator, and obtain all the necessary permits. Hopefully, given the emergency conditions that $100/gal gas would imply, it would not be too hard to obtain these. The incinerator should be engineered so that the combustion heat can be captured and put to some sort of good use – maybe district steam heating, or electricity co-generation? There could be some revenue generation/cost recovery opportunities with that.

We already have a good recycling program for plastics, metals, etc. We might need to provide residents with large recycle bins, or provide recycling centers distributed around town within a block or so of each resident, thus reducing the frequency of recycling pickups from weekly to maybe once per month or so. Maybe something could be done to facilitate the formation of a buying club or food co-op, encouraging residents to buy staple foods in bulk and to bring it home in reusable containers, further reducing the waste stream.

The sanitation trucks presently use B20, these could also be modified to B100, which could be locally produced (see above).

It has made completion of the change from petrol to biogas from the municipiality owned biogas plant a realy good deal for the municialities car fleet. (Linköping municipiality in Sweden)

The price increase has not yet been significant enough and the reaction blends into the ongoing CO2 reduction work.

It seems Leanan is correct in thinking that we will continue on in a looooooooong sloooooww painfull decline as that is all anyone can PLAN for.

Is the hope that through small, incremental adjustments we just might be able to maintain a semblance of BAU long enough to raise awareness to a level where we can sit all of humanity down at once and say “Look the Party is Over”?

I hope we are talking about months because if it's years then we are talking about unimaginable pain, suffering, and death for hundreds of millions of people starting at the lower income levels.

Of course there is nothing new there either I suppose.

It does strike me that there are ways to cut back that energy use dramatically - the difficulty, of course, is in convicing people that oil prices are not coming down and that triage is necessary. I live in a place of considerably lower density, and with almost none of the services you describe - fire/ambulance is volunteer, subsidized by the taxpayers, trash pick up is private, or you can haul your stuff to the dump yourself. Water is private well, and about the only services the towns supply are schools and snowplows. I think it is very likely that they will cease to supply even these fairly soon into the crisis, particularly as tax bases decline.

In the town next to my own, the move has been to all-day kindergarten (fewer buses), and to firing low-salary teacher's aides in classrooms. I suspect the next strategies will be "snow" days on very cold weather days, an end to "in storm" plowing (that is, they'll plow once at the end of the storm, so you'd better be home and not expect to go anywhere until it is over), and a host of other budget cuts.

The choice is that or Vallejo - bankruptcy.

Sharon

I'm struck by how small the fuel consumption really is.

5 gallons per resident (including sanitation)? At current prices, that's only $20/year. If prices double, that's only an additional $20/year.

The fuel bill is about $4M, the nat gas bill is $1M, and electricity is $4M. That's a total of $9M, for a current total of $45/year/resident. $45 dollars per resident per year!

If the average resident spends $2000/year on HVAC, and $2000/year on vehicle fuel, then their city's energy costs are only 1.1% of their total energy costs. That's not much. Certainly not enough to suggest that living in this city is unsustainable in the face of higher energy costs for their local government.

Debbie here.
I've enjoyed all the comments and will try to respond to a few. Most cities do not run their own transit systems but coordinate bus/rail through an agency that crosses jurisdictional boundaries. It is certainly more efficient in a spread out region like Southern California but it also means it is more difficult to alter the inertia that continues to place an emphasis on streets and highways as opposed to mass transit. While all transportation is heavily subsidized, the board of directors of these transportation agencies are most heavily influenced by drivers of automobiles.

With regard to my own city's initiatives, we have undertaken an extensive audit of all facilities, implementing projects as the budget permits and investigating solar (possibly on water tanks) and wind (on our pier). Some vehicles have been replaced with hybrids, some vehicles replaced with CNG as mandated by air quality rules. We are in the process of hiring an energy project manager to oversee all RE, EE, and green building initiatives and we have hired a water conservation specialist. We are fortunate to be large enough and have the resources to take on this challenge. There are 500 cities in California, many are duplicating work that other cities have already done, most don't have the financial resources to hire staff. We have already seen sales tax and property tax revenues softening.

Unfortunately, those who make projections for budget revenues believe that the good times will be back and continue to show optimistic projections. That said, staff is well aware of my concern regarding our energy future and is keeping a close eye on the city's energy consumption and aware of the impact to employees who make long commutes.

One last comment, it is important to recognize that every city is unique. In California, cities receive different shares of the property tax--some zero, others as much as 65% (San Francisco because it is both a city and county). Because local government is not allowed to raise property taxes, it makes up for shortfalls with sales taxes, fees, and bed taxes. It is a complicated mess that makes the energy challenge that much harder for those who provide you with your local services.

Debbie I'd be very interested to know how road maintenance and or construction is faring in your community.

I do look at various spot prices for asphalt and read articles about problems but I'd love to here your viewpoint on this.

200,000 residents and 3 helicopters? One is more than you need.

It is surprising to hear from a local government leader who actually"gets it".
I live near Brisbane,a city of over 1 million,in Queensland,Australia.The Lord Mayor of the Brisbane City Council which covers most of the metro area was recently re-elected for a second term,this time with a majority in council for his Liberal Party.The mayor,Campbell Newman,has embarked on a grandiose scheme building road tunnels which will cost billions of dollars.This scheme has been endorsed by the State government and will no doubt be subsidized by the Federal government.The tunnels will be tolled.One of these tunnels has been under construction for over a year.It will run from the South to the North sides of the CBD beneath the river.
There has been very little opposition to this madness apart from the Greens Party and environmental
groups.This seems to have been muted as these groups are unable to get much traction in the media and minority parties like the Greens can't get elected due to a first past the post voting system.
For sure there are traffic problems in Brisbane.This is due to the large increase in population(driven by an insane immigration policy,a federal resposibility)and the usual urban sprawl crap as delineated by Kunstler and others.Brisbane was a fairly liveable city until about 10 to 15 years(lower population).
It did have a good electric tram system until about 40 years ago when it was scrapped in favour of diesel buses.
The city does have a fair electric train network but this needs expanding to cater for the outlying 'burbs.There is a patchy bike and foot path network.
Australia has followed The USA down the road to a sort of energy and social perdition.The "sheeple",in the main,don't get it.The leadership,such as they are,sure as hell don't get it.I can't imagine what it will take for the penny to drop.

Since the real purpose of the police is to generate revenue by arresting people who are then fined, they will be the last to go. Firefighters will be dispensed with before cops will be. This said, you need MORE cops, or better yet, cameras attached to radar guns so that more speeders can be fined to pay for municipal services. Lower speed limits too, so that more motorists "speed" thus generating more revenue. You could, altho you won't, close the schools, likewise. Parents could receive a tax incentive for homeschooling their kids. At the least you could provide computers & internet access to children so they could "attend classes" online, at a fraction of what you pay to bus them to buildings that must be heated & maintained. As mayor, you could set an example by demanding a pay cut. Turn off the street lights. They're light pollution anyway. Levy a "luxury tax" on the sale of meat. Expand the confiscation of property of the merely accused, like you do for drug "crimes," to real crimes & misdemeanors. Sell the confiscated assets to pay for your status symbol helicopter fleet. Legalize gambling & prostitution then tax it. Sell off parks or charge admission fees to them. Bill people for putting out fires on their property. Be creative. There are a multitude of ways you can further rip off the citizens in order to finance your little municipal fiefdom, mayor.

Debbie here.
Huntington Beach is a Charter City. Our Charter gives the City Council authority over policy issues and the hiring/firing of a City Administrator. The Mayor is a figurehead position and has no more authority than the other members of the city council. So to do anything, I would have to get 3 other councilmembers to vote with me.

Again let me reiterate that every city is unique.

I heard Debbie Cook speak at the Houston ASPO-USA meeting and had the opportunity to talk to her personally. She is a very pleasant young lady and obviously an exceptionally hard worker. I suggested that ASPO meet in Las Vegas but she patiently explained why there were better choices logistically, at least for 2008.
--I am retired and have a volunteer job with a local police department. This department is facing severe budget restraints and is understaffed. We have no helicopters but the Sheriff has some. They are very useful for firefighting, rescue, tracking criminals etc. Bicycle patrols are used at times but are not too practical in the suburbs. I suspect that the budget restraints will worsen. I plan to copy this string and present it to my supervisor who is currently wrestling with the budget.

Dear Mayor Cook,

Thanks for recognizing the Peak Oil energy crisis and working to address it.

I have prepared a 50 page report that is designed to educate government officials about the realities of Peak Oil. Because this report is based on government reports (General Accountability Office, Congressional Research Service, National Academy of Sciences, etc.) and scientific reports (many from Theoildrum.com) it is hard for officials to dismiss Peak Oil. One suggestion is to distribute the report to council members and department heads and then form a committee to discuss a risk management plan of how to deal with the Peak Oil crisis. Most problems of Peak Oil will devolve to the local government and neighborhood level, and local governments won't have the resources to deal with these problems. As soon as oil production begins to decline (probably in January 2009) we will see inflation, recession, declining home sales and values, foreclosures, and declining local government revenues. I suggest that you also give the report to the local TV, radio, and print media simultaneously, and inform the council that you are doing so. This lets council members know that the public knows and will be asking questions about what they are doing to plan for Peak Oil.

On January 23, 2008, I gave a PowerPoint presentation to the New Hampshire Municipal Managers Association on Peak Oil and risk management/contingency planning. You might want to call the Todd Selig, Town Administrator of the Town of Durham, New Hampshire to get his ideas of how my presentation was perceived and his expereinces with Peak Oil.

My report is on my website at Peak Oil Associates (the May 27th update will go on the website in a day or two). If you send me your email address, I will send you the updated report and Powerpoint presentation. Here is what the presentation covered (the Peak Oil explanation slides are not included here):

PEAK OIL AND THE ENERGY CRISIS
What is the Peak Oil energy crisis?
How it will impact local government?
What can local governments can do?
What can managers do?
How to deal with the crisis?
Where to go for more information?

PEAK OIL IMPACTS
Recession>depression>declining federal, state and local government revenues. (GAO study).
Long term:
Lack of transportation.
Lack of communication.
Lack of residential heating.
Lack of mechanized farming.
All problems devolve to the local level.

WHAT CAN LOCAL MANAGERS DO?
Study the problem. Read the Peak Oil Report at Peak Oil Associates. Understand the future.
Realize this is a VERY emotional and controversial issue.
Inform the council (download the report and email it to them).
The goal is Peak Oil planning, NOT energy conservation (that is for
another committee).
Set up a Peak Oil working group in your administration.
Set up Peak Oil citizens committee.
Select a balance of members who are practical (this is critical).
Form a managers committee that can ask state government for action.
Coordinate with state government economic development, governor's
office, energy office, planning department.

RISK MANAGEMENT
Guard town financial resources.
Prepare for grid failure or oil cut off (Paul Gilbert & Railton Frith).
Community education (library/Public radio/newspapers/statewide conference).
Planning and sharing plans and information.
Anticipating changes and plan ahead (examples reduced government revenues/ change school calendar).
Long term: What will be absent in the future.
Preserve technology and information NOW, as it will disappear suddenly.

WHERE TO GO FOR PLANNING INFORMATION
There is very little in print or on the Internet that relates to specific risk management/contingency planning for Peak Oil impacts for local, state and the federal government.

Let me know if I can help.

My email is clifford dot wirth at yahoo dot com
Telephone 603-668-4207

Warm regards,

Cliff Wirth

Debbie,

I wish you all the best in endeavoring to move the peak oil issue forward in the world of governments. Some of us know all to well from being 'on the inside' ourselves how slow, cumbersome, and resistant to change any political arena is. To possibly help you along here is a link to another city (albeit in Australia) who has openly acknowledged peak oil, begun to identify their exposure an possible issues, along with some mitigation strategies.

http://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/Files/PeakOilPolicy.pdf

some background on Maribyrnong:

"The City of Maribyrnong is 31.2 sq km in area and has a population of over 63,000. It the smallest and most densely populated municipality in the metropolitan area.

The City of Maribyrnong borders Melbourne, which is Australia's second largest city and Victoria's capital city. This central location provides easy access to all the benefits of Melbourne, such as the ports, the best road network in Australia and an extensive public transport system."

http://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=44&h=0

While I realize the population pales in comparison to 200,000 residents, it may be possible that you can port some of their ideas and (starting point) solutions. At the very least, being able to point to another (semi)large city from a fully industrialized nation that has publicly addressed Peak-oil may assist you in your efforts.

All the best to you in your efforts,

Mike

As a former resident of Huntington Beach, some insight is needed.
Huntington is firmly behind the "Orange Curtain", and in one of the most conservative and reactionary parts of California. It is represented by Dana Rohrabacher, one of the "Cave Men" that Orange County so prolifically turns out---
If you are not into surf fashion or sub prime loans (well, maybe some mid level software and electronics), it is a cultural wasteland. You are talking about a culture totally divorced from the natural world, and embedded in right wing ideology.
I wish Debbie all the luck in the world.
Disclaimer: I'm visiting friends in Laguna Beach this weekend

Mayor Cook,
I travel to HB on business on the average a few times a year. Coming from the winter wonderland of the upper midwest, I am amazed by the lack of people on foot or on bike in your city. I have gone for long runs to the beach and on to the pier without seeing many people at all. I realize that this is symptomatic of LA as a whole, but it still seems awfully strange given your good climate. That bus strike you had last year also wasn't the greatest thing. How did that get resolved?

Fine city, way too many cars.

David Blume titled his book "Alcohol Can Be A Gas" wrong. It should have been called How Local Governments Can Respond to Large Increases in Energy Bills

One day governments will be referencing it as a guide and he will get the credit he is due for writing the plan to save America's butt.

Here in Houston we're installing more and more camera systems to monitor for minor and major crimes. Some would say it has gone too far, yet I think it will only increase.

I think installing GPS navigation systems could help reduce fuel costs especially for non-emergency uses. They can quickly pay for themselves with such high fuel prices.

A problem with biking is making it safe. We don't have nearly enough bike lanes, despite a huge spike in bike traffic.

The police are using traffic stings to pool resources and raise revenues. I saw them recently with a police communications truck setup and dozens of officers running tags on one of the busiest streets. They arrested quite a few people for outstanding warrants and wrote hundreds of tickets for expired tags, seatbelt violations, and other infractions. It also seems that they nabbed some druggies along the way.

As for waste management, they've reduced heavy trash pickup to 3 or 4 times a year in some areas. The day that was previously dedicated to heavy trash pickup has been used for lawn and tree waste. Apparently it's about to go city-wide because they are saving a lot of money.

local government could declare itself bankrupt

like this town
http://www.nbc11.com/news/15345539/detail.html

in my opinion th potatoes in my allotment will expand whilst everything else contracts. My local bus service and ferry service are already cutting back services and i expect rising fuel prices to make other services whether private or public sector follow suit.

Try this solution.

As is said in Asia.

"Rots of ruck."

local gov-ments will respond to rising energy costs just as they do to anything else (or nothing at all). THEY WILL INCREASE PROPERTY TAXES!
oh, and cut services. expect citizens to be hammered. all major chemical companies just announced they will pass along petro feed stock price increases to consumers of end products. to the tune of up to 25% increases. expect to be hammered.

Debbie,
Your website shows you are doing a lot!!
I'm really very impressed.

http://www.ci.huntington-beach.ca.us/Residents/green_city/

And now you're running for Congress!

http://www.debbiecookforcongress.com/

That's ABSOLUTELY the best thing you could do.

You already know the all limitations of being mayor!

Rohrbacher is a pin-head.

Show people you're better than he is(be feisty!). People want change!

Try to get some attention
as early as possible--I know its early but that's the political cycle these days.

I'm not sure how potent PO is as a political issue what with all the denial that comes with it, but gas prices are!

Good luck.